(About time you got me to, huh? ;)

~ Exploring Stellar Spectra ~

Hello, Everyone... Hey, we're talking some serious science here! Feel up to a new challenge? Perhaps just broaden your horizons a bit? Or do you just want to have some fun?! All right!! Let's do this....

The Spectral Grating...

These are the results of my initial experimentations using the digital camcorder and the two different types of gratings, aimed a various light sources. Hey, they're rough... but we all have to start somewhere, don't we? ;)

The Moon...

This single frame of footage was taken by placing the spectral grating over the video camera lens and filming the Moon.

You can clearly see the color delineations...

Close-up...

On one single bar emitted by the reflected sunlight from the Moon.

See that?! This is so cool....

Even closer...

Whoa! Even I haven't seen some of this footage until now!!!

I am impressed...

Sodium Vapor Light...

Now, let's check out some differences...

You can see from this frame that the spectral lines change dramatically using a different light source! This is a distant streetlight, and the spectral lines are entirely different!

Another one!

Oh, yeah... ;)

This was apparently a close-up on a street light spectral band. (I'll get more scientific, Jeff... I promise! Right now I just want to have some fun!)

I can't WAIT to get into some study...

Mercury Vapor Light...

So, now I tried it on a different style of light... and got very changed results! Instead of the orange/band being so broad, I'm now seeing more into the green/blue/purple end of the spectrum!

Two differing sources...

"Come together..."

Now we have an example of both types of light in a single frame...

And you can really see the difference between the two!

Incandescent....

And add yet another style of light!

(hehehheheheee... i would have gotten a bit closer, but i really don't think my neighbor would have appreciated me filming inside the window! but... then, again... ;)

The Holographic Grating...

The Moon...

Filmed in the same fashion, but using the holographic grating this time.

As Cor predicted, it shows a single color band... that runs in an entirely different spectral pattern!

Close-up...

Using the holographic grating...

(I really should have tried to walk down on it some more... next time, ok?)

Stacking the two gratings...

And filming the Moon! Talk about WOW! visually!

But, you know I had to TRY, didn't you? ;)

City of Lights...

So, next time we astronomers get ticked off at our neighbors for their outdoor lighting...

Well... we can just hold up the little grating and smile!

Bwhahahhahahahahhahaaaaaa.... ;)

A bit more Sirius...

Now it's time we took the fun and turned it into some study! Until i can convert a piece of grating into a filter cell, I have some trouble photographing stellar spectra. The cell is just fine for holding to the eyepiece, but the video camera angle has to be precise to capture the lines! But... you know me, eh? I manage... ;)

Solar Spectra...

Yeah, yeah... a risk. But what in life isn't? ;)

The bright spot you see in the middle is not the actual solar body, it has been obstructed by the cell's edge. But, the spectra you are seeing are genuine!

Incredible, isn't it?

Toned down...

Find the lines... find the lines... find the lines!

Practice...

Patience... (HA!)

Persistence...

Fraunhofer Lines...

A scientific principle that there are dark lines dividing the bands of spectrum. And visible in the left hand side of this frame.

(Pssst! Cor made me work on capturing Fraunhofer lines... :)

The human eye captures them quite well! But the camera? Hey... I'm working on it!

Kirchoff's Rules...

State that spectra is governed by different temperatures and compositions. It is a gradient standard by which spectra is measured, and this frame reveals several variations in color which can be compared against a graph.

(Between Fraunhofer lines and Kirchoff's rules, they look kinda' like a rainbow bar code! ;)

Playing by the rules...