Types of Stars | ||
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Spectra of Stars | ||
Exploring Spectra | ||
Atomic Absorption | ||
Absorption Lines | ||
Line Strength | ||
Temperature | ||
The Connection | ||
Understanding Stars | ||
Follow Up Projects | ||
Evaluation |
Now that you know what the lines mean and how to identify them, try classifying stars based on the "strength" of their hydrogen absorption lines, specifically the Hα line. The spectrum below is the same spectrum as in Question 5, again with a zoom-in of the spectrum's Hα line shown below it.
Notice that the Hα absorption line dips down vertically, but it is not a straight drop; the line has some width. The two triangles in the zoom-in mark two spots on the continuum spectrum. If you drew a line between the centers of the two triangles, you would see approximately how much light would have been emitted by the star if it had no hydrogen. If you colored in the area between that line and the actual spectrum, you would see the amount of light "missing" from the spectrum due to hydrogen absorption. This amount is referred to as the strength of the absorption line. The strength of an absorption line depends not only on the depth of the valley, but also on its width. You can get a rough measure of the strength of the Hα line by counting the number of grid squares you filled in when you colored in the area below the line connecting the triangles. Here is an example of how the spectrum looks with the grid squares filled in, as a Flash or PDF file (links open in a new window), or as an image:
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