If you heat something up, eventually it will get so hot that it glows. If you continue heating it, the light will change. It will become more intense and change colors, but if you allow the light to pass through a glass prism, then it gets interesting. The light that passes through the prism will not a continuous smear of color, like a rainbow but rather it will appear as a pattern of individual bright lines. Think of it as a colorful bar code.
Much like a bar code the bright lines tell us much about what's going on underneath. The electrons in the atom exist in certain energy levels. Those electrons jump in the heat and as they fall back down they produce this cosmic bar code. Each element has its own unique pattern that stretches well beyond the limits of human vision.
The bright line spectrum tell us the make up of the Sun and the structure of the atom. They also tell us which stars are moving towards us and that the other galaxies are all moving away.
When I decided to write this blog I started looking for an appropriate name. The first challenge is coming up with something original. But settling on brightlinespectra seems to fit the bill. In nature, the bright line spectrum pops out to reveal what's underneath. Sometimes things pop out at me and I would like to write about them and hence this blog.
Enjoy the blog.
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