ABOUT THIS ACTIVITY:

This is a demonstration of spectroscopy using a hand-held spectrograph looking at various light sources.  In order to understand this, we cover the basics of optics, more specifically how rainbows are created and how

our eyes see colors, leading to our understanding of spectroscopy.  We have to talk about how atoms behave when interacting with light and finish with how this is used in astronomy, both to understand how we can

detect the expansion of the Universe, and what stars are made of.  The experiment is done by filming through the prism of a spectrograph with a cellphone camera, in a very "backyard science" type of demonstration.

The presentation ends with a brief explanation of how we plan to measure the chemicals present in the atmosphere of Jupiter from the NWU telescope at Nooitgedacht.

PRESENTER:

Dr Bruno Letarte

DATE:

2 August 2021

TIME:

All day

LINK