Abstract
Spectroscopy is a major tool for learning the nature of celestial sources. It tells us about composition, temperatures, motions, and the general physical circumstances of those sources. The most common instrument for spectroscopy is a diffraction-grating spectrograph, which spreads the light into its panoply of colors. For many years spectrographs were designed to use photographic plates, but now CCD detectors are used because they are more sensitive and give photometrically better results more directly, without the need for wet processing or densitometers. The optical design of the spectrographs nevertheless remains much the same, but with gains accruing from improvements in the quality of the optics. There are, however, several designs that have been quite overlooked.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
J. Dyson, 1959 “Unit-magnification optical system without Seidel aberrations” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 49: 713
S. M. Kay, 1988 Modern Spectral Estimation, Prentice-Hall
S. L. Marple, 1987 Digital Spectral Analysis, Prentice-Hall
L. Mertz, 1977 “Concentric spectrographs” Appl. Opt. 16: 3122
L. Mertz, 1991 “Concentric systems for adaptation as spectrographs” Proc. SPIE 1354: 457–459
A. Offner, 1975 “New concepts in projection mask aligners” Opt. Eng. 14: 131
D. Shafer, 1991 “New perfect optical instrument” OSA Annual Meeting paper MN1, Technical Digest p. 13
C. G. Wynne, 1969 “A unit-power telescope for projection copying” in Optical Instruments and Techniques 1969 ed. J. Home Dickson, Oriel Press
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1996 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mertz, L. (1996). Spectroscopy. In: Excursions in Astronomical Optics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2386-3_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2386-3_5
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7522-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-2386-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive