What is stellar spectra?
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ANSWERS: 3
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I looked it up and it's In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a prism or diffraction grating into a spectrum exhibiting the rainbow of colors interspersed with absorption lines. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_classification
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When light passes through a prism or a diffraction grating, it spreads out according to wavelength to form a spectrum (plural spectra). For instance the rainbow is the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Precision spectroscopes, in use for over a century in astrophysics, make very precise measurements of wavelengths emitted by stars, or absorbed by material in front of them. The basic assumption is that physics and chemistry work the same everywhere in the universe. Therefore you can deduce properties of stars by comparing their spectra ("stellar spectra") to those of experiments in laboratories on Earth. Stellar refers to stars (Latin). In 20th C we learned to classify stars according to mass, temperature, composition & other properties learned by comparing theoretical physics calculations with observed stellar spectra.
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