Astrophysics (Index)About

spectrograph

(device to record the spectrum of incoming light)

A spectrograph is an instrument to record the spectrum of incoming light, a practice termed spectrography. In the case of modern advanced instruments, the terms spectroscope, spectrograph, and spectrometer are used interchangeably. Spectrographs are used as lab instruments and telescope instruments.

The term spectrograph was coined for a device that guides light through a disperser (prism or grating) to lay out the spectrum spatially and focuses this on photographic film, recording it for later study. This is in contrast to a spectroscope, which was used for a device that you look through to observe the spectrum, so a spectrograph was much like a spectroscope with a camera attached. The term spectrometer was coined for devices that measure aspects of the spectrum, a general term that pretty much applies to either.

Modern advanced instruments virtually always focus the spectrum on a CCD or analogous sensor, allowing the spectral data to be transmitted, recorded and analyzed electronically, and all three terms are commonly used for such instruments. The terms may be used for analyzers of any part of the electromagnetic spectrum, but when used for other than visible light, that is often mentioned, e.g., the phrase "X-ray spectrometer".


(color,EMR,instrument type,spectrography)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrograph
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_spectroscopy
https://dictionary.obspm.fr/index.php?formSearchTextfield=spectrograph&showAll=1
https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100522382
https://spie.org/publications/fg08_p02_spectrometerspectroscopespectrograph

Referenced by pages:
6dF Galaxy Survey (6dFGS)
Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT)
APOGEE
ARGOS
Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX)
BASS
Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO)
BigBOSS
black body (BB)
BUSS
Calar Alto Observatory
CfA digital speedometer
CIBER
CorMASS
COSIE
Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS)
CRIRES
cross dispersion spectrograph
CUTE
data cube
DEVILS
differential spectroscopy
ESIS
ESO 3.6m Telescope
ESSENCE
Europa Clipper
European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT)
European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope (ESO VLT)
exoplanet eclipse light curve
Fabry-Pérot interferometer (FPI)
fiber positioner
G-CLEF
Gemini Observatory
Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT)
GLARE
Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC)
grism
Hale Telescope
HARMONI
HARPS
HARPS-N
HCI
HD 189733 b
HERMES
Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET)
HRS
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
imaging Fourier transform spectroscopy (IFTS)
imaging spectrometer
immersion grating
infrared (IR)
integral field spectrograph
integral field unit (IFU)
International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE)
Interstellar Medium Absorption Profile Spectrograph (IMAPS)
IRAS
IRTF
Isaac Newton Telescope (INT)
JUICE
Keck Observatory
KMOS
LAMOST
Large Altazimuth Telescope (BTA-6)
Large Binocular Telescope (LBT)
Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO)
line blanketing
Liverpool Telescope (LT)
Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT)
Magellan Telescopes
mass spectrometer
Mercator Telescope
MICADO
microchannel array
Milky Way Mapper (MWM)
MMT
Multi-object Optical and Near-IR Spectrograph (MOONS)
multi-object spectrograph
New Technology Telescope (NTT)
NIRPS
NIRSpec
optics
Origins Space Telescope (OST)
Palomar 60-inch Telescope (P60)
PESSTO
PHANGS
phase curve
photometric redshift (photo-z)
position-position-velocity space (PPV)
radial velocity method
Rosetta
Shane Telescope
slitless spectrograph
Sloan 2.5m Telescope
SOAR Telescope (SOAR)
Southern African Large Telescope (SALT)
spectral energy distribution (SED)
spectral line
spectral resolution
spectrography
spectrometer
spectrometry
spectropolarimetry
spectroscope
spectroscopy
SpeX
SPHERE
SPHEREx
SPIRou
SPLASH
STELLA
Subaru PFS
Subaru Telescope
Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG)
TripleSpec (TSpec)
University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory (TAO)
Víctor M. Blanco Telescope
VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS)
VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS)
Wide-field Multi-object Spectrograph (WFMOS)
WiggleZ
William Herschel Telescope (WHT)
WINERED
WIYN 3.5m Telescope
WIYN Open Cluster Study (WOCS)
X-SHOOTER Lyman α survey at z = 2 (XLS-z2)
XQR-30

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