NATS 1870 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Spectroscopy, Balmer Series
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Stellar spectroscopy: each absorption line is due to a speci c transition of a speci c atom or (ion- ion is an atom with one or more electrons removed) Stellar classes: obafgkm: hottest, bluest stars: o, coolest reddest stars: m, our sun: g (temp is 6000 kelvin) That will place many electrons in the second level- ready to absorb photons. If stars are hotter, the electrons will be in even higher levels so the hydrogen. If stars are cooler the electrons tend to be in the ground state so the balmer lines.