Abstract
Astronomical spectroscopy is the main tool to investigate the physical properties of celestial sources and celestial environments, in particular the composition, temperature, and density. The most part of astronomical spectrographs in the optical domain is based on dispersing elements, such as the diffraction gratings. This chapter presents the discussion of the different dispersers and how they can be used in spectrographs. The spectral resolution is discussed for different situations. The spectroscopy with CCDs is presented.
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Problems
Problems
7.1
Discuss the main components of an astronomical spectrograph and their function.
7.2
Compare the performances of prisms and diffraction gratings as dispersing elements.
7.3
Compare the performances of unblazed and blazed diffraction gratings.
7.4
Discuss the role of the slit in astronomical spectrographs and its impact on the resolving power.
7.5
Discuss the technical solutions for high-resolution spectroscopy.
7.6
Estimate the number of rulings for a diffraction grating that is able to resolve the sodium doublet in the second order.
7.7
Describe the main issues in the design of a slit spectrograph.
7.8
Compare the performances of diffraction gratings and Fabry–Perot etalons.
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Poggiani, R. (2017). Optical Spectroscopy. In: Optical, Infrared and Radio Astronomy. UNITEXT for Physics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44732-2_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44732-2_7
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