The visible light spectrum of the star Altair - infographic

2022-11-10 - This is the visible light spectrum of the star Altair, which lies about 16.7 light-years from Earth. The picture of the spectrum (top) appears as a nearly continuous rainbow with a few dark lines representing light that has been absorbed by hydrogen found in the star's atmosphere. Astronomers can turn this spectrum into a graph (bottom) that shows how bright the star is at different wavelengths, or colours. The hydrogen absorption lines are still visible here as dips in the star's brightness at specific wavelengths. (Credits: Canadian Space Agency, NASA)