hot solar atmosphere

solar fingerprints

how do we produce a spectrum?

how to make your own rainbow

the Fraunhofer Spectrum

the one million degree rainbow

atoms, ions and electrons

recognising the fingerprints

UV spectra from the Sun

what is the Sun made of?

gold in the Sun?

solar fingerprints

My name is Peter. My job is to find out what the solar atmosphere is made of. Of course I can't just go to the Sun and bring back a big chunk of it. I need to look for clues and build up the evidence by studying the light from the Sun, which is why I like to think of myself as a solar detective.

Sir William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus, and his grandson was the first person to realise that the patterns on the ends of our fingers are unique.						These patterns are fixed before we're born and stay with us all our life. Fingerprints are a major help in identifying criminals.

		Take a look at this graph, it shows how the brightness of light from the Sun’s hot atmosphere (corona) changes at different wavelengths. It is called an emission spectrum.

The important thing to notice is that the brightness of the Sun's light changes suddenly at different wavelengths - these are the Sun's fingerprints!



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