FIRST YEAR LABORATORY: PROJECT PROPOSAL - 2009
PROJECT TITLE
CODE
The Identification of Elements in the Sun and other Stars
DEMONSTRATOR
Charlotte Holmes
TELEPHONE
NUMBER
47678
ROOM NUMBER
6M68
E-MAIL ADDRESS
Charlotte.holmes04@imperial.ac.iuk
SPAT23
RESEARCH
GROUP
SPAT
PROJECT OUTLINE:
Over the past twelve years the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has produce some of
the most striking and vivid images of stellar objects ever seen by the human eye.
The amazing resolution of these images has helped to change the way society views
itself in a greater universe, partly because they are the closest most of us will ever get
to these distant areas of space. But what if we want to find out more about stars, how
do we get information about them when we are so many millions of light years away?
The solution lies in the light they emit and the information encoded in it. It is not so
well known that HST has provided astronomers with a wealth of new high resolution
spectra from many stars and galaxies. These spectrum measurements are the key to
finding out what elements are in a star and to what concentration. You may already
know that an element will emit a characteristic spectrum of light, containing many
distinct lines, and that each element in the periodic table has a unique spectrum. Now
imagine that the spectra of over a hundred elements are superimposed upon each
other, you now have a typical spectrum of a star.
The aim of this project can be split into two distinct parts;
1.
The measurement of several elements visible spectrum in the laboratory,
using a standard grating spectrometer, and,
2.
The identification of these elements in the spectrum of the sun and other stars
using online spectral database from the Kitt Peak observatory and HST respectively.
This Project is available on:
Mon/Tues
Thurs/Fri
Students: Please write your name below if you are planning to bid for this project.
You must also fill out the bidding form!
Code:
PROJECT ASSESSMENT SHEET – 2009
Leave blank
Are there any safety aspects which need special attention (i.e. use of lasers, radioactive
sources)?
NO
Is this a computing project?
No
If it is would it be done on:
[a] The PC network
Yes
[b] Computing facilities within your research group
If the answer to [a] was yes then complete the following three questions:
[i] Do you require additional software or libraries?
[ii] Do you anticipate exceptional cpu or disk storage
(>100Mbyte) requirements?
[iii] Have you discussed your requirements with Martin
Morris?
Which programming language are you wishing to use?
Are you proficient in the necessary programming language