Accession No
2106
Brief Description
spectroscope eyepiece (astronomical), by Adam Hilger, English, 1900 (c)
Origin
England; London
Maker
Adam Hilger
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1900
Latest Date
1900
Inscription Date
Material
metal (oxidised brass); glass; wood
Dimensions
box length 255mm; breadth 208mm; height 125mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Transferred from Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, 10/1975.
Inscription
‘A Hilger London’ (on instrument)
‘GRATING - SPECTROSCOPES
ILLUMINATED EYEPIECE’ (on box)
Description Notes
Illuminated eyepiece for grating spectroscope. Part oxidised brass. Screw fitting with screw-on cover. Screw-on eyepiece aperture. Adjustable mirror. Fitted wooden box.
References
Events
Description
Spectroscope
In 1814 Joseph von Fraunhofer noticed that the sun’s spectrum, when dispersed by a glass prism, is crossed by hundreds of fine dark lines. These lines could be used to determine the chemical composition of the sun, stars and many other substances by spectral analysis. The first photograph of the spectrum of a star (Vega) was made by Henry Draper using a spectroscope in 1872.
There are various different forms of spectroscope, but all use a slit and collimator to make a parallel beam of light, a prism for dispersing different wavelengths and a telescope to observe the dispersed spectrum.
18/10/2002
Created by: Saffron Clackson on 18/10/2002
FM:44751
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