Accession No
3718
Brief Description
spectroscope slit, by Adam Hilger Ltd., English, 1935
Origin
England; London
Maker
Adam Hilger Ltd.
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1935
Latest Date
1935
Inscription Date
Material
metal (stainless steel, steel)
Dimensions
length 95mm; breadth 59mm; thickness 22mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Transferred from Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, 1988.
Inscription
‘1 DIV. = .01mm’ (above slit)
‘ADAM HILGER LTD., LONDON, ENGLAND’ (below slit)
Description Notes
Spectroscope slit made by Hilger.Adam (catalogue no. F31). Stainless steel jaws with fine steel micrometer screw and large divided drumhead (calibrated 0-50 by 1). Rotating shutter behind jaws.
Condition: good; incomplete (no prism or wedge).
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:44819
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