Accession No
2838
Brief Description
spectroscope, by Rayner, English, 1950 (c)
Origin
England
Maker
Rayner
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1950
Latest Date
1950
Inscription Date
Material
metal (alloy); plastic; cloth (velvet)
Dimensions
box length 117mm; breadth 59mm; height 48mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from Christie’s, South Kensington, London, England; lot 230, 29/04/1982.
Inscription
‘RAYNER
1190
MADE IN ENGLAND’ (on instrument box)
‘Rayner’ (on box)
Description Notes
White metal alloy direct vision spectroscope, plastic ends, slit width adjustable by moving metal arm in transverse groove in barrel. Push-focus eyepiece. Blue velvet-lined box.
References
Events
Description
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:44868
Images (Click to view full size):
