This is my Project STAR spectrometer. It was very inexpensive.
The Project STAR spectrometer. Clockwise from the top-left, the long, curved feature is the housing for the graduated scale; next to it is the small light-intake port; at the bottom-edge is the whitish diffraction grating which is just above, or in front of, the eyepiece.
I use it for examining the color of different lights inside and outside. (Don’t look directly at the sun through this device – or anything else!)
It works by taking in light via the small opening at the upper-right.
The light bounces off the diffraction grating at the bottom of the photo.
It then spreads out over the graduated scale, which is inside the curved feature at the top of the photo.
I view the scale through the eyepiece that’s at the bottom of the photo.
I don’t get a histogram showing relative wavelength intensity, but it’s really easy to see what wavelengths are strong or weak, or which ones are missing.
I love having this!
View through the eyepiece of a Project STAR spectrometer. The light is from a 48″ Phillips 6,500K T12 lamp.The Project STAR spectrometer. Clockwise from the top-left, the long, curved feature is the housing for the graduated scale; next to it is the small light-intake port; at the bottom-edge is the whitish diffraction grating which is just above, or in front of, the eyepiece.The Project STAR spectrometer. Clockwise from the top-left, the long, curved feature is the housing for the graduated scale; next to it is the small light-intake port; at the bottom-edge is the whitish diffraction grating which is just above, or in front of, the eyepiece.The Project STAR spectrometer. Clockwise from the top-left, the long, curved feature is the housing for the graduated scale; next to it is the small light-intake port; at the bottom-edge is the whitish diffraction grating which is just above, or in front of, the eyepiece.The Project STAR spectrometer. Clockwise from the top-left, the long, curved feature is the housing for the graduated scale; next to it is the small light-intake port; at the bottom-edge is the whitish diffraction grating which is just above, or in front of, the eyepiece.
Reef Success 
2 Comments