Fraunhofer lines in the solar spectrum
Líneas oscuras del espectro solar (líneas de Fraunhofer)
- Date
- 1814 · confidence high
- Place
- Munich (Benediktbeuern), Bavaria, Germany
- Credited to
- Joseph von Fraunhofer; William Hyde Wollaston
- People
- 👤 Joseph von Fraunhofer1787–1826
- Field
- Communication
What was discovered
The solar spectrum contains hundreds of fixed dark lines which Fraunhofer catalogues and uses as a reference to measure refractive indices. They are the Sun's chemical fingerprint and the starting point of spectroscopy and astrophysics.
Wollaston saw some lines in 1802 but interpreted them as boundaries between colours. Merged with 'Solar spectrum absorption lines' (duplicate, 23-09-2026).
What it led to
- Spectroscopy (Kirchhoff and Bunsen, 1859)
- Astrophysics: chemical composition of stars
- Discovery of helium (1868)
- Atomic spectra and the Bohr model
- Astronomical spectroscopy
- Chemical analysis of stars (Kirchhoff and Bunsen, 1859)
- Discovery of helium
Built on
- Newton's spectrum
- Wollaston's observation (1802) of seven lines
Made possible
- Spectral analysis (Bunsen-Kirchhoff)1859-1860
- Spectral analysis and Kirchhoff's law of radiation1859
- Spectroscope and spectral analysis1859-1860
- Gaseous nature of nebulae (Huggins)1864
- Helium detected in the solar spectrum1868
- Harvard spectral classification1890-1901
- Diffraction grating (Fraunhofer, 1821)
- Precision optical glass
- Diffraction grating