The solar line spectrum is an obvious example of absorption line spectroscopy and can be surprisingly simple to observe as long as suitable safety precautions are observed. I have examined a number of methods for collecting the solar spectrum in simple and inexpensive ways. The most successful method was using a simple fiber optic visible spectrophotometer merely pointed at the sun, with and without a neutral density filter over the lens. Another method was constructing a simple spectroscope from PVC tubing and printed diffraction grating film. The spectrum was then photographed with a smartphone camera and then processed using readily available spectral processing software. Both methods were successful in obtaining low resolution spectral data of sufficient quality to identify many of the strong Fraunhofer lines in the solar spectrum.

Hands-on solar spectroscopy for introductory chemistry classes

2019 Spring National Meeting

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