In
a flash, the visible spectrum of the Sun changed from absorption to emission on
November 3rd, during the brief total phase of a solar eclipse. That fleeting
moment is captured by telephoto lens and diffraction grating in this well-timed
image from clearing skies over Gabon in equatorial Africa. With overwhelming
light from the Sun's disk blocked by the Moon, the normally dominant absorption
spectrum of the solar photosphere is hidden. What remains, spread by the
diffraction grating into the spectrum of colors to the right of the eclipsed
Sun, are individual eclipse images at each wavelength of light emitted by atoms
along the thin arc of the solar chromosphere. The brightest images, or
strongest chromospheric emission lines, are due to Hydrogen atoms that produce
the red hydrogen alpha emission at the far right and blue hydrogen beta
emission to the left. In between, the bright yellow emission image is caused by
atoms of Helium, an element only first discovered in .
the flash spectrum of the
Sun
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