Fraunhofer Lines Definition

frounhōfər
noun
A set of several hundred dark lines appearing against the bright background of the continuous solar spectrum and produced by absorption of light by the cooler gases in the sun's outer atmosphere at frequencies corresponding to the atomic transition frequencies of these gases.
American Heritage
The dark lines visible in the spectrum of the sun or a star.
Webster's New World

Origin of Fraunhofer Lines

  • After Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787–1826), German physicist

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Fraunhofer Lines Sentence Examples

  • In addition, taking advantage of the accuracy with which the bolometer can determine the position of a source of heat by which it is affected, he mapped out in this infra-red spectrum over 700 dark lines or bands resembling the Fraunhofer lines of the visible spectrum, with a probable accuracy equal to that of refined astronomical observations.

  • C. Vogel's observations on the 9th of June 1871, of differences due to the sun's rotation in the refrangibility of Fraunhofer lines derived respectively from the east and west limbs.

  • A photograph of the spectrum of Tebbutt's comet, taken by him on the 24th of June 1881, showed radiations of shorter wave-lengths but identical source, and in addition, a percentage of reflected solar light marked as such by the presence of some well-known Fraunhofer lines.

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