6th Grade Quest students enjoyed discovering how astronomers use lights to study the stars and planets. Our class was visited by Mrs. April Fowler, who showed and taught us all about how this works. We learned about spectroscopy and how it could possibly be the most powerful tool that astronomers use. Once you take light from a star, planet, or galaxy and pass it through a spectroscope it is a lot like a prism. It splits the light into its component colors. We also learned that spectroscopy tells you a star’s temperature, mass, and surface gravity. The students thoroughly enjoyed this experience and gained lots of new knowledge.
