Science Museum | The spectroscope: how helium was discovered @ScienceMuseum | Uploaded October 2018 | Updated October 2024, 6 hours ago.
The astronomer Sir Norman Lockyer is believed to have used this seven-prism spectroscope to detect the element helium for the first time.
Ordered from the London instrument maker, John Browning in 1868, Lockyer was using the device when he discovered an unknown spectral line in the Sun. He attributed this feature to a mystery element that he called Helium, an element that was only discovered on the Earth in 1894.
Lockyer also used this spectroscope to observe prominences, flame features on the edge of the Sun that can be normally seen only during solar eclipses.
Find out more about the spectroscope in our online collection collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/co56183/norman-lockyers-seven-prism-spectroscope-spectroscope-astronomica-solar-eclipsel
See the spectroscope in our blockbuster exhibition:
The Sun: Living With Our Star
6 October 2018 – 6 May 2019
Find out more: bit.ly/2pEeSrj
The astronomer Sir Norman Lockyer is believed to have used this seven-prism spectroscope to detect the element helium for the first time.
Ordered from the London instrument maker, John Browning in 1868, Lockyer was using the device when he discovered an unknown spectral line in the Sun. He attributed this feature to a mystery element that he called Helium, an element that was only discovered on the Earth in 1894.
Lockyer also used this spectroscope to observe prominences, flame features on the edge of the Sun that can be normally seen only during solar eclipses.
Find out more about the spectroscope in our online collection collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/co56183/norman-lockyers-seven-prism-spectroscope-spectroscope-astronomica-solar-eclipsel
See the spectroscope in our blockbuster exhibition:
The Sun: Living With Our Star
6 October 2018 – 6 May 2019
Find out more: bit.ly/2pEeSrj
