Re:Heaviest element yet detected in an exoplanet atmosphere
by adrian_b on Friday October 14, 2022 @07:32AM
(#33202159)
Atomic spectra are very complex, but not so complex as to cause confusions between them.
There is not a single absorption line, but a very large number of such lines, at different frequencies between which the relationship is not simple.
When several different absorption lines are measured and match the spectrum of a certain atom or ion, the chances of any other phenomenon causing correlated absorptions for all those different frequencies are negligible.
Molecular spectra are much more complex than atomic spectra and they have many closely spaced absorption lines, so there may be some confusions between different molecules when the observations are made in a limited frequency band, in which some molecules behave similarly, even if they would behave differently in other frequency bands that are not accessible for observations.
There is not a single absorption line, but a very large number of such lines, at different frequencies between which the relationship is not simple.
When several different absorption lines are measured and match the spectrum of a certain atom or ion, the chances of any other phenomenon causing correlated absorptions for all those different frequencies are negligible.
Molecular spectra are much more complex than atomic spectra and they have many closely spaced absorption lines, so there may be some confusions between different molecules when the observations are made in a limited frequency band, in which some molecules behave similarly, even if they would behave differently in other frequency bands that are not accessible for observations.