Hubble image archive

A STIS Absorption Spectrum

A beam of light coming to Earth from a distant quasar passes through numerous intervening gas clouds in galaxies and in intergalactic space. These clouds of primeval hydrogen subtract specific colors from the beam. The resulting "absorption spectrum," recorded by Hubbles Space Te...

Date
Jan 1, 1998
Mission
Hubble Space Telescope
Archive ID
hubblesite-images-1998-41-732-image
By

A beam of light coming to Earth from a distant quasar passes through numerous intervening gas clouds in galaxies and in intergalactic space. These clouds of primeval hydrogen subtract specific colors from the beam. The resulting "absorption spectrum," recorded by Hubbles Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) is used to determine the distances and chemical composition of the invisible clouds.

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Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.

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