Spectroscopy with Hubble

While images of the Universe excite and inspire the public, spectroscopy is a fundamental tool that astronomers use to study the Universe. Hubble's spectrographs provide scientists with the data they need to analyse the materials that make up stars, nebulae, galaxies, and the atmospheres of planets. Any object that absorbs or emits light can be studied with a spectrograph to determine characteristics such as its temperature, density, chemical composition, and velocity.