flash spectrum

noun

, Astronomy.

1. the emission spectrum of the chromosphere of the sun, which dominates the solar spectrum in the seconds just before and after a total solar eclipse.

Word History and Origins

Origin of flash spectrum¹

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

In 1896 actual spectrum photographs of the reversing layer established its existence beyond doubt—"flash spectrum" it is often called.

From Project Gutenberg

In very recent eclipses the cinematograph has been brought into action as an efficient adjunct of observation; in 1914 the first successful "movie" of the eclipse was secured in Sweden, and in 1918 Frost of the Yerkes Observatory first applied the cinematograph to registry of the "flash spectrum," and Stebbins tested out his photo-electric cell on the corona, making the brightness 0.5 that of the full moon.

From Project Gutenberg

Young caught the “flash spectrum” of the reversing layer, at the moment of second contact, at Xerez de la Frontera in Spain, on the 22nd of December 1870.

From Project Gutenberg

The theory of anomalous dispersion has been applied in a very interesting way by W. H. Julius to explain the “flash spectrum” seen during a solar eclipse at the moment at which totality occurs.

From Project Gutenberg

The spectrum of the reversing layer, or "flash spectrum," as it is sometimes called on account of the instantaneous character with which the change takes place, was, as we have seen, first noticed by Young in 1870; and has been successfully photographed since then during several eclipses.

From Project Gutenberg