absorption line
McGraw-Hill Science & Technology Dictionary:
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absorption line
(əb′sörp·shən ′līn)
(spectroscopy) A minute range of wavelength or frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum within which radiant energy is absorbed by the medium through which it is passing.
Wiley Book of Astronomy:
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absorption line
A dark line in a continuous spectrum caused by absorption of light at a specific wavelength. In a star's spectrum, such lines are due to absorption of light by cooler gases in the outer layers of the star's atmosphere and they reveal the kind of atoms, ions, or molecules present; the Fraunhofer lines in the solar spectrum are the best known example. Absorption by molecules results in a band spectrum.
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McGraw-Hill Science & Technology Dictionary
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms. Copyright © 2003, 1994, 1989, 1984, 1978, 1976, 1974 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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