Determining the composition of Stars:

Qualitative analysis puzzle: Can you identify one or two elements in the blue-white star, Sirius?

ANSWER:

In addition to the star's spectra, selected elemental spectra and a spectrum resulting from absorption by Earth’s atmosphere are shown.

The spectrum for Sirius is modified from a lithograph published in 1870 as found in the Cambridge Illustrated History of Astronomy. Spectral lines are simulated from data in the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 63^rd and from James B. Kaler, Stars and their Spectra, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1989.

Puzzle from Russ and Mary Colson, 2000.