AstroMedia kit handheld spectroscope

We wonder if maybe one day the EU inspectors chasing criminals who still use the old light bulbs will be equipped with practical, handy spectroscopes like these? It also gives sterling service to enlightened citizens: it only takes a few minutes to assemble, and then gives an astonishingly precise representation of the light spectrum of all possible sources of light. You can examine your camera filters for example, the anti-glare qualities of your sun-glasses, the spectral gaps in modern energy-saving bulbs and lamps. The spectroscope will also provide you with reliable information on street-lighting lamps, on what’s happening behind the lighted sign in front of your favourite restaurant – or for that matter the local Police Station.

The low price and simple shape of this handy gadget conceal a highly complex piece of technology. In its interior the prismatic colours are filtered by a high-precision diffraction grating with 1.000 lines/mm. The individual ‘finger-print’ of each source of light is made visible and can be compared with the various different sources of light from the continuous spectrum of glowing bodies like the sun or a light bulb down to the line spectra of mercury steam lamps and so on. Wave-lengths can be read off to a degree of accuracy of about 5 nm with the help of brightness regulator. The standard deviation of this hand spectroscope compared to professional spectroscopes is under 3 %.