Heliospectrotron 5000

HelioSpectrotron 5000

Explore the solar spectrum, one wavelength at a time.

Central wavelength (Å)

(Å)

Center window around given wavelength

Window Size

(Å)

Moddify window size

Window Step

(Å)

Navigate Spectrum

Display

Display Options

Resolution (R@500nm)

Change spectral resolution

Telurics

Change altitude

Flux

Units for Flux.

Export

Save window

Wavelength

Wavelength medium

Jump to

Frequently used spectral diagnostics.

hover: —

range: —

Legal Notice & Privacy Policy

The HelioSpectrotron is a service by the Leibniz-Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP). The impressum of the AIP can be found at https://www.aip.de/en/impressum .

Protection of your privacy when using our websites is important to us. The HelioSpectrotron follows the Data Protection Statement of the AIP, which is accessible at https://www.aip.de/en/impressum/Data-Protection-Statement .

Help

HelioSpectrotron 5000 is an interactive solar spectral atlas that lets you inspect reference spectra, apply optional spectral-resolution degradation, and overlay telluric transmission for typical observing altitudes.

Black line represents the solar spectrum, the red line represents the telluric spectrum Tip: press Enter in any input to re-render Hover the plot to read wavelength + intensity Use “CSV” to copy wavelength + intensity Press “Dark” for dark mode

Quick start

Pick a diagnostic via Jump to, or type a Central wavelength and hit Go.
Adjust Window Size to set how much spectrum you see.
Use Resolution (20k–200k) to emulate your instrument; choose ∞ for the raw atlas.
Toggle Tellurics and select Altitude to match observing conditions.
Export with PNG or copy data via CSV.

Controls explained

Central wavelength: recenters the displayed window.
Window Size: total width of the displayed interval.
Window Step: shifts the window left/right by the chosen step size.
Labels: toggles curated line identifications in the plot.
Legend: toggles legend (solar/tellurics/overlays).
Å/nm: display unit toggle (does not change internal sampling).
Light/Dark: theme toggle.

Resolution (R@500nm) and REF∞

The reference atlas is treated as effectively “infinite resolution”. Choosing a finite resolving power applies spectral broadening to emulate an instrument.

∞: no degradation.
20k–200k: approximate instrumental broadening.
REF∞: overlays the undegraded reference for direct comparison.

Tellurics, altitude, and Air/Vacuum

Tellurics On/Off: toggles atmospheric transmission overlay.
Altitude: changes expected telluric absorption strength.
Air/Vacuum: selects wavelength convention used for display and backend queries.

Flux modes and export

Normalized: continuum-normalized intensity.
Fν / Fλ: absolute units (as provided by the backend).
PNG: downloads the currently displayed plot.
CSV: opens a modal with wavelength + y values (TSV) for copy/paste.

Common pitfalls

If the plot looks “empty”, increase Window Size or verify you’re within the atlas wavelength range.
If line centers look shifted, confirm Air/Vacuum matches your line list or observation.
Only a subsection of spectral lines are labeled to avoid overcrowding, and only 60 lines are printed per window. Please refer to the source book, or OCR table on the project Github for a full list.
While taken at high altitude, this atlas still contains telluric features that cannot be removed. Red lines overlapping with black lines are how tellurics are identified.

This help text describes the UI and processing at a high level. For data sources and citations, see Acknowledgments.

Acknowledgments | Sofware version 1.0

This website combines published solar reference spectra, atmospheric transmission modelling, and curated line-identification lists to enable interactive inspection of the solar spectrum.

This page is a service by the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP).

Author and implementation
A. G. M. Pietrow (code repository)

For feedback and suggestions, please email apietrow@aip.de.

Data and external resources

Solar reference atlas: Neckel & Labs (1984) via ISPy
Telluric transmission: TAPAS atmospheric transmission service (Bertaux et al. 2014)
Line identifications: Moore et al. (1966) and Babcock & Moore (1947)
Air–vacuum wavelength conversion: Greisen et al. (2006)

How to cite
If you use this atlas in a publication, please cite the reference paper [publication pending] and the underlying resources listed below, as appropriate.

References

Neckel, H., & Labs, D. (1984), Solar Physics, 90, 205. ADS
Bertaux, J.-L., et al. (2014), A&A, 564, A46 (TAPAS). ADS
Moore, C. E., Minnaert, M. G. J., & Houtgast, J. (1966), The Solar Spectrum 2935–8770 Å. ADS
Babcock, H. W., & Moore, C. E. (1947), The Solar Spectrum 6600–13495 Å. ADS
Greisen, E. W., et al. (2006), A&A, 446, 747. ADS