I’m not talking about something in our solar system , im talking about astronomers claiming that a star billions of light years away is made only out of hydrogen and helium. How do they know that? And I’ve seen some other papers about planet temperatures and other things how do they know that too?
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As different elements burn or undergo fusion, they put out different combinations of light frequencies. Looking at these ‘spectral signatures’, will tell observers what elements are being burned.
It also goes the other way. If light passes through an atmosphere around a planet, the elements in that atmosphere will absorb certain combinations of frequencies. That can also be analyzed to see what elements are present.
Do a search on “emission spectrum” and “absorption spectrum” and you’ll find all sorts of information about this.
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