Spectroscopy Infographic

This infograph shows how NASA uses spectroscopy to study the atmospheres of exoplanets.

Some telescopes capture starlight shining through the atmospheres of exoplanets. Gases in these atmospheres will block out certain slices of the spectrum in this starlight, in a way that scientists can read like a bar code – a light-sifting method known as spectroscopy.

In a sense, they will take “samples” of exoplanet atmospheres. In some cases, this might include searching for potential signs of life in these gases – biosignatures – although that investigation is far more likely to be taken up by even more powerful space telescopes in the future.