Spectroscopy Infographic
![Spectroscopy Infographic](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/AWA_5_Diagram_980.jpeg?w=4096&format=jpeg)
April 26, 2021
Credit | NASA/JPL-Caltech/Lizbeth B. De La Torre |
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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.