Magnetograph
Encyclopedia
A magnetograph is one of two types of scientific instrument
:
Scientific instrument
A scientific instrument can be any type of equipment, machine, apparatus or device as is specifically designed, constructed and often, through trial and error, ingeniously refined to apply utmost efficiency in the utilization of well proven physical principle, relationship or technology to...
:
- A special type of magnetometerMagnetometerA magnetometer is a measuring instrument used to measure the strength or direction of a magnetic field either produced in the laboratory or existing in nature...
that records a time plot of the local magnetic field near the instrument; or
- A telescopeTelescopeA telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
capable of producing magnetogramMagnetogramThe term magnetogram has two meanings, used separately in the contexts of magnetic fields of the Sun and the Earth.In the context of the magnetic field of the Sun, the term magnetogram refers to a pictorial representation of the spatial variations in strength of the solar magnetic field...
s: maps of the magnetic field strength and/or direction on a distant object such as the SunSunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
, using the Zeeman splitting or other spectralSpectrumA spectrum is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary infinitely within a continuum. The word saw its first scientific use within the field of optics to describe the rainbow of colors in visible light when separated using a prism; it has since been applied by...
signatures of magnetization. (see vector magnetographVector magnetographA vector magnetograph is a type of imaging telescope that can estimate the 3-D vector of the magnetic field on a distant body with a resolved line spectrum...
)