Habbel telescope

For a few weeks this fall, both the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore and the American Museum of Natural History in New York were graced with a unique science and art exhibit. In a public presentation of astronomy data, Hubble spectra were etched with a high-power green laser on the facades of these two museums.

At first glance, the laser art exhibit is just a series of green squiggly lines. It looks more like a heartbeat or earthquake monitor than anything to do with Hubble or the universe. However, a little explanation can illuminate that connection and convey the deeper meaning behind it.

Hubble is well known for its amazing images, but about half of Hubble’s observations and discoveries come from examining an object’s spectrum. Hubble’s instruments disperse the object’s light into its component rainbow of colors. By studying the brightness of the light at each color, astronomers can deduce properties like temperature, composition, and motion. The graphs of spectra are the squiggly lines featured in the laser art exhibit.

Importantly, spectra are the crucial observations for very distant galaxies in the universe. These galaxies are so far away that even Hubble sees them as small blobs of light. Spectra provide the details that help us understand their characteristics and determine their distance.

And, at billions of light-years away, we see these galaxies as they were billions of years ago. These spectra are information gleaned from across both space and time, which led the artist Tim Otto Roth to name his laser presentation “From the Distant Past.” As he puts it, these graphs are “minimalist representations of some of the most distant objects in the universe.”

To an astronomer, it’s refreshing to insert spectra into the image-dominated public conversation about astronomy. Hubble science greatly depends on spectra to provide vital information about our universe, yet it is hard to present adequately in a press release. When you look at this laser exhibit, see past the green squiggles, and recognize spectra: the unsung hero of Hubble discoveries.

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