Swan bands

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Spectrum of the blue flame from a butane torch showing excited molecular radical band emission and Swan bands.
Spectrum of the blue flame from a butane torch showing excited molecular radical band emission and Swan bands.

Swan bands are a characteristic of the spectra of carbon stars, comets and of burning hydrocarbon fuels. They are named for the Scottish physicist William Swan (1818-1894) who first studied the spectral analysis of radical carbon C2 in 1856.

[edit] See also

spectroscopy

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