It is important to point out that we are not so much interested in dispersive prisms that split a beam of white light into its spectrum of colors, although they make great album covers.

We can split white light into a spectrum of colours using glass prisms or the reflective side of a CD. Most objects we think of as black aren't truly black. They are more usually very dark colours ...

A spectrometer acts a bit like a prism, separating light into different colors or parts, ultimately allowing astronomers to dissect the physical properties and composition of the object they're ...