Explain the fundamental concepts upon which can be used as a probe to determine elements presents in the stars and interstellar regions
Answers
Figure 1 shows a striking example of what is actually a common sight through large telescopes: a dark region on the sky that appears to be nearly empty of stars. For a long time, astronomers debated whether these dark regions were empty “tunnels” through which we looked beyond the stars of the Milky Way Galaxy into intergalactic space, or clouds of some dark material that blocked the light of the stars beyond. The astronomer William Herschel (discoverer of the planet Uranus) thought it was the former, once remarking after seeing one, “Here truly is a hole in heaven!” However, American astronomer E. E. Barnard is generally credited with showing from his extensive series of nebula photographs that the latter interpretation is the correct one (see the feature box on Edward Emerson Barnard).

Figure 1. Barnard 68: This object, first catalogued by E. E. Barnard, is a dark interstellar cloud. Its striking appearance is due to the fact that, since it is relatively close to Earth, there are no bright stars between us and it, and its dust obscures the light from the stars behind it. (It looks a little bit like a sideways heart; one astronomers sent a photo of this object to his sweetheart as a valentine.) (credit: modification of work by ESO)
Dusty clouds in space betray their presence in several ways: by blocking the light from distant stars, by emitting energy in the infrared part of the spectrum, by reflecting the light from nearby stars, and by making distant stars look redder than they really are.
Each element absorbs light at specific wavelengths unique to that atom. When astronomers look at an object's spectrum, they can determine its composition based on these wavelengths. The most common method astronomers use to determine the composition of stars, planets, and other objects is spectroscopy.