111 - Spectrometry in Space: What Every Planet Is Telling Us

About this episode

This episode explores how scientists can determine the chemical composition of planets in our solar system through spectrometry and the light they reflect.

We've never touched Mars. We've never scooped up Pluto's frost or sifted through Jupiter's cloud layers. And yet scientists can describe the chemistry of every planet in our solar system with remarkable precision. This episode is about how that's possible — and why the colors you see when you look up at the night sky are some of the most information-rich things in the universe. The Philosopher Who Said It Was Impossible In 1835, French philosopher Auguste Comte declared that the physical composition of stars and distant worlds would forever lie beyond human knowledge. Within 25 years, he had been proven wrong — not by luck, but by a fundamental discovery about what light actually carries. The story of Kirchhoff, Bunsen, and those dark lines in the solar spectrum is one of the most dramatic reversals in the history of science. How Planets Speak in Light Planets don't generate their own light — they reflect the Sun's. But that reflected light isn't the same as what left the Sun. As sunlight passes through a planet's atmosphere and bounces off its surface, specific elements and compounds pull out their characteristic wavelengths. The result is a spectrum full of gaps — a chemical…

People in this episode

Host: Jill McKinley

Topics covered

• spectrometry
• space exploration
• planetary chemistry
• light and color
• history of science

Keywords

• spectrometry
• Mars
• Venus
• Jupiter
• planetary chemistry
• light spectrum
• Auguste Comte
• Kirchhoff
• Bunsen

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Mars, Pluto, Jupiter, Venus, solar system

More episodes of Buzz Blossom & Squeak

• 117 - From the Rockies to Alaska: Why the West Is So Different · June 11, 2026 · 39 min
• 116 - The Ancient Forces That Made North America · June 4, 2026 · 20 min
• 115 - How Baby Birds Learn Everything · May 28, 2026 · 22 min
• 114 - Why Birds Get Lost: The Science of Vagrancy and Range Expansion · May 21, 2026 · 22 min
• 113 - Reading the Sky: What Storm Colors Are Telling You · May 14, 2026 · 38 min
• 112- Why Is Water Blue? The Science of Color in Lakes, Oceans, and Ice · May 7, 2026 · 28 min