RS – Features related to Art examination

In this lesson, we answer real questions from professionals using Gorgias.

Q: I am worried about the light level and temperature rise at the surface of the object that you are getting using the 10W halogen source in the Gorgias. I think this can be of some concern, particularly with in-situ analysis of pigments on works on paper. Do you have measurements for light and temperature at the object surface that you could share?
R: The system uses a 10W halogen lamp and, as you observed, this lamp generates heat. Though, the system uses fiber optics for probing and so the hot lamp can be kept conveniently almost 1 meter from the subject. Furthermore, fiber optics do not transfer heat, just the radiation between the near UV and the near IR. This radiation is low because the fiber optics probe just collects a tiny fraction of the radiation emitted by the lamp and deliver it to the sample. We measure it and it is about 200 lux. To understand the magnitude of this value we can consider that standard Office illumination is around 300-500 lux.