We made a spectroscopic study of the plasma of a high‐current hydrogen‐cesium glow discharge with planotron and Penning electrode geometries. The elemental of charge compositions of the plasma were determined. The dynamics of hydrogen, cesium, and molybdenum spectral lines was investigated at different discharge parameters. The changes in the densities of atomic hydrogen, ionized and atomic cesium were observed, along with the sputtering of the electrodes during the discharge pulse.The H&agr;‐ and H&bgr;‐line contours were measured with high resolution in a single discharge pulse (&bartil;10−3s). We determined the temperature of atomic hydrogen and the density of the plasma. The radiation energy of the plasma was measured within the 400–800 nm spectral range.