Saturday May 25, 2024

Catch the Colors of Stars (all night)

Stars shine with a color that is controlled by their surface (or
photospheric) temperature, and this is captured in their spectral classification. The three bright stars of the eastern sky Summer Triangle asterism are climbing the eastern sky after dusk. Named Deneb, Vega, and Altair, they are A-class stars that appear blue-white to the eye and have temperatures in the range of 7,500 to 10,000 Kelvins. Arcturus, which
dominates the southern sky in evening, is an orange, K-class giant star with
a temperature of only 4,300 K. Chara, the fainter of Canes Venatici's two stars, is a yellowish, G-class star with a temperature of 5,900 K, similar
to our sun's. Reddish Antares, the heart of Scorpius and sparkling above the southern horizon, is an old M-class star with a low surface temperature of 3,500 K. You can estimate the temperatures of fainter stars by comparing
their color to these bright reference stars.

(Data courtesy of Starry Night)
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