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At first glance, the stars may appear to all be white, but if you look at them from dark skies for any amount of time, you will see they are a diverse variety of colors,red,yellow, white, and blue.
Why should this be? Why should the stars come in so many colors? Why not just white?
It turns out the answer is because they are hot. All matter emits radiation, peaking at a wavelength (which can sometimes be seen as a color) which is dependent solely on the temperature of the body. This is known as Wein's law (pronounced Veen's law).
Most objects we encounter in everyday life are somewhere around room temperature. Give or take a few thousand degrees. This effect, known as blackbody radiation, happens to all objects, regardless of it's temperature. Objects which have a surface temperature just a few degrees above absolute zero (which is -273 c.) radiate most of their radiation in the form of radio waves. Hotter than that, and the object glows in microwaves.
After that, it radiates largely in the form of infrared waves. Hotter still, and the object glows red, then orange, yellow, green, then blue. This is the reason metal glows when it is hot. When the temperature is hot enough to have the atoms or molecules moving at wildly different speeds at the surface, all at around room temperature, the object will be seen to glow white hot, as white light is made from a composite of all the visible colors.
When an object reaches a temperature where it becomes too hot to radiate black body radiation in the visible wavelengths, it will shine in ultraviolet wavelengths. Hotter still, x-rays, and finally gamma rays.
Why does this happen? Because as an object grows hotter, there is, logically, more energy being released. As the energy level of radiation is increased, the wavelength becomes shorter and shorter. When the human eye perceives different wavelengths of visible light, we interpret it as different colors. This is why a rainbow always appears with the same colors in the same order. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. You will never see a rainbow with any other colors, or with the colors in any other order.
The coolest stars are around 3,000 degrees c. They are the red stars. Stars like the sun are next, glowing at about 6,000 degrees c., and are, of course, orange/yellow (although as we discussed last week, the Sun is greener than you think).
10,000 degrees c. will buy you a green star, and the going price on a blue star is around 25,000 degrees c. There are cool stars which radiate in the infrared, and will last dozens of billions of years. There are stars which expend their energy in the ultraviolet, and will last only a fraction of the lifetime of the Sun. Many of these stars cannot be seen with the naked human eye.
What else can I help you with?
How are planets an stars different?
Plants are normal and stars are like comets
How can stars have different absolute brightness?
Stars can have different absolute brightness due to variations in their size, temperature, and distance from Earth. Larger stars have more surface area to emit light, hotter stars emit more intense light, and stars that are closer appear brighter. These factors contribute to the variations in absolute brightness among different stars.
What are different sizes or stars?
Stars can be classified into different sizes based on their mass and luminosity. The most common sizes are dwarf stars (like our Sun), giant stars (larger and more luminous than the Sun), and supergiant stars (the largest and most luminous stars, like Betelgeuse and Rigel). There are also intermediate sizes like subgiant stars.
What accounts for different stars being seen in the sky during different seasons of the year?
The thing that accounts for different stars being seen in the sky during different seasons of the year is the tilt of the Earth. This not only creates the seasons, it brings different stars into view at different times.
What are physical properties of stars?
This is a hard question but stars have their own personality and are all different
How bright are the stars in constellation Gemini?
The constellation Gemini has different stars, with different brightnesses.The constellation Gemini has different stars, with different brightnesses.The constellation Gemini has different stars, with different brightnesses.The constellation Gemini has different stars, with different brightnesses.
When was Different Stars created?
Different Stars was created in 2002.
Where are the Stars in Mario Galaxy 2?
different stars in different levels
How is the sun different from the stars is it because it is different or what?
the sun and the stars are the same the only difference is that the stars are farther away and the sun is closer
Why are stars different coulors?
Different sized stars burn at different temperatures. Different temperatures produce different colours. Stars that are moving away from us will shift their colours towards the red. This is called "Red shift".
What is the different kind of stars?
vega,rigel,sirius,and betelgeuse are the most different kind of stars.
Can stars have different colors?
Stars do have different colours. If you look carefully, you will see that there are differences between the colours of stars. Some are very different in colour to others, but you will only notice if you look at them carefully.
Do spiral galaxies have young stars middle age stars or old stars?
It has all types of stars with different ages
What is a stars mass?
This is too broad. All stars have different masses.
How are planets an stars different?
Plants are normal and stars are like comets
How pole stars are differrent from the other stars?
its different from other stars coz they remain in the same place unlike other stars.
How can stars have different absolute brightness?
Stars can have different absolute brightness due to variations in their size, temperature, and distance from Earth. Larger stars have more surface area to emit light, hotter stars emit more intense light, and stars that are closer appear brighter. These factors contribute to the variations in absolute brightness among different stars.
