How can you relate the different colors of a campfire to the temperature of a star?

Answer 1

The color of a star depends on its surface temperature. Our Sun's surface temperature is about 6,000 Kelvin. Although it looks yellow from here on Earth, the light of the Sun would actually look very white from space. This white light coming off of the Sun is because its temperature is 6,000 Kelvin. If the Sun were cooler, it would give off light more on the red end of the spectrum, and if the Sun were hotter, it would look more blue.

Answer 2

A star's color tell us how old the star is and how hot the star is. A blue star is very hot and is young, a yellow star is cooler than blue, but hotter than red and is about half way through its lifetime, lastly a red start is cooler than yellow and blue and is near the end of it's life.

submitted by:

Fabrigar, Lovely Joana Ymas.

Answer 3

The color of a star's visible light indicates its surface temperature: a relatively cool star glows red (longer wavelength), and very hot ones glow bluish-white or even blue (shorter wavelengths).

* Blue more than 30,000 °Kelvin * Blue to blue white 10,000 to 30,000 °Kelvin * White 7,500 to 10,000 °Kelvin * Yellowish White 6,000 to 7,500 °Kelvin * Yellow 5,200 to 6,000 °Kelvin * Orange 3,700 to 5,200 °Kelvin * Red 1,000 to 3,700 °Kelvin * Brown less than 1,000 °Kelvin

* Black close to 0 °Kelvin The relationship is λmax*T=2.898*10^-3m°K Where λmax is the wavelength at which the star emits the maximum amount. So, for example for the Sun λmax = 5.1 nm Therefore T=(2.898*10^-3m°K)/(5.1*10^-9m) T=568,000 °C So as an object increases in temperature, its colour will slowly change, starting at red and progressing into blue and beyond.





A stars temperature is generally worked out by the average temperature of the photosphere.

This is not typical through out the star however.

The Solar Corona which is above the photoshere is very hot indeed, several million degrees. We normally cant see this because it does not shine in visible light. We only see this during an eclipse. It the bright band that is visible that seems to surround the moon during a solar eclipse. It is caused when matter is excited by the solar magnetic field.

Hotter still is the core. In the sun this is thought to be 10 - 20 million degrees. These temperatures are due to the pressure caused by gravity trying to compress the star. It has to be this temperature for fusion of hydrogen to take place. Once fusion starts in a young star this adds to the temperature to ensure that fusion continues.
The star's temperature is depended on the color of the star, blue is the hottest ,and red is the coolest.
the red stars are at under 3,500 K

the white and yellow stars are at 5,000 - 6,000 K

the blue and white stars are at 6,000 - 7,500 K

the blue stars are at over 25,000 K

Answer 4

new stars are white-blue,

older ones yellow (our Sun),

oldest ones black (like a black hole if they are really big when babies).

The color also depends on the size of the star; but that is another topic.

Answer 5

A stars colour is determined by it's temperature.

So in temperature scales from hottest to coolest.

• Blue
• Blue-white
• White
• Yellow-white
• Yellow
• Orange
• Red

See related question.

Answer 6

The temperature of the 'photosphere' of the star (the surface that generates the light that emanates from the star) is the most obvious reason for the different colors of stars.

Other factors that become apparent when detailed analysis is performed include elements in the composition of the star and elements in clouds of gases and dust in the space between the star and the observer.

Answer 7

The colour of a star is dependant on it's temperature [See related question]. The hotter a star is the more it is shifted to towards the blue end of the spectrum, whereas the cooler a star is the more it is shifted towards the red end.

Stars do not stay "static" and change over time, so there temperature changes over time.

Answer 8

The size of a star does not affect it's colour or temperature.

The colour of a star is because of it's temperature. The hotter the star the more it appears blue, the cooler a star the more it appears red.

Generally, the larger the star, the hotter it will be, but there are exceptions. Some of the largest stars are red hypergiants but some of the smallest are also red.

So there is no real correlation between them.

Answer 9

We all know that the color of anything depends on the wavelength of the light coming from it? For example, if the wavelength is 400 nanometers, the color will be violet, and if it's 700 nanometers, it will be red. That being said, I would like to say that there is an equation relating temperature and the peak wavelength(the wavelength at which the intensity is the greatest).

Surface Temperature of Star x Peak wavelength = 2.898 x 10-3

So, the hotter the star, the lower the peak wavelength, the more violet it is(it's actually more like blue.). The cooler the star, the redder it is.

Answer 10

Actually, it is more the other way around. A lower-temperature older star like Sol (our sun) is probably classed as a somewhat yellow star.

A new, big star is going to be more on the faintly blue side of the color spectrum.

In either case, the color of a star that you are looking at might be a little bluer or a little yellower, depending on whether you and it are moving apart, or moving closer. It's all relative.