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Spectrum of a K-type star
image
Created for the OAE
Caption: The spectrum of the K-type star 2MASS J19554455+4754531. The colour of the line between 400 nm and 700 nm roughly corresponds to the colour the human eye would see light of that wavelength. Below 400 nm and above 700 nm, where the human eye can see little to no light, the lines are coloured blue and red respectively.
The black lines show spectral absorption lines caused by atoms and ions of different elements in the star’s atmosphere. These atoms and ions absorb at specific wavelengths, causing sharp, dark lines in the spectra. How strong these lines are depends on the temperature of the star’s atmosphere. Two stars made from the same mix of elements could have spectra with vastly different sets of lines in their spectra if they have different temperatures in their atmospheres. The spectra of K-type stars are dominated by metal atoms such as iron, sodium and calcium atoms. There are so many lines from metal atoms, far too many to mark individually, that the spectrum has a choppy, ragged appearance. The lines of hydrogen atoms and calcium ions are much weaker than in the hotter G-type stars.
Credit: IAU OAE/SDSS/Niall Deacon
Glossary Terms:
K-type Star , Spectrum , Wavelength
Categories:
Stars
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
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Spectrum of an A-type star
image
Created for the OAE
Caption: The spectrum of the A-type star BD-11 1212. The colour of the line between 400 nm and 700 nm roughly corresponds to the colour the human eye would see light of that wavelength. Below 400 nm and above 700 nm, where the human eye can see little to no light, the lines are coloured blue and red respectively.
The black lines show spectral absorption lines caused by atoms and ions of different elements in the star’s atmosphere. These atoms and ions absorb at specific wavelengths, causing sharp, dark lines in the spectra. How strong these lines are depends on the temperature of the star’s atmosphere. Two stars made from the same mix of elements could have spectra with vastly different sets of lines in their spectra if they have different temperatures in their atmospheres. Lines from hydrogen atoms dominate the spectra of A-type stars and are strongest at this spectral type.
Credit: IAU OAE/SDSS/Niall Deacon
Glossary Terms:
A-type Star , Spectrum , Wavelength
Categories:
Stars
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
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84.67 kB)
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74.28 kB)
Spectrum of an F-type star
image
Created for the OAE
Caption: The spectrum of the F-type star 2MASS J22243289+4937443. The colour of the line between 400 nm and 700 nm roughly corresponds to the colour the human eye would see light of that wavelength. Below 400 nm and above 700 nm, where the human eye can see little to no light, the lines are coloured blue and red respectively.
The black lines show spectral absorption lines caused by atoms and ions of different elements in the star’s atmosphere. These atoms and ions absorb at specific wavelengths, causing sharp, dark lines in the spectra. How strong these lines are depends on the temperature of the star’s atmosphere. Two stars made from the same mix of elements could have spectra with vastly different sets of lines in their spectra if they have different temperatures in their atmospheres. The lines from hydrogen atoms that are strongest in A-type stars are still relatively strong in F-type stars but lines from metals, particularly ionised calcium begin to become strong at this spectral type.
Credit: IAU OAE/SDSS/Niall Deacon
Glossary Terms:
F-type Star , Spectrum , Wavelength
Categories:
Stars
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
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96.47 kB)
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74.72 kB)
Spectrum of a B-type star
image
Created for the OAE
Caption: The spectrum of the B-type star HD 258982. The colour of the line between 400 nm and 700 nm roughly corresponds to the colour the human eye would see light of that wavelength. Below 400 nm and above 700 nm, where the human eye can see little to no light, the lines are coloured blue and red respectively.
The black lines show spectral absorption lines caused by atoms and ions of different elements in the star’s atmosphere. These atoms and ions absorb at specific wavelengths, causing sharp, dark lines in the spectra. How strong these lines are depends on the temperature of the star’s atmosphere. Two stars made from the same mix of elements could have spectra with vastly different sets of lines in their spectra if they have different temperatures in their atmospheres. For B-type stars the most important lines are caused by helium atoms. These lines are strongest in B-type stars and weaker in hotter and cooler types. Lines from hydrogen atoms are also present but are not as strong as in cooler A-type stars.
Credit: IAU OAE/SDSS/Niall Deacon
Glossary Terms:
B-type Star , Spectrum , Wavelength
Categories:
Stars
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
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76.71 kB)
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73.33 kB)
Stellar spectral types
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Created for the OAE
Caption: The spectra of seven stars ordered by spectral type ranging from the hottest (O-type) at the top to the coolest (M-type at the bottom). The x-axis shows the wavelength of light and the y-axis is a measure of the flux of light received at that wavelength. Each spectrum is normalized (the flux at each wavelength is divided by the maximum flux in that spectrum) and the spectra are then offset from each other along the y-axis to make the plot easier to view. The colour of the lines between 400 nm and 700 nm roughly corresponds to the colour the human eye would see light of that wavelength. Below 400 nm and above 700 nm, where the human eye can see little to no light, the lines are coloured blue and red respectively.
The hotter stars have more of their flux at the bluer end of the spectrum and the cooler stars have more of their flux at the redder end. However the total amount of flux a star emits depends on its size and temperature. Due to this, a hot star will emit more red light than a cool star of the same size even if the cool star emits almost all its light in red light but this is not visible in this plot due to the normalization mentioned above. The sharp, narrow drops in the spectra are absorption lines caused by atoms and ions in the stars’ atmospheres. The strength of a spectral line depends on the temperature of a star’s atmosphere. Take the hydrogen line at 656.5 nm as an example. All of the stars in this plot are primarily made of hydrogen, but the 656.5 nm hydrogen line is weak for the hottest and coolest stars but strongest for spectral types A and F. This is because hydrogen absorbs more light at 656.5 nm at the temperatures of A and F stars’ atmospheres than in hotter or cooler stars.
The coolest star here, the M-type star, has wide absorption bands in its spectra. This is because this star is cool enough to have compounds such as titanium oxide in its atmosphere. These compounds, often called molecules in astronomy, produce wider spectral absorption features than atoms or ions.
Credit: IAU OAE/SDSS/Niall Deacon
Glossary Terms:
Spectral Type , Spectrum , Wavelength
Categories:
Stars
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
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185.71 kB)
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