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Chapter 5: Problem 38

A favorite object for amateur astronomers is the double star Albireo, with one of its components a golden yellow and the other a bright blue. What do these colors tell you about the relative temperatures of the two stars?

Short Answer

Expert verified
The blue star is hotter than the yellow star.

Step by step solution

01

Identify the Colors

Determine which colors are involved in the problem: golden yellow and bright blue.
02

Understand Color and Temperature Relationship

Recall that the color of a star is an indication of its surface temperature. Blue stars are hotter, and yellow stars are cooler.
03

Compare the Temperatures

Based on the color-temperature relationship, the bright blue star is hotter than the golden yellow star.

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Key Concepts

These are the key concepts you need to understand to accurately answer the question.

Double Star Systems
Double star systems, also known as binary star systems, are fascinating celestial arrangements where two stars orbit a common center of mass. These stars can have different colors and brightness, which often leads to beautiful observations like Albireo, the star described in the exercise.
There are various types of double star systems:
  • **Visual binaries**: Both stars can be observed through a telescope.
  • **Spectroscopic binaries**: These stars are so close that they appear as a single star through a telescope, but their spectrum reveals two sets of lines.
  • **Eclipsing binaries**: The stars pass in front of each other from our point of view, causing fluctuations in brightness.
Identifying and understanding double star systems help astronomers learn about star formation and evolution. Albireo's contrasting colors make it an excellent example for studying these beautiful systems.
Color of Stars
The color of a star provides important clues about its characteristics, particularly its surface temperature. Stars emit light across a range of wavelengths, but they peak at specific parts of the spectrum depending on their temperature.
Here's a quick guide to star colors and what they indicate:
  • **Blue stars**: These are the hottest stars with temperatures exceeding 10,000 K. An example is the bright blue star in Albireo.
  • **Yellow stars**: These stars, like our Sun, have intermediate temperatures around 5,500-6,000 K. The golden yellow star in Albireo falls into this category.
  • **Red stars**: These stars are cooler, with surface temperatures below 3,500 K.
The color of a star results from its peak emission of light. Hotter stars emit more blue light, while cooler stars emit more red or yellow light.
Stellar Temperatures
Stellar temperatures, indicated by a star's color, are crucial for understanding many aspects of a star's life cycle and properties. Temperature affects a star's brightness, size, and even its lifespan.
Key points about stellar temperatures:
  • **Hot stars**: These stars are generally more massive and burn their fuel quickly, resulting in shorter lifespans.
  • **Cooler stars**: These stars are less massive and burn their fuel more slowly, leading to longer lifespans.
  • **Temperature measurement**: Astronomers use the color index and spectral analysis to determine a star's surface temperature.
The different temperature layers inside a star also play a role in its structure and evolution. For instance, the core is the hottest part of a star where nuclear fusion occurs, producing the energy that we see as light.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

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T/F: Blue light has more energy than red light.
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