International Year of Astronomy 2009

[bfg00]

Happy New Years!  This year happens to be the International Year of Astronomy, comemorating the 400 anniversary of Galileo turning his telescope to the heavens.  For more information check out:

http://astronomy2009.us/

Being the resident astronomy graduate student I figured I would answer any astronomy related questions you may have.  So fire away if you have any and if you have a chance go out this year and take a look at the nightsky with a telescope, its alot of fun.

[Hyperguy]

What other colors do stars come in?

[bfg00]

All different types ranging from red to blue.  The color of a star is based on its temperature.  The hotter the star the bluer it is, the cooler the star the redder it is.  You can see an example of this in a fire, the hottest part of the fire is blue and the coolest is red.  Bluer stars are usually brighter, hotter, and are more massive than redder stars which are cooler, dimmer and less massive.

[JG]

What other colors do stars come in?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_classification

[黒い灯影]

thats strange, because you can hold a ball of fire (something burning) without being burnt
if the source of the fire is close to the surface (if surface is not "charcoal"-ing red- like how wood burns)

.......Or is that before the blue flames???

[bfg00]

Well its not exactly like fire but same idea.  Really the color to temperature idea only really works for Blackbody radiators.

[bfg00]

Here's a pretty awesome Astronomy Picture:

http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/press-rel/pr-2009/pr-03-09.html