spectra
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The Average Star
What the heck is the average star like? We’ve talked about a lot of stars over the past few weeks. We’ve discovered the vast distances between the stars, looked more closely at what really makes a star bright, and covered all…
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Spectroscopic Binary Stars
Consider a solar system far different from our own. A solar system governed by two suns, and consisting of planets we can only dream of. Would it surprise you to hear that, based on recent discoveries, that might actually be…
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Star Types Demystified
By now, I’ve introduced you to a lot of different ways to classify stars. Months ago, I talked about the different spectral classes — O, B, A, F, G, K, and M. Even before that, I told you about apparent visual…
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What Makes a Star Blue?
Albireo is the distinctive double star in the head of the constellation Cygnus. You can find it yourself if you look for the Summer Triangle amid the dusty trail of the Milky Way across the night sky. The brighter, orange…
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How Far Are the Stars?
Stars don’t look small because they’re really the size of pinholes in a blanket. The smallest are the size of Earth. The largest have 128,865,170 times Earth’s diameter. They look small in the sky because they’re distant. It’s for the same…
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Star Luminosity Classes
What do you think it would mean for a star to be in a specific luminosity class? I mean…does that mean they go to school to learn how to be bright? (Ha, ha…yeah, I know, bad astronomy pun.) Well…not quite.…
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The H-R Diagram
There are 250 billion stars in our galaxy alone. Many are much like the sun, labeled with the Latin sol for “sun” in this diagram. But many more are not quite what we might expect stars to be like, after living…
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Stars and Proper Motion
Recognize this constellation? Well, at the time stamp of about 2000 AD (CE), I think you will. It’s one of the most famous constellations in the night sky. Well, technically, it’s not a constellation at all. It’s an asterism — a…
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Spots on the Sun
Have you ever looked at the sun, and seen something like this? Now, before you decide to look at it right now and see what you see, it’s my responsibility as an amateur astronomer to remind you of the safety…
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Our Sun: The Chromosphere
This diagram is a tiny bit misleading. Here, it looks like the chromosphere is the visible surface of the sun, with the photosphere just below. Really, we never see the chromosphere. If you ever look through a solar telescope at…
