Star colors and surface temperatures – basic principles
How it works
Stars show different colors, which are fundamentally related to their surface temperature. Hot stars appear blue or white, medium-warm stars yellowish, and cooler stars reddish. The color of a star gives clues about its temperature: Blue stands for high temperatures, red for lower temperatures. From Earth, the Sun often appears yellowish to us and has a medium surface temperature. The temperature of a star is given in Kelvin (K). A rough color scale from hot to cold is: blue, white, yellow, orange, red.
In principle, the following applies: The hotter the surface of a star is, the bluer its star color appears; the cooler the surface is, the redder it appears.
An example
Which star has the highest surface temperature? A) A red star B) A yellow star C) A blue star D) An orange star
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50 Exercises
To the learning unit →Own explanation and own practice exercises by AmyMath. Subject reference framework: Astronomy. The topic assignment may vary by federal state.