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Credit & Copyright: David Malin
Explanation:
What determines a star's colour?
Its temperature.
Red stars are cool, around 3,000
kelvins (K), while blue stars are hotter and can
have temperatures over 30,000 K.
Our own lovely yellow Sun's temperature is a
comforting 6,000 K.
Differences in star colours are dramatically
illustrated in the above photo of
the constellation Orion,
made using a "star trail step-focus" technique.
In this technique, a time exposure is used to create
star trails,
but during the exposure, the focus is changed in steps.
For the brighter stars, the blurred image
produces more saturated colours in photographs.
At the upper left,
the cool red supergiant Betelgeuse
stands out from the other, hotter, bluish stars composing
the body of the constellation.
Bright
Rigel, a blue supergiant, is at the lower right.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Orion - temperature - star
Publications with words: Orion - temperature - star
See also:
- APOD: 2024 June 16 Á Animation: Black Hole Destroys Star
- APOD: 2024 January 31 Á Camera Orion Rising
- APOD: 2024 January 16 Á The Orion You Can Almost See
- APOD: 2023 January 25 Á LDN 1622: The Boogeyman Nebula
- The 25 Brightest Stars in the Night Sky
- The Horsehead Nebula Region without Stars
- Orion Pines