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The spectral classes O through M, as well as other more specialized classes discussed later, are subdivided by Arabic numerals (0–9), where 0 denotes the hottest stars of a given class. For example, A0 denotes the hottest stars in class A and A9 denotes the coolest ones.
The spectral class S was first defined in 1922 to represent a number of long-period variables (meaning Mira variables) and stars with similar peculiar spectra. Many of the absorption lines in the spectra were recognised as unusual, but their associated elements were not known.
The spectral type is not a numerical quantity, but the sequence of spectral types is a monotonic series that reflects the stellar surface temperature. Modern observational versions of the chart replace spectral type by a color index (in diagrams made in the middle of the 20th Century, most often the B-V color) of the stars.
A good example is Plaskett's star, a close binary consisting of two O type giants both over 50 M ☉, temperatures over 30,000 K, and more than 100,000 times the luminosity of the Sun (L ☉). Astronomers still differ over whether to classify at least one of the stars as a supergiant, based on subtle differences in the spectral lines.
υ Orionis is a main sequence star of spectral type O9.7, although it has sometimes been given the spectral type B0V; Plaskett's star, a massive binary consisting of two O-class stars in orbit around each other and also one of the most massive binaries known.
A G-type main-sequence star (spectral type: G-V), also often, and imprecisely, called a yellow dwarf, or G star, is a main-sequence star (luminosity class V) of spectral type G. Such a star has about 0.9 to 1.1 solar masses and an effective temperature between about 5,300 and 6,000 K (5,000 and 5,700 °C ; 9,100 and 10,000 °F ).
By projecting all three images onto a screen simultaneously, he was able to recreate the original image of the ribbon. #4 London, Kodachrome Image credits: Chalmers Butterfield
The separation of Wolf–Rayet stars from spectral class O stars of a similar temperature depends on the existence of strong emission lines of ionised helium, nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen, but there are a number of stars with intermediate or confusing spectral features. For example, high-luminosity O stars can develop helium and nitrogen in ...