Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
Saha's study of the thermal ionisation of elements led him to formulate what is known as the Saha ionisation equation. This equation is one of the basic tools for interpreting the spectra of stars. By studying the spectra of stars, one can find their temperature and using Saha's equation determine the ionisation state of the elements making up ...
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.
Type II Cepheids are not as well known as their type I counterparts, with only a couple of naked eye examples. In this list, the period quoted for RV Tauri variables is the interval between successive deep minima, hence twice the comparable period for the other sub-types.
A-type star In the Harvard spectral classification system, a class of main-sequence star having spectra dominated by Balmer absorption lines of hydrogen. Stars of spectral class A are typically blue-white or white in color, measure between 1.4 and 2.1 times the mass of the Sun, and have surface temperatures of 7,600–10,000 kelvin.
O-type stars are classified by the relative strength of certain spectral lines. [1] The key lines are the prominent He + lines at 454.1 nm and 420.0 nm, which vary from very weak at O9.5 to very strong in O2–O7, and the He 0 lines at 447.1 nm and 402.6 nm, which vary from absent in O2/3 to prominent in O9.5.
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.