ExploraTour: A Peek into the Lives of the Stars


Now comes the exciting part...

When we apply this to stars, we find out a lot of interesting things about them. By observing the color of a star, we can figure out its temperature. If we know how far away the star is, we can calculate how much total light is given off. A star can appear brighter just because it is closer. From the color and intensity of the light, and the black body curves shown on the previous page, we can tell how big the star must be for the light from all the surface patches to add up to the total light we see... and all without leaving the Earth. This is a powerful tool for investigating the stars!

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ExploraTour - Looking at the World in a Different Light

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ExploraTour - Looking at the World in a Different Light

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ExploraTour - Looking at the World in a Different Light

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ExploraTour - Looking at the World in a Different Light

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ExploraTour - Looking at the World in a Different Light

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ExploraTour - Looking at the World in a Different Light

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ExploraTour - Looking at the World in a Different Light

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Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA