Astronomy › Section L · Analysing starlight and the stellar census › Topic L.2
Colours of stars
Stars are not all white: some glow orange-red, others blue-white. That colour is a thermometer you can read from trillions of kilometres away, and astronomers measure it precisely with filters and a single number called the colour index.
In this topic
- A sky full of colour
- Colour reveals temperature
- Worked example: where three stars peak
- Colour does not depend on distance
- Star colours and temperatures
- Why there are no green stars
- Measuring colour with filters
- The colour index
- Worked example: reading two colour indices
- Why colours are so useful
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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