Astronomy › Section L · Analysing starlight and the stellar census › Topic L.7
Diameters of stars
Through almost any telescope a star is only a point of light, yet astronomers know that some stars are smaller than Earth and others would swallow the orbit of Mars. Eclipses, interferometers and the laws of radiation reveal sizes no ordinary image can show.
In this topic
- Points of light
- Angular size and true size
- Stars hidden by the Moon
- Interferometry
- Eclipsing binaries
- Diameters from eclipse timing
- Worked example: timing an eclipse
- Radius from luminosity and temperature
- Worked example: a supergiant and a white dwarf
- The range of stellar sizes
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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