by Ann » Fri Feb 11, 2011 8:28 pm
I get a huge kick out of seeing star colors. My favorite star color hands down is blue. Seeing blue color in stars isn't easy, partly because I don't think human color vision is particularly sensitive to blue color when the light is faint, as starlight certainly is. We are much better at detecting yellow and green color than blue or red when the light is faint. Because of that, we are never going to see the faint red color of emission nebulae when we look at these nebulae through a telescope. But because our eyes are sensitive to green, we may spot a green tinge in the otherwise apparently grey Orion Nebula (which looks grey to our eyes, that is).
But blue color in stars is also hard to spot. Nevertheless, it is really there in some stars. One of my "bluest" experiences is observing Lambda Orionis. There are many fainter, whitish stars next to O-type Lambda Orionis, and the color contrast between the white "neighbouring stars" and the blue O star was quite stunning.
Lambda Orionis is the brightest, bluest star here.
As for W Orionis, my experience is that it isn't as red as it looks in today's APOD. It was just mildly orangish to me when I observed it. The reddest star I've ever seen is V Aquilae.
V Aquilae. It looked almost redder than this when I saw it through a telescope.
If you want some color contrast in the sky, don't look at much talked about but overrated Albireo. Try 30 and 31 Cygni instead. 30 Cygni is a whitish A-type star, and very nearby 31 Cygni consists of a quite orangish primary and a quite blue secondary. You can see all these three stars through a 14 inch telescope.
30 and 31 Cygni, or Omicron Cygni. If you are interested in star colors at all, don't miss this colorful trio!
Ann
I get a huge kick out of seeing star colors. My favorite star color hands down is blue. Seeing blue color in stars isn't easy, partly because I don't think human color vision is particularly sensitive to blue color when the light is faint, as starlight certainly is. We are much better at detecting yellow and green color than blue or red when the light is faint. Because of that, we are never going to see the faint red color of emission nebulae when we look at these nebulae through a telescope. But because our eyes are sensitive to green, we may spot a green tinge in the otherwise apparently grey Orion Nebula (which looks grey to our eyes, that is).
But blue color in stars is also hard to spot. Nevertheless, it is really there in some stars. One of my "bluest" experiences is observing Lambda Orionis. There are many fainter, whitish stars next to O-type Lambda Orionis, and the color contrast between the white "neighbouring stars" and the blue O star was quite stunning.
[img]http://www.epsilon-lyrae.de/Doppelsterne/Galerie/LambdaOrionis/l_orionis800mm_klein.jpg[/img]
Lambda Orionis is the brightest, bluest star here.
As for W Orionis, my experience is that it isn't as red as it looks in today's APOD. It was just mildly orangish to me when I observed it. The reddest star I've ever seen is V Aquilae.
[img2]http://www.myslooh.com/data/teide/1/HM/2006/07/22/20060722_232145_3005.jpg[/img2]
V Aquilae. It looked almost redder than this when I saw it through a telescope.
If you want some color contrast in the sky, don't look at much talked about but overrated Albireo. Try 30 and 31 Cygni instead. 30 Cygni is a whitish A-type star, and very nearby 31 Cygni consists of a quite orangish primary and a quite blue secondary. You can see all these three stars through a 14 inch telescope.
[img2]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_M-a5OSdMyCw/Skq8Dxzyb7I/AAAAAAAADc8/vtvB4x81ERY/patriotic-triple-800w.jpg[/img2]
30 and 31 Cygni, or Omicron Cygni. If you are interested in star colors at all, don't miss this colorful trio! :D
Ann