by Ann » Sat Jan 13, 2018 6:13 am
Chris Peterson wrote:
I've never seen any stars that look particularly blue. The most intense color I've seen leans towards pale orange. All star colors are very low saturation to the eye. But they almost always show a pretty high degree of saturation in images... a consequence of how the intensity is flattened.
I shouldn't keep arguing with you about this, since both of us are actually right. But I can't stop myself.
The most intensely colored stars are indeed the cool ones. There can be no doubt that Betelgeuse is a shade of yellow, maybe even yellow-orange, when seen through the telescope. And in fact, there really are stars whose color is a deep orange or even red. That color can be seen in some carbon stars like T Lyra,
which looks very red here. A more realistic portrait of its color may be
this one by Anthony Ayiomamitis.
Realistic colors in bright stars in Orion, Canis Major and Canis Minor.
And there really are stars that look blue too, or at least blue-white. The star that is most "famously blue" in the sky is probably Vega. Several people have attested to its blue-white hue. When I helped operate a telescope in the astronomy club that I'm no longer a member of, many visitors had a look at Vega through a 14 inch telescope, and they all agreed that it looked blue.
When I look at the stars without optical aid, Sirius is the only star that looks a bit blue to me.
Ann
[quote="Chris Peterson"]
I've never seen any stars that look particularly blue. The most intense color I've seen leans towards pale orange. All star colors are very low saturation to the eye. But they almost always show a pretty high degree of saturation in images... a consequence of how the intensity is flattened.[/quote]
I shouldn't keep arguing with you about this, since both of us are actually right. But I can't stop myself.
The most intensely colored stars are indeed the cool ones. There can be no doubt that Betelgeuse is a shade of yellow, maybe even yellow-orange, when seen through the telescope. And in fact, there really are stars whose color is a deep orange or even red. That color can be seen in some carbon stars like T Lyra, [url=https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1614/25185079004_951aefcfec_b.jpg]which looks very red here[/url]. A more realistic portrait of its color may be [url=http://www.perseus.gr/Images/star-carbon-lyr-t.jpg]this one by Anthony Ayiomamitis[/url].
[float=left][img2]http://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives/images/screen/heic0206j.jpg[/img2][c][size=85]Realistic colors in bright stars in Orion, Canis Major and Canis Minor.[/size][/c][/float] [float=right][img2]https://stargazerslounge.com/uploads/gallery/album_1323/gallery_28976_1591_1338790495_13285.jpg[/img2][size=85][c]Blue-white Vega, Alpha Lyra. Inferior image source:
https://stargazerslounge.com/gallery/image/9155-vega-alpha-lyrae-in-the-constellation-lyra/[/size][/c][/float]
And there really are stars that look blue too, or at least blue-white. The star that is most "famously blue" in the sky is probably Vega. Several people have attested to its blue-white hue. When I helped operate a telescope in the astronomy club that I'm no longer a member of, many visitors had a look at Vega through a 14 inch telescope, and they all agreed that it looked blue.
When I look at the stars without optical aid, Sirius is the only star that looks a bit blue to me.
Ann