[Physics] Energy and colours of the stars

astrophysicsfrequencystarsthermal-radiationvisible-light

We know that stars have different colours because they have different energy. So blue stars have a lot of energy because the blues's frequency is very high $E = h\nu$. The colour of the star is its electromagnetic radiation which is influenced by the elements of the star. All stars issue white light, but we know that the absorption spectrum isn't a continue spectrum because some elements absorb some radiations. So does the blue star contain elements which absorb low radiations and so there are only high radiations which color the star with blu/violet? And what are these elements? How can we know if an element absorb radiations with low or high frequency?

Best Answer

Is your question not a contradiction in itself? You say that because of different star energies the colors occur, and then you switch this thesis with stars emitting white light, and elements absorbing the nonblue-parts.

Essentially this is not completely correct (unless I understand you wrongly). Saying that stars have different energy is not precise and I think uncorrect in this case.

What you should look into is black body radiation and Plancks law of radiation. Essentially this topic states that a higher temperature responds to different wavelengths, that are emitted off the star. Take a look at this image.

enter image description here

As you can see this shows the intensity dependent on wavelenght. The different curves correspond to different temperatures and higher temperatures cause more energetic radiation, thus radiation with lower wavelength and higher frequency. This so called black body radiation describes the different colors of objects at different temperatures. Think of metal that doesn't (or almost) emit visible light on its own when it is at room temperature, but heated up to sufficient temperatures it will start glowing. So yes the temperatures of stars correlate with their colors, the more detailed understanding of this comes from nuclear fusion and the different types of stars. This is represented in the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram.

enter image description here

The diagram represents a correlation between stellar color and size, which has to do with the nuclear processes involved in the star. I think you should research on this topic as well, as writing it out here would take some time.

But as to your final statement, yes indeed there are elements absorbing light in stars, especially in the stars outer sphere. I am sure you have heard of the Fraunhofer lines, and won't give an explanation here, but as to our current understanding of stars the color is not influenced due to complete absorption of gigantic parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, the line spectra give us clues about the elements that the star consists of, which again also has some relation to the size of the star (and its age). To understand this even better, I think the following image will help.

enter image description here

You see the exact correlation of stellar spectra as predicted by the black body radiation (the first image). Resonance absorption due to stellar elements cause the discrete absorption lights, the temperature however is the main factor governing the color.

Related Question