WHAT DOES THE COLOR OF THE STARS DEPEND ON? - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The color of the stars depends on their temperature and mass. All this begins to be determined from its birth, which occurs when a nebula condenses and makes a nuclear fusion.

The color begins at that very moment and ends when the star uses all its fuel or energy, which is a combination of hydrogen and helium. This birth process can take thousands or millions of years.

The stars have different colors that allow us to determine their approximate age.

For example, the Sun is a yellowish star; from this it can be inferred that he has a mean age.

The Sun is between 4000 and 4.6 billion years old and its temperature is close to 6000 ° C.

The youngest stars tend to be the hottest and can reach up to 40,000 ° C. The oldest ones are of lower temperature, reach approximately 3000 ° C and are reddish in color.

The 5 types of stars according to their color

1- Blue stars

These are some of the younger stars. Its color is determined by temperature; that is, they are one of the hottest.

An example of these is the star Alnilam, which has a temperature of 27,000 ° C and a luminosity of 375,000 suns.

This star is well known since it is part of the Orion Belt along with two more stars: Alnitak and Mintaka.

2- White stars

They are hot stars and their color is really ultraviolet. However, the human eye perceives it as white; this is a result of all the colors in the color spectrum plus UV rays.

The Spica or Spike star belongs to this classification of white stars. It has a temperature of 22,400 ° C to 18,500 ° C, belongs to the constellation Virgo and is larger than the Sun of the Earth.

3- Yellow stars

The yellow stars resemble the Sun, their temperature is located at 6,000 ° C. They have an average age between 4 billion and 10 billion years.

Its life as a yellow star reaches approximately 12 billion years, the point where it begins its transformation process to an orange or red star.

The best known star of all, the Sun, belongs to this group of yellow stars. Among other yellow stars, the star Helvetios stands out; Its temperature is 5517 ° C, it is of the solar type and belongs to the constellation of Pegasus.

4- Orange stars

They have a temperature in the range of 4000 ° C. Orange dwarfs can have a temperature below 4000 ° C; however, they belong to this group due to their color and luminosity.

For example, the star Arthur is orange. It is characterized by being the brightest star in the sky and the second brightest known.

It has a temperature of 4290 ° C and is located in the constellation El Boyero.

5- Red stars

This is the last color the stars have. This is because they have used up the energy almost entirely.

The temperature of these stars is very low compared to the rest: it is around 3000 ° C.

The star Betelgeuse is red in color and is part of the constellation Orion. Its temperature oscillates between 3500 and 3000 ° C; it is the brightest in its constellation.

References

1. C., LI (2004). General geography for high school. Mexico: Editorial Limusa.
2. Inglis, M. (2004). Astronomy of the Milky Way: The Observer's Guide to the Northern Milky Way. New York: Springer Science & Business Media.
3. Inglis, M. (2004). Astronomy of the Milky Way: The Observer's Guide to the Northern Milky Way. New York: Springer Science & Business Media.
4. Jones, LV (2009). Guide to the Universe: Stars and Galaxies. Santa Barbara California: ABC-CLIO.
5. Milton D. Heifetz, WT (2008). A walk through the stars. Expanded Fifth Edition: A Guide to the Stars, Constellations, and Their Legends. AKAL editions.
6. Rosie Coleman, AC (2007). The Universio. AKAL editions.