Question

What is the colour of the hottest stars?

Answer 1

Hint: Stars are big balls of gasses which emit out their own light and energy. As the temperature on the surface of the stars is very high, they emit radiation. The wavelength of their radiation decides the colour of the stars. According to the Wien’s law, the temperature is inversely proportional to the wavelength.

Complete step by step answer:
Stars are big balls of gasses like the sun. They are sources of light and energy due to the nuclear reactions taking place at their surface. Stars can also form solar systems with heavenly bodies revolving around them in elliptical orbits. There are several billions of stars in the universe. There are different types of stars. Similarly, stars have different colours as they have different sizes and temperatures. The colour of a star tells us a lot about its temperature. According to the Wien’s law, the wavelength is inversely proportional to the temperature of a body. Therefore, the hotter the star, the smaller the wavelength of the light emitted.
Therefore, the hottest stars have the colour blue while the cooler stars emit light at the red wavelengths.
Therefore, the hottest stars possess the blue colour as it has a shorter wavelength.

Note: The colour of the stars is not determined by the distance as dispersion of wavelengths occur and most colours appear the same from a distance. On the surface of the sun, nuclear reactions between hydrogen and helium atoms take place. Stars also emit ultraviolet rays due to its high temperature. The colour of the sun is slightly greenish-yellow.