Facts About Stars' Light
Gazing at the stars from your backyard, you look back in time, observing light from stars in our galaxy that may take tens of thousands of years and more to reach the Earth. Starlight provides clues about the object in the sky and its temperature. Does this Spark an idea?
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Types
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Many objects in the night sky emit what we observe as starlight. In addition to single stars, whole galaxies can appear as points of light. With the unaided eye, you can observe planets, quasars, nebulae and star clusters as starlight visible on Earth.
Light Effects
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Observing whether starlight twinkles can help you discern stars from planets. Stars twinkle while planets produce steady light. Stars low on the horizon also twinkle more than stars higher in the sky because their light has to pass through extra miles of the Earth's atmosphere, which can cause irregular light effects: twinkling.
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Color
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As objects grow hotter, the wavelengths of light they emit become shorter and the color changes from red to yellow to blue. The same rule applies to starlight. You can tell a star's temperature by observing the color of its light. Red stars tend to be coolest, while blue stars have high temperatures.
Non-Visible Light
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The human eye can detect only a very narrow range of light wavelengths, but stars emit non-visible light as well, and this light can help astronomers determine if "starlight" actually comes from a star or another celestial body, such as a quasar. For example, according to the Space Telescope Science Institute, young stars emit ultraviolet (UV) light, while quasars give off gamma rays.
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References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
