What can spectra tell us about temperature?

Stars are too far away (and too hot!) for a human to touch, yet we can measure their temperatures. Spectra make this possible! Let’s investigate how.

Temperature Predictions

Spectrum Notebook. Answer these questions in your Notebook:

  1. You see a red star and a blue star in the sky. Which do you think has the higher temperature?
  2. Explain why you chose the answer you did. (It is okay if you guessed. We will explain the answer in the next section.)