A Conversation for Sirius - The Dog-Star

Comparing blue and red stars

Post 1

Baron Grim

An easy way to see the visual difference between 'blue' and 'red' stars is to compare Sirius to Aldebaran using Orion's belt as a guide. As we find Sirius "by drawing a line to the left through the three stars of Orion's belt, and then looking for the brightest star you've ever seen," we can find Aldebaran by looking to the right (and a bit 'up') of Orion's belt for the first brightest star we see. (Aldebaran, at an apparent magnitude of .87, is the 14th brightest star. It stands out well when finding it from Orion's belt.)

Once both stars are located, look back and forth between the two and their comparative color differences are quite apparent.

Share and Enjoy smiley - towel


Comparing blue and red stars

Post 2

Gnomon - time to move on

Sirius is only slightly blue, but it looks very blue when compared with Aldebaran!


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