A Conversation for Sirius - The Dog-Star
Comparing blue and red stars
Baron Grim Started conversation Dec 16, 2009
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.
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Comparing blue and red stars
Gnomon - time to move on Posted Dec 17, 2009
Sirius is only slightly blue, but it looks very blue when compared with Aldebaran!
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Comparing blue and red stars
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