Introduction - Orion - Milky Way Centre - M80 Globular Cluster Star Colours Introduction Stars vary in colour, according to their temperature. Red Dwarfs burn dimly and Red Giants brilliantly. Sun-like stars emit yellow light. Larger stars radiate with white, blue and even ultraviolet light. Different detectors vary in their sensitivity to colour. Un-aided, the eye is just sensitive enough to detect colour in the brightest stars. Colour film can record star colours with long exposures. Electronic imaging systems are more sensitive still.
Orion A long-exposure image recorded on film. Milky Way Center An image recorded on an Infrared digital camera. M80 Globular Cluster An image recorded on a CCD digital camera chip.
Michael Gallagher Last Updated July 2007