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Name:   Chantal B.
Status:   student
Age:   17
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 1999 - 2000

How does the Wien law permit astronomers to determine the tempeture of various star?

There are actually three radiation laws attributed to Wien. The first, and probably the one that easiest to apply to the temperature of stars, states:

Lmax * T = const. = 0.2896.

That is, the product of the wavelength of maximum emission intensity, Lmax, and the absolute temperature, T is a constant. So by measuring the wavelength of maximum intensity, an estimate of the temperature of the star can be made.

Vince Calder

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