136 For Further Exploration: Analyzing Starlight
Articles
Berman, B. “Magnitude Cum Laude.” Astronomy (December 1998): 92. How we measure the apparent brightnesses of stars is discussed.
Dvorak, J. “The Women Who Created Modern Astronomy [including Annie Cannon].” Sky & Telescope (August 2013): 28.
Hearnshaw, J. “Origins of the Stellar Magnitude Scale.” Sky & Telescope (November 1992): 494. A good history of how we have come to have this cumbersome system is discussed.
Hirshfeld, A. “The Absolute Magnitude of Stars.” Sky & Telescope (September 1994): 35.
Kaler, J. “Stars in the Cellar: Classes Lost and Found.” Sky & Telescope (September 2000): 39. An introduction is provided for spectral types and the new classes L and T.
Kaler, J. “Origins of the Spectral Sequence.” Sky & Telescope (February 1986): 129.
Skrutskie, M. “2MASS: Unveiling the Infrared Universe.” Sky & Telescope (July 2001): 34. This article focuses on an all-sky survey at 2 microns.
Sneden, C. “Reading the Colors of the Stars.” Astronomy (April 1989): 36. This article includes a discussion of what we learn from spectroscopy.
Steffey, P. “The Truth about Star Colors.” Sky & Telescope (September 1992): 266. The color index and how the eye and film “see” colors are discussed.
Tomkins, J. “Once and Future Celestial Kings.” Sky & Telescope (April 1989): 59. Calculating the motion of stars and determining which stars were, are, and will be brightest in the sky are discussed.
Websites
- Discovery of Brown Dwarfs
- Listing of Nearby Brown Dwarfs
- Spectral Types of Stars
- Stellar Velocities
- Unheard Voices, Part 2: Women in Astronomy
- Women in Astronomy: An Introductory Resource Guide
Videos
When You Are Just Too Small to be a Star: 2013 Public Talk on Brown Dwarfs and Planets by Dr. Gibor Basri of the University of California–Berkeley (1:32:52)