Xref: utzoo sci.astro:3132 sci.space:8547 comp.graphics:3749
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!pacbell!ames!amdahl!pyramid!leadsv!esl!rww
From: rww@esl.UUCP (Richard W. Webb)
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space,comp.graphics
Subject: STARS and color
Summary: What colors are they?
Keywords: stars, spectral class, color
Message-ID: <797@esl.UUCP>
Date: 28 Nov 88 23:40:09 GMT
References: <1287@cfa.cfa.harvard.EDU] <17459@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: rww@esl.UUCP (Richard W. Webb)
Organization: ESL, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA.
Lines: 28

Greeting, Greeting, Star Buffs,

	We all know about the Main Sequence, and how different stars
    have different colors.  What I would like to know is this:

	What RGB (red, green, blue) intensity values should I use for
    a star of a given spectral class?

	O stars are "blue-white" while M stars are "reddish."  I would
    like to be a bit more precise than this.  Possibly, I could
    guess at a mapping from spectral class to temperature, and then use
    the blackbody color curve (CIE chromaticity as a function of
    temperature) to produce a color for each spectral type.  I would
    much rather lookup in a table the RGB values for each spectral type.
    If anyone has done something like this and can send me a table like
    this, I would greatly appreciate it.  However, any pointers or
    references to similar material would also be appreciated.

	Please Email, I will post a summary of the responses.  I am
    doing this for my own modification to the "starchart" program that
    was made available a few months ago.

		Thank you very much for any help you can provide.
-- 
Richard W. Webb                           ecvax!decwrl!borealis!\
ESL Inc.  MS/302                                 sdcsvax!seismo!- ames!esl!rww
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