effective temperature


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The temperature of a star's outermost visible layer, the photosphere. Temperatures vary throughout a star, from millions of degrees in the core to thousands of degrees in the outer stellar atmosphere. The overall color of a star is related to its effective temperature. The dominant color of the star's spectrum is the wavelength range in which the star radiates most of its energy. For example, stars with cooler stellar atmospheres than our Sun appear orange and red. Those with hotter temperatures are blue and white. In addition, astronomers can combine the effective temperature of a star with other information to calculate the temperature of the stellar core.