Astrophysics (Index)About

stellar parameter determination

(methods by which the parameters of stars are determined)

Stellar parameters such as their mass, luminosity, radius, temperature, metallicity, age, rotation period, and distance can occasionally be determined directly, but more values can be determined with the help of models, which may be simple equations, charts reflecting many observed stars, or elaborate simulations of stellar processes. Through chains of such determinations, many such parameters can often be determined or approximated.

In some cases even when a parameter cannot be fully determined, a probability distribution of its values can be, through statistically-based studies of entire populations. For example, though the viewing angle of many binary systems' orbits are undetermined, the distribution of viewing angles of all such systems is likely to be evenly distributed, and data from a population of such binary systems still reveals a distribution of any parameters that would be determined by also knowing the viewing angle.

The most direct methods of stellar parameter determination:

Less direct methods:

Binary stars observed over time reveal much:

The methods listed here are rather basic and can be thought of as the lower rungs in the ladder leading to the current knowledge of the physics of stars. Advancing knowledge and improving technology have yielded new methods of parameter determination and have also improved the performance of these methods.

See "stellar distance determination", "stellar mass determination", "stellar radius determination", "stellar luminosity determination", "stellar temperature determination", "stellar age determination", "stellar rotation", and "gyrochronology".


(stars,astrophysics)
Further reading:
https://www.astro.up.pt/investigacao/conferencias/toe2014/files/bsmalley.pdf
http://astro.phy.vanderbilt.edu/~berlinaa/teaching/stellar/AST8030_3_measuringproperties.pdf
https://web.phys.cmu.edu/~tiziana/stars/stars2.pdf
https://nexsci.caltech.edu/conferences/2017/knowthystar/muirhead.pdf
http://cosmos.phy.tufts.edu/~danilo/AST31/Material/Lecture6.pdf
https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.06750
https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0412519
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015AIPC.1697k0001B/abstract

Referenced by pages:
ATLAS Stellar Model
binary star
H3 Survey (H3)
mass-radius relation
Spectroscopic Properties of Cool Stars (SPOCS)
star
stellar kinematics

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