1996/09/01 by P. J. Flower · 23 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #History and Developments in Astronomy
paper · doi:10.1086/177785
openalex publication_date 1996/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/09
This paper provides improved numerical relations between effective temperatures of stars, their B - V colors, and their bolometric corrections (B Cs) for the purpose of comparing theoretical stellar evolutionary calculations to color-magnitude diagrams of star clusters. Temperatures and bolometric correction measurements for 335 stars from the literature form the observational basis for the transformations. Measured temperatures range from 2900 to 52,500 K. Polynomial fits to the observations give relations between effective temperatures and B - V colors and between temperatures and bolometric corrections. Hot supergiants appear to have a T<SUB>eff</SUB>:B-V relation slightly different from those of main-sequence stars, subgiants, and giants. All luminosity classes appear to follow a unique T<SUB>eff</SUB>:BC relation. The T<SUB>eff</SUB>:BC relation for stars with temperatures less than ∼5000 K, however, is uncertain because temperatures of the coolest stars are determined from uncertain angular diameters.