Quote:
Originally Posted by Nereid
... if we focus only on the SED around the blackbody peak - say an OOM or two either side - what is the answer to the question in the OP ... for all the kinds of stars we can see?
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I think this can & will quickly become an answer that is too long & complex to delve into here in detail. For the sun, most of the continuum comes from the H
- ion. In cooler stars we see a lot more absorption lines, including molecular lines, and the continuum now becomes a combination of line wings and true continuum sources. And in hotter stars, the H
- absorption goes down.
With that in mind, I would like to suggest a book:
The Observation and Analysis of Stellar Photospheres, by
David F. Gray, Cambridge University Press, 2005 (3rd editiion). This book answers the question as well as any book will.