How do astronomers measure the temperature of the Sun without going there?

Answer 1

By the spectrum of the light that it gives off.
Think of a burner on a stove. As the temperature increases the light that it gives off changes (red to orange to bright orange). In exactly the same way we can look at the light of the sun (or distant stars) and by examining the peak wavelengths of light it gives off, we can determine what the actual temperature is.

do a google search for black body radiation or black body spectrum. or check out the wikipedia link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_body

Answer 2

Astronomers measure the temperature of far-away things (Stars) by investigating the radiation (mostly light) that they emit, and they can do that right here from the Earth. Astronomers use the same effects that you see if you heat up a piece of iron.

You don't feel any radiation (heat) coming from a cold piece of iron, but it's still emitting a little radiation. If you heat up the iron you will start feeling its heat even when you are not touching it. This heat that you feel is the infrared radiation that the iron emits because of its temperature. The hotter you make the iron, the more heat you'll feel. If you make the iron hot enough, it also starts to glow: first a dull red (red-hot), and finally a bright white (white-hot).

So, if you heat up a piece of iron you notice three effects: when the iron gets hotter, you feel more heat coming from it, it glows brighter, and its color changes. These things don't just happen with pieces of iron, but with any material, including the material in the Sun.

Heat is not the only thing that can make stuff glow, though. Some things can glow even when they are cold, for instance a fluorescent light, and a television or computer screen (which also uses a kind of fluorescence). These are called continuum sources because they emit light at every wavelength in a broad range, not just at a few specific wavelengths. If scientists can measure the total light output, including the infrared heat, they can find the object's temperature.

So, you can measure something's temperature by measuring how much energy (heat and light) it emits, and by checking the color(s) of the light that it emits. To find the temperature of the object from its light, it is important that you look at only the light that the object itself emits, and not at light from some other source that it reflects. The colors you see around you during the day are caused by reflected sunlight, so they do not say anything about the temperature of things on Earth, but rather about the temperature of the visible surface (the photosphere) of the Sun.

Scientists long ago figured out what temperature goes with what color and what brightness, so if they know the brightness or color, then they can easily determine the temperature. If you don't know how far away the thing is that you're looking at, then you can only use the color to figure out what temperature it has. This is the case for many stars.

In this way, the surface temperature of the Sun has been found to be about 5770 kelvin, or 9900 degrees F, or 5500 degrees C.

Answer 3

The temperature of the surface of the Sun can be determined in various ways.

We know how much energy we receive on Earth per unit time over a unit area facing the Sun. Then knowing the distance to the Sun, we can estimate total energy being emitted by the Sun. The total energy emitted per unit time per unit area is related to temperature in a known way. This can be used to find the Surface temperature of the Sun.

The Sun is a gaseous sphere and it seems to be a stable object. We know that gravity holds the Sun together. In that case the gas pressure must be enough to balance the gravitational force. We know the relation between gas pressure and temperature, this is then used to calculate the core temperature.

Answer 4

Sun is a black body i,e a good radiator.Astronomers estimate the temperature by finding out which is the dominant frequency of radiation that Sun is emanating.Then using Wiens' Law which gives relation between temperature and this frequency one can estimate the temperature.

Answer 5

By measuring the intensity of the matter and light which is emitted and then using models to show that the sun needs to be a certain temperature to emit that amount of each type of radiation/matter.

Answer 6

It's because of some great scientists who invented the telescopes.
Scientists use special instruments for their research on the sun.
Another thing they use are called space probes and they can go close enough to the sun so that they can take its photograph and send them to the earth.These pictures then help the scientists to do some research on not only the sun but more things as well.

Answer 7

Responses without sources aren't answers, they're just opinions.

In astronomy one method of classifying stars is through the analysis of their absorption spectra, by this method stars are assigned a spectral class. Since the absorption spectra is dependent on the surface temperature of the star the spectral class gives an indications of the temperature of the star.

Answer 8

knowing the temperature at any 2 distances, and the rate of increase, would let them calculate the temperature of the surface. oh...and NASA has super alien computers

Answer 9

They use infared cameras. These things can cause the parts which emit the most heat to be brightest.

Answer 10

Wien's Law Lambda*Temp. = Wien's constant.