Effective Temperature | CAS CMS

Effective Temperature

Although stars are not perfect blackbodies, they can be approximated as such, allowing us to calculate their surface temperature via the Stefan-Boltzmann Law:

$L = 4 \pi R^{2} \sigma T^{4}_{e}$ where $L =$ luminosity of the star
$R =$ star's radius
$\sigma =$ Stefan-Boltzmann constant
$=$ $5.67 \times 10^{-8} W m^{-2} K^{-4}$
$T_{e} =$ effective temperature

The surface temperature, calculated by assuming a perfect blackbody radiating the same amount of energy per unit area as the star, is known as the effective temperature of the star.