Encyclopedia > Be star

  Article Content

Be star

Be star is a B-type star with prominent emission lines in its spectrum. Other observational characteristics include optical linear polarization and often infrared radiation that is much stronger than in ordinary B-class stars.

All the observational characteristics are explained with a strong, asymmetric stellar wind from the star. Often the wind forms a circumstellar disk. The strong emission lines and infrared radiation come from the wind, and scattering of the stellar light from the disk produces the polarization.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Thomas a Kempis

... about 900 French editions. Originally written in Latin, a French translation was made as early as 1447, which still remains in manuscript. The firs ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 23.6 ms