Glossary term: A-type Star

Also known as A Star or A-Star

Description: A star with spectral type "A". Astronomers identify A-type stars by the presence of strong absorption lines from hydrogen in their spectra. They have typical (effective) temperatures between around 7400 kelvins (K) and 10,000 K. Compared to other stars, they appear white or bluish white to human eyes unless affected by interstellar or atmospheric reddening. Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, and Vega, the star against which all other stars' brightnesses are measured in the apparent magnitude scale, are A-type stars.

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Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher

The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".

Related Diagrams

A smooth line peaking about 420 nm then declining at longer wavelengths with a few fairly broad dips.

Spectrum of an A-type star

Caption: The spectrum of the A-type star BD-11 1212. The colour of the line between 400 nm and 700 nm roughly corresponds to the colour the human eye would see light of that wavelength. Below 400 nm and above 700 nm, where the human eye can see little to no light, the lines are coloured blue and red respectively. The black lines show spectral absorption lines caused by atoms and ions of different elements in the star’s atmosphere. These atoms and ions absorb at specific wavelengths, causing sharp, dark lines in the spectra. How strong these lines are depends on the temperature of the star’s atmosphere. Two stars made from the same mix of elements could have spectra with vastly different sets of lines in their spectra if they have different temperatures in their atmospheres. Lines from hydrogen atoms dominate the spectra of A-type stars and are strongest at this spectral type.
Credit: IAU OAE/SDSS/Niall Deacon

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