THE HEAT OF STARS
The most delicate thermometer in the world has lately been made. It will measure tlie heat of stars so distant that they can only be seen with powerful telescopes. More than a hundred stars have already been measured with the new instrument, and the discovery lias been made that the brightness of a star may have nothing to do with its temperature. The thermometer weighs less than a six-hundredth part of a grain, and consists of two wires a thousandth part of an inch in diameter. These wires form what is called a thermocouple, and any heat falling on them where they are joined gives rise to an excessively small electric current, which is measured on a sensitive galvanometer. The heat from the hottest star, Betelgeuse, warms the tiny thermocouple by a sixtieth part of a degree, but even thousandths of a degree can be measured.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SUNAK19300326.2.157.10
Bibliographic details
Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 931, 26 March 1930, Page 14
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150THE HEAT OF STARS Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 931, 26 March 1930, Page 14
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