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Galaxy Color Magnitude Diagram

Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology

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Definition

A scatter graph of galaxies showing the relationship between each galaxy’s absolute magnitude and its estimated temperature, or between optical and perceptual proxies for these quantities. The construction of such a diagram is similar to that of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, but the interpretation in terms of physical properties is not as precise.

Absolute Magnitude and Temperature Scales

To compute a galaxy’s absolute magnitude, it is treated as a point-like object, whereupon its radiation is corrected (by the inverse-square law) to a distance of 10 pc, and the absolute magnitude is computed as the number of 10−0.4 attenuations of similarly compensated power from a reference to achieve a match.

The temperature is also the same “effective temperature” as is used in the H-R diagram. However, galaxies are visible from much farther away than individual stars, so a galaxy’s recessional redshift exerts an appreciable influence on its effective temperature. Because light from...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Datacolor, Lawrenceville, NJ, USA

    Michael H. Brill

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  1. Michael H. Brill
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Correspondence to Michael H. Brill .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Color Science & Imaging Lab, North Carolina State Univ, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Renzo Shamey

Section Editor information

  1. National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Joanne Zwinkels

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Brill, M.H. (2019). Galaxy Color Magnitude Diagram. In: Shamey, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_187-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_187-3

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27851-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27851-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Galaxy Color Magnitude Diagram
    Published:
    10 May 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_187-3

  2. Original

    Galaxy Color Magnitude Diagram
    Published:
    23 July 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_187-2

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