Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs)

Spectral energy distributions (SEDs) show the amount of energy emitted by an object as a function of wavelength. SEDs are not the same thing as blackbodies! But stars can be approximated by blackbodies, so blackbodies come up a lot in the context of SEDs. This page covers concepts; there is another page on how to make SEDs.

Most coherent, developed, tested materials

• Movie (12:46) on Temperatures and Blackbodies, part of the "Filters, Magnitudes, Colors, Oh My!" playlist -- Dr. Luisa Rebull, 2020
• Movie (0:30, soundless) that shows blackbodies as a function of temperature (T) -- Dr. Luisa Rebull, 2017
• Movie (0.31, soundless) that shows a blackbody with varying reddening (Av) -- Dr. Luisa Rebull, 2017

Somewhat less coherent (or less standalone) materials

• SED plots introduction -- Dr. Luisa Rebull (2012-2013)
• The influence of reddening -- Dr. Luisa Rebull (2012)

Other sources of interest

• http://astro.unl.edu/naap/blackbody/blackbody.html
• http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/light/star-light-science.html
• http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/bbrc.html
• http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/light/bbexplorer.html
• http://phet.colorado.edu/sims/blackbody-spectrum/blackbody-spectrum_en.html