Can astronomers determine the spectra of stars in other galaxies?

Yes, at least for the brightest stars in the near by galaxies. Supernova are individual stars, and these can be detected out to many 100s of millions of light years and so are the most distant individual stars we can detect. But for run of the mill stars like the Sun, individual spectra beyond the Milky Way are very difficult to obtain. The practical limit for obtaining spectra of individual stars is a magnitude limit of about +20m, and a star like the Sun has this magnitude at a distance of 10000 parsecs. At 10 parsecs, it has a magnitude of about +5.


Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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