spectral type

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noun Astronomy.

a category for classifying a star, as A star or G star, according to features of its spectrum, as its shape as a function of temperature and wavelength and its absorption spectrum, that indicate the surface temperature of the star and the presence of particular atoms or molecules in its outer layers: principal types are spectral types O, B, A, F, G, K, and M.

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Also called spectral class .

Origin of spectral type

First recorded in 1920–25

Words nearby spectral type

Spectracef, spectral, spectral line, spectral luminous efficiency, spectral series, spectral type, spectra yellow, spectre, spectrin, spectro-, spectrobolometer

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use spectral type in a sentence

In the new study, Hsu’s team analyzed 172 red and brown dwarfs of different spectral types, classifications based on the objects’ spectra that correlate with their surface temperatures.
Here’s how cool a star can be and still achieve lasting success|Ken Croswell|August 23, 2021|Science News
But yes, I pictured a James Bond-type just sauntering over to her.
‘Archer’ Creator Adam Reed Spills Season 6 Secrets, From Surreal Plotlines to Life Post-ISIS|Marlow Stern|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
“I have to think her body type played a role,” said Rachel Greenblatt, a Lecturer in Jewish Studies at Harvard University.
Why Was Bess Myerson the First and Last Jewish Miss America?|Emily Shire|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
But Ally knows better and dresses tastefully for her age and body type now.
Inside A Finishing School for Transwomen|Sharon Adarlo|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Sabrine was the outgoing, sociable type, and had many friends, while Ziad was shy and a little more introverted.
A Sunni-Shia Love Story Imperiled by al Qaeda|Ruth Michaelson|December 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Mistletoe is basically a vampire—but one of those an anti-hero type vampires.
Mistletoe is the Vampire of Plants|Helen Thompson|December 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Though the average speaker is generally limited by one type of voice, which he varies somewhat, it is not often disguised.
Expressive Voice Culture|Jessie Eldridge Southwick
Accustomed to a written character, their eyes became wearied by the crabbedness and formality of type.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
True, she had never met the provincial type before, but she doubted if Rosewater had produced a crop of Isabel Otises.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton
I must make no mistake, and blunder into a national type of features, all wrong; if I make your mask, it must do us credit.
Checkmate|Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
A mixed type of the present day Negro, she was slightly tall, and somewhat slender, with a figure straight and graceful.
The Homesteader|Oscar Micheaux

British Dictionary definitions for spectral type

spectral type

spectral class

noun

any of various groups into which stars are classified according to characteristic spectral lines and bands. The most important classification (Harvard classification) has a series of classes O, B, A, F, G, K, M, the series also being a scale of diminishing surface temperature

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for spectral type

spectral type

A classification system for stars based on the strength of their spectral lines, using the letters O, B, A, F, G, K, M, L, and T to denote a range from blue (as in blue giant stars) to dim red (as in brown dwarfs). The spectrum of a star correlates with its surface temperature, ranging from over 60,000°K (O type) to less than 3,500°K (L and T types). See also Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.