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From: mullen@ecsvax.UUCP (Mike McMullen)
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: Re:Color of Neutron Stars
Message-ID: <957@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 4-Apr-85 09:16:37 EST
Article-I.D.: ecsvax.957
Posted: Thu Apr  4 09:16:37 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 7-Apr-85 03:44:36 EST
Organization: NC Educational Computing Service
Lines: 12

I don't pretend to be an astrophysicist. The answer I present here
was given to me by a friend who is one , however.

"Neutron stars have typical surface temperatures of a million degrees
K, so they are the "color" of X-ray photons (i.e., way past the ultra-
violet side of the visible color spectrum). That assumes they radiate
somewhat like blackbody emitters, which is about what the sun does. But
at any rate, the X-ray astronomers have measured their surface emission
and they generally fit a blackbody spectrum at 1 million degrees. You
wouldn't want to observe them from up close with your own eyeballs."

Makes sense if you think about it for a minute.