Bolometric Correction
Encyclopedia
In astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

, a bolometric correction is a correction that must be made to the absolute magnitude
Magnitude (astronomy)
Magnitude is the logarithmic measure of the brightness of an object, in astronomy, measured in a specific wavelength or passband, usually in optical or near-infrared wavelengths.-Background:...

 of an object in order to convert an object's visible magnitude to its bolometric magnitude. Mathematically, such a calculation can be expressed:

The following is subset of a table from Kaler (p. 263) listing the bolometric correction for a range of stars. For the full table, see the referenced work.
Class Main Sequence Giants Supergiants
O3 -4.3 -4.2 -4.0
G0 -0.10 -0.13 -0.1
G5 -0.14 -0.34 -0.20
K0 -0.24 -0.42 -0.38
K5 -0.66 -1.19 -1.00
M0 -1.21 -1.28 -1.3


The bolometric correction is large both for early type (hot) stars and for late type (cool) stars. The former because a substantial part of the produced radiation is in the ultraviolet, the latter because a large part is in the infrared. For a star like our Sun, the correction is only marginal because the Sun radiates most of its energy in the visual wavelength range.

External links

  • http://www.peripatus.gen.nz/Astronomy/SteMag.html - contains table of bolometric corrections
  • http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1996ApJ...469..355F/0000360.000.html - contains a detailed table of bolometric corrections
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