On observing light from three different stars , , and , it was found that the intensity of the violet colour is maximum in the spectrum of , the intensity of the green colour is maximum in the spectrum of and the intensity of the red colour is maximum in the spectrum of . If , , and are the respective absolute temperatures of , , and , then it can be concluded from the above observations that:
According to Wien's displacement law, the wavelength corresponding to maximum spectral emissive power is inversely proportional to the absolute temperature of the emitting body (). The order of wavelengths for the given colours in the visible spectrum is . Given that stars , , and have maximum intensity at violet, green, and red colours respectively, we have . Since temperature is inversely proportional to the wavelength of maximum intensity, the temperatures of the stars will follow the reverse order: .
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