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The luminosity of the Rigel star in the Orion constellation is 17,000 times that of the sun. The surface temperature of the sun is 6000K . Calculate the temperature of the star.

Answer
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Hint: The luminosity of a star depends on its surface temperature. According to Stefan’s law, the luminosity (the total radiant heat power) of a star is proportional to the fourth power of its temperature. Thus, this proportionality can be used to calculate the temperature of Rigel.

Complete step by step solution:
The luminosity of a body is defined as the total amount of electromagnetic radiation that is emitted by a black body per unit of time. Here the stars Rigel and Sun are assumed to be blackbody and thus their luminosities can be calculated by Stefan’s law (also called the Stefan-Boltzmann law).
It is given in the question that the surface temperature of the sun is, TS=6000K
Let the temperature of Rigel star be TR .
Assuming that the luminosity of the sun is E , we can write the luminosity of Rigel as 17000E .
From the Stefan-Boltzmann law, we know that the power emitted by a black body per unit area is equal to the product of the Stefan-Boltzmann constant(σ) and the fourth power of its thermodynamic temperature.
Thus, it can be written that-
E=σT4
For the sun, we can write-
E=σTS4
And for the Rigel, we can write-
17000E=σTR4
The ratio of both luminosities can be written as-
E17000E=σTS4σTR4
Cancelling E from numerator and denominator we get,
117000=TS4TR4
117000=(TSTR)4
Rearranging the equation, we can write-
TSTR=(117000)14
TSTR=111.4185
Upon cross-multiplying and substituting the value of Ts we get,
TR=11.4185×6000
TR=68511.5K

Therefore the temperature of the Rigel star is approximately 68512Kelvins.

Note: If a calculator is not allowed, the fourth root of the luminosity can be found by using a log table, where we take the log with an appropriate base ( say 10 ) on both sides. Then the exponent can be removed and the root can be calculated. Since the value 11.4185 is not a natural number therefore it will be very tough if the root is calculated via the LCM or other method.
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