How to calculate object temperature from line intensities

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on calculating the temperature of an object using the ratio of intensities from two CO line emissions, leveraging Wien's Law. The assumption is made that the emitter behaves as a black body. To derive the temperature (T), one must understand the peak emission wavelength and how to fit a black body distribution to the observed line spectra. The more emission lines available, the more accurate the temperature estimation will be.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of Wien's Law and its application in thermal radiation.
  • Familiarity with black body radiation concepts.
  • Knowledge of molecular spectroscopy, particularly CO line emissions.
  • Ability to analyze spectral data and fit distributions to it.
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the application of Wien's Law in astrophysics.
  • Learn about black body radiation and its mathematical modeling.
  • Explore techniques for fitting spectral data, such as least squares fitting.
  • Investigate the CO molecular spectra and its significance in temperature calculations.
USEFUL FOR

Astronomers, physicists, and researchers involved in spectroscopy and thermal analysis of celestial objects will benefit from this discussion.

ck99
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Homework Statement



This isn't really a coursework question, but I thought this might be the best place for it. I have some data on two different CO line emissions from an object. Can I work out the temperature of that object by using the ratio between the intensities of the two lines, and then using something like Wiens law? I am happy to assume that the emitter is a black body, but I don't know how to solve for T except if I know the peak emission wavelength.
 
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If you know where the line spectra you have fit into the overall CO spectra ... I imagine you may be able to fit a BB distribution over your data... Of course, the more lines you have the better the fit will be.

http://www.cv.nrao.edu/course/astr534/MolecularSpectra.html
 

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