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black-body radiation

A Dictionary of Astronomy | 1997 | 436 words | Copyright

black-body radiation The thermal radiation that would be emitted by a black body. Black-body radiation has a characteristic spectrum, described by Planck's law, in which the peak of the emission moves to shorter wavelengths as the temperature of the black body rises (see Wien's Displacement Law). The cosmic background radiation is black-body radiation, and stars often act as black-body radiators in the optical part of the spectrum.

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