Spectrophotometric study of Be stars

Abstract

A large sample of Be stars has been studied spectrophotometrically in the visible region. The continuum energy distribution data for 23 Be stars included in the list of Harmanec et al. (1983) are presented and discussed in the wavelength range λλ3200-8000 Å. For 15 Be stars the observations reported in the present work are new. By comparing the observed continua with models, the effective temperatures of thses stars have been estimated. It is found that, in general, Be stars have lower effective temperature than the corresponding normal B stars. The present study shows that the early- Be stars (B0-B5) possess near-ultraviolet and near-infrared excess emissions more frequently than the late-Be stars (B5-B9). The seven new Be stars are detected to show pole-on characteristics.