Why are blue stars the hottest when we associate blue with cold temperatures?

Question

Why are blue stars the hottest when we associate blue with cold temperatures?

In: Physics

Answer 1

We probably associate blue with cold because water is cool and… sort of blue. Sometimes.

“Water=cool=blue” is an easy observation to make; it’s not as easy to notice “blue lightwaves carry more energy and blue stars are more massive and hotter” because we’ve only recently had the equipment to learn that stuff.