8.1 Introduction

As discussed in Chapter 6, Fabregat and Torrejon (1998) developed a technique for separating the components of observed radiation from a Be star into; the intrinsic colour, the interstellar reddening and the circumstellar excess. This method uses only the observed data and so is useful if this is the only data available. However as shown in Chapter 6 there are problems with this method. In order to perform a more substantial test of this method, the independent procedure developed in Chapter 7 is used to re-analysis the Strömgren data set.

Wavelength coverage of the representative sample covers a larger range than just that of the Strömgren filters. It is therefore advantageous to incorporate these previously determined results into the new wavelength reductions. The spectral types of the representative sample were derived in Steele et al. (1999), from which the intrinsic colours may be extracted from the literature (Crawford, 1978). Rieke and Lebofsky (1985) have derived an interstellar extinction law across a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum and so the interstellar reddening of the observed flux may be determined. In Chapter 7 a relationship was derived such that the circumstellar excess could be calculated, in similar manner to that of an interstellar extinction law.