Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
Usually selective interstellar extinction is derived by comparing the spectrum of a reddened star with an unreddened nearby star, preferably of the same spectral type. But in many cases this comparison is not possible, so that new methods have to be used.
A direct measure of this quantity is possible when a spectrum shows a number of emission lines as for the peculiar stars (novae, nova-like objects, symbiotic stars, etc.) and for nebulae. From a statistical point of view there are a small number of objects but they are of very high interest as far as stellar evolution is concerned.