Spectra of candidate standard stars in mid-IR

The K giants confirm previous findings that the strength of the SiO absorption band at 8{mu}m increases for both later optical spectral classes and redder (B-V)_0_ colors, but with considerable scatter. For K giants, the synthetic spectra underpredict the strengths of the molecular bands from SiO and OH.

For these reasons, the assumed true spectra for K giants should be based on neither the assumption that molecular band strengths in the infrared can be predicted accurately from optical spectral class or color nor synthetric spectra. The OH bands in K giants grow stronger with cooler stellar temperatures, and they are stronger than predicted by synthetic spectra. As a group, A dwarfs are better behaved and more predictable than the K giants, but they are more likely to show red excesses from debris disks.