Observed and predicted spectral flux distribution of SS 433 in the ultraviolet and optical. The arrows at the shorter wavelengths illustrate the flux upper limits from the STIS observation. The line at the top of each arrow corresponds to the mean +2 σ_μ flux limit over the wavelength range covered by the line. The tip of the lower part of the arrow gives the measured mean flux in the band (generally too small for reliable detection). The two error bars at 2770 Å give the average bright and faint fluxes found by Dolan et al. (1997) using HST/HSP. The three error bars between 2900 and 3000 Å show the mean fluxes in IUE spectrum, LWR4698. The optical spectrophotometry from Wagner (1986) is averaged for the bright (diamonds) and faint (squares) states. Model fluxes for reddened blackbody curves are shown for ﹩T=72,000﹩, 49,000, 45,000, and 21,000 K and ﹩A_{V}=﹩8.4, 8.2, 7.8, and 7.8 (dotted, dashed, dot‐dashed, and solid lines, respectively).