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Astro 1050     Mon. Oct. 7, 2002
  •    Today:  Discuss HW #4
  •                 Finish Chapter 7 -- The Sun
  •                 Start Ch. 8, Properties of Stars
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Homework #4
  • Q1 The moon remains in Aries!
  • Q2 1 kg of mass transformed into energy:
    • E = mc2 so E=1 kg x (3x108m/s)2 = 9x1016 J
  • Q3 Sunspot brightness, use E = σT4
    • (T1/T2)4 = (5800/4200)4 = 3.6 times brighter
  • Q4 Radio Wave same speed as Gamma Ray
  • Q5 P. 123, flares up to a billion H-bombs so
    • The Traitor dies like the dog he is!
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Fusion Energy Released in Proton-Proton Chain

  • Use E=mc2 to do accounting


    • Mass is a measure of the energy stored in a system
    • Loss of mass from a system means release of energy from that system


  • Compare mass of four 1H to mass of one 4He
    • 6.693 ´ 10-27 kg   -  6.645 ´ 10-27 kg   =  0.048 ´ 10-27 kg       drop in mass
    • E = mc2 = 0.048 ´ 10-27 kg ´ (3 ´ 108 m/s)2 =  0.43 ´ 10-11 kg m2/s2 = 0.43 ´ 10-11 J (note == a Joule is just shorthand for kg m2/s2)
    • So 4.3 ´ 10-12 J of energy released
      • This is huge compared to chemical energy:  2.2 ´10-18 J to ionize hydrogen
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How long will Sun’s fuel last?
  • Luminosity of sun:  3.8 ´ 1026 J/s


  • H burned rate:


  • H atoms available:


  • Lifetime:



  • In reality not all the atoms we start with are H, and only those near the center are available for fusion.  The structure of the sun will change when about 10% of the above total have been used, so after about 10 billion years.
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Testing solar fusion model
  • Does lifetime of sun make sense?
    • Oldest rocks on earth ~4 billion years old
    • Oldest rocks in meteorites ~4.5 billion years old


  • Other stars with higher/lower luminosity
    • Causes for different luminosity
    • Lifetimes of those stars


  • Look for neutrinos from fusion
    • Complicated story – due to neutrino properties
    • Example of how astronomy presents “extreme” conditions
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Neutrinos
  • Generated by “weak” force during   p+® n + e+ + n
  • “Massless” particles which interact poorly with matter
    • In that first respect, similar to photons
    • Can pass through sun without being absorbed
    • Same property makes them very hard to detect


  • Davis experiment at Homestake Mine in Black Hills
    • 100,000 gallon tank of C2Cl4 dry cleaning fluid
    • in Cl nuclei   n + n ® p+ + e-   so Cl (Z=17) becomes Ar (Z=18)
    • Physically separate out the Ar, then wait for it to radioactively decay
    • Saw only 1/3 the neutrinos predicted
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Missing Neutrino Problem
  • Lack of solar neutrinos confirmed by Kamiokande II detector in Japan.  (Using different detection method)


  • Possible explanation in terms of Neutrino physics
    • 3 different types of Neutrinos:
      • electron, muon, and tau neutrinos
      • Sun generates and Cl detectors see only electron neutrinos
      • Can electron neutrinos can change to another type on way here?
    • These “neutrino oscillations” are possible if neutrino has non-zero mass


    • Kamiokande II evidence of muon neutrinos becoming electron ones


  • Read “Window on Science 7-2”  on “scientific faith”


  • Neutrino mass may have implications for “cosmology”
  • Neutrinos also used to study supernova 1987A
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Chapter 8: Properties of Stars
  • How much energy do stars produce?


  • How large are stars?


  • How massive are stars?


    • We will find a large range in properties!
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Distances to Stars
  • Distance:
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Parallax: Really just the small angle formula
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Intrinsic Brightness of Stars
  • Apparent Brightness:  How bright star appears to us
  • Intrinsic Brightness:   “Inherent” – corrected for distance
  • How does brightness change with distance?
    • Flux = energy per unit time per unit area:   joule/sec/m2   = watts/m2
      • Example:  100 watt light bulb (assume this is 100 W of light energy)
                spread over 5 m2 desk gives  20 Watts/m2
    • Sun’s flux at the Earth
      • Luminosity = 3.8 ´1026 Watts
      • It has spread out over sphere of radius 1 AU = 1.5 ´ 1011 m
        • Surface area of sphere = 4 p R2 = 2.8 ´1023 m2
      • FSun = 3.8 ´1026 Watts / 2.8´1023 m2 = 1,357 W/m2


    • Inverse Square Law:   Flux falls of as 1/distance2
      • Double distance – flux drops by 4
      • Triple distance – flux drops by 9
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Inverse-square law for light:
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Correcting Magnitudes for Distance
  • To correct intensity or flux for distance, use Inverse Square Law




  • Up to now we have used “apparent magnitudes”  mv
  • Define absolute magnitude Mv as magnitude star would have
     if it were at a distance of 10 pc.








  • This gives us a way to correct Magnitude for distance, or find distance if we know absolute magnitude


  • Note:  the book writes mv and Mv:  The “V” stands for “Visual”
    • Later we’ll consider magnitudes in other colors like “B=Blue” “U=Ultraviolet”


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Let’s work some examples:
  • Problem #4:
  • mV MV d (pc) P (arcsec)
  • ___ 7 10 _______
  • 11 ___ 1000 _______
  • ___ -2 ____ 0.025
  • 4 ___ ____ 0.040
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Let’s work some examples:
  • Problem #4:
  • m MV d (pc) P (arcsec)
  • 7 7 10 0.1
  • 11 1 1000 0.001
  • 1 -2 40 0.025
  • 4 2 25 0.040
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How to recognize patterns in data

  • What patterns matter for people – and how do we recognize them?
  • Weight and Height are easy to measure
  • Knowing how they are related gives insight into health
      • A given  weight tends to go with a given height
      • Weight either very high or very low compared to trend ARE important
  • Plot weight vs. height and look for deviations from simple line


  • Example of cars from the book
    • Note “main sequence” of cars
    • Weight plotted backwards
      • Just make main sequence a line
        which goes down rather than up


    • Points off main sequence are
      “unusual” cars
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Stars:  Patterns of L, T, R

  • The Hertzsprung-Russsell (H-R) diagram
  • Plot L vs. backwards T.      (We can find R given L and T)
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How are L, T, and R related?

  • L = area ´sT4 = 4 p R2 sT4
    • Stars can be intrinsically bright because of either large R or large T


    • Use ratio equations to simplify above equation
      • (Note book’s symbol for Sun is circle with dot inside)





    • Example:  Assume T is different but size is same
      • A star is ~ 2 ´ as hot as sun, expect L is 24 = 16 times as bright
      • M star is ~1/2 as hot as sun, expect L is 2-4 = 1/16 as bright


      • B star is ~  4 ´ as hot as sun, expect L is 44 = 256 times as bright


    • Example:  Assume T same but size is different
      • If you have a G star 4 ´ as large as sun, expect L would be 42=16 times as bright
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L, T, R, and the H-R diagram

  • L = 4 p R2 sT4
  • The main sequence consists very roughly of similar size stars
  • The giants, supergiants, and white dwarfs are much larger or smaller


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Lines of constant R in the H-R diagram


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Different “types” of H-R diagrams


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Luminosity Classes


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Spectra of Different Luminosity Classes


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Spectroscopic “Parallax”


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What fundamental property of a star
varies along the main sequence?


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Masses of Binary stars


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Masses of Binary stars


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Masses of Binary stars


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Measuring a and P of binaries
  • Two types of binary stars
    • Visual binaries: See separate stars
      • a large, P long
      • Can’t directly measure component of a along line of sight
    • Spectroscopic binaries:  See Doppler shifts in spectra
      • a small, P short
      • Can’t directly measure component of a in plane of sky
  • If star is visual and spectroscopic binary get get full set of information and then get M



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Masses and the HR Diagram
  • Main Sequence position:
    • M:    0.5 MSun
    • G:        1 MSun
    • B:       40 Msun


  • Luminosity Class
    • Must be controlled by something else
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The Mass-Luminosity Relationship
  • L = M3.5
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Eclipsing Binary Stars
  • System seen “edge-on”
  • Stars pass in front of each other
  • Brightness drops when either is hidden


  • Used to measure:
    • size of stars (relative to orbit)
    • relative “surface brightness”
      • area hidden is same for both eclipses
      • drop bigger when hotter star hidden
    • tells us system is edge on
      • useful for spectroscopic binaries