Notes
Slide Show
Outline
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Everything you always wanted to know about stars…
  • Material from Chapters 8 and 9 in Horizons by Seeds
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The Spectra of Stars
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The Balmer Thermometer
  • Balmer line strength is sensitive to temperature:
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Measuring the Temperatures of Stars
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Spectral Classification of Stars (I)
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Spectral Classification of Stars (II)
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Distances to Stars
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The Trigonometric Parallax
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Intrinsic Brightness
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Intrinsic Brightness /
Flux and Luminosity
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The Size (Radius) of a Star
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Example:
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Organizing the Family of Stars: The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram
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Radii of Stars in the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram
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Luminosity Classes
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Luminosity effects on the width of spectral lines
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Examples:
  • Our Sun: G2 star on the main sequence: G2V



  • Polaris: G2 star with supergiant luminosity: G2Ib
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Binary Stars
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The Center of Mass
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“Placeholder” on Masses
  • We can get masses of stars by measuring how they move in binary systems according to Newton’s Law of Gravitation.
  • I’ll save some of the details for exo-solar planets session.  Plenty of other things to cover right now…
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Surveys of Stars
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A Census of the Stars
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The space between the stars is not completely empty, but filled with very dilute gas and dust, producing some of the most beautiful objects in the sky.
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Three kinds of nebulae
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2) Reflection Nebulae
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Emission and Reflection Nebulae
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3) Dark Nebulae
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Interstellar Reddening
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Interstellar Absorption Lines
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Structure of the ISM
  • HI clouds:
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The Various Components of the Interstellar Medium
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Shocks Triggering Star Formation
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The Contraction of a Protostar
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Evidence of Star Formation
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Protostellar Disks and Jets – Herbig-Haro Objects
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Protostellar Disks and Jets – Herbig-Haro Objects (II)
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Herbig-Haro 34 in Orion

  • Jet along the axis visible as red


  • Lobes at each end where jets run into surrounding gas clouds
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Motion of Herbig-Haro 34 in Orion

  • Can actually see the knots in the jet move with time


  • In time jets, UV photons, supernova, will disrupt the stellar nursery
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Globules
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The Source of Stellar Energy
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The CNO Cycle
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Fusion into Heavier Elements
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Hydrostatic Equilibrium
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Hydrostatic Equilibrium (II)
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Stellar Models
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Lifetime on Main Sequence
  • L µ M3.5 T µ fuel / L = M/M3.5 = M-2.5
  • Example:  M=2 MSun      L = 11.3 LSun        T =1/5.7  TSun


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The Deaths and End States of Stars
  • Material from Seeds chapters 10-11
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The End of a Star’s Life
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Evolution off the Main Sequence: Expansion into a Red Giant
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Expansion onto the Giant Branch
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Degenerate Matter
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Red Giant Evolution
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Evidence for Stellar Evolution: Star Clusters
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Estimating the Age of a Cluster
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Red Dwarfs
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Sunlike Stars
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White Dwarfs
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The Chandrasekhar Limit
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The Final Breaths of Sun-Like Stars: Planetary Nebulae
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Planetary Nebulae
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A Gallery of P-N from Hubble
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Mass Transfer in Binary Stars
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Recycled Stellar Evolution
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White Dwarfs in Binary Systems
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Nova Explosions
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Recurrent Novae
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The Fate of our Sun
and the End of Earth
  • Sun will expand to a red giant in ~ 5 billion years
  • Expands to ~ Earth’s orbit
  • Earth will then be incinerated!
  • Sun may form a planetary nebula (but uncertain)
  • Sun’s C,O core will become a white dwarf
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The Deaths of Massive Stars: Supernovae
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The Crab Nebula–Supernova from 1050 AD
  • Can see expansion between 1973 and 2001
    • Kitt Peak National Observatory Images
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Supernova Remnants
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The Famous Supernova of 1987:
 Supernova 1987A
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Observations of Supernovae
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Type I and II Supernovae
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Neutron Stars
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Discovery of Pulsars
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The Crab Pulsar
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The Crab Pulsar
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Light curves of the Crab Pulsar
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The Lighthouse Model of Pulsars
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Images of Pulsars and other Neutron Stars
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Pulsar Planets
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Black Holes
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Escape Velocity
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The Schwarzschild Radius
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Schwarzschild Radius and Event Horizon
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“Black Holes Have No Hair”
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The Gravitational Field of a Black Hole
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General Relativity Effects Near Black Holes
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General Relativity Effects Near Black Holes (II)
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General Relativity Effects Near Black Holes (III)
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Observing Black Holes
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Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs)