Block III:    Stars, Their Structure and Evolution

    There are stars all around us, some bright, some dim. Some are reddish, some yellowish, some even apear to sparkle like a blue diamond. Planets are part of star systems and stars make up galaxies, billions and billions of them. Stars, then, are the fundamental objects we must understand to understand astronomy. We shall see how straightforward laws of nature lead us to some surprising properties of stars and give us the confidence to determine what their destiny will be.
 
 

July 24th      

Women in Astronomy

The Sun, Our Star

        Properties of Stars

    • HR Diagram and Spectral Classification
Lab # 6 - The Sun and Sunspots

July 29th    

Stellar Structure and Evolution

  • Proto Stars/ Main Sequence / Red Giants

                       Deaths of Stars

Binary Stars / Neutron Stars / Black Holes

Lab # 7            Naked Eye Photometry

Lab # 8 - Clea Photometry

July 31st    Exam # 3


July 24th

Women in Astronomy - Their Traditional and Modern Roles

"... Stars are good too. I wish I could get some to put in my hair. But I suppose I never can. You would be surprised to find how far off they are, for they do not look it. ... after I was rested I got a basket and started for a place on the extreme rim of the circle, where the stars are close to the ground and I could get them with my hands, which would be better anyway, because I could gather them tenderly then, and not break them."
Mark Twain Eve's Diary
Maria Mitchell

 Women in Astronomy

THE SUN - OUR STAR
"the sun, with all the planets revolving around it, and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else in the universe to do."
Galileo Galilei
solar eclipse of july 11, 1991

 

     Textbook: Objectives: You should be able to:
      1. Discuss Why we study the Sun.
      2. Explain how we know the Sun's distance, mass, size, luminosity, and surface temperature
      3. Describe the Sun's spectrum and what physical processes are responsible for this spectrum
      4. Describe the thermonuclear processesthat go on in the Sun's interior to produce energy
      5. Describe the features of the Photosphere
      6. Describe features of the Solar Chromosphere
      7. Describe the Solar Corona
      8. Explain the nature of the Solar Wind
      9. Describe how the Solar Wind pervades the Solar System
      10. Explain the Sunspot Cycle
      11. Explain how Energy is transported from the interior where it is produced to the surface from which it is radiated outward to the rest of the Solar System
      12. Describe Solar Prominences
Key Words: You may use these for Review or SEARCHitems:

Lab #6  -  The Sun and Sunspots

THE PROPERTIES of STARS

"How distant some of these nocturnal Suns!
So distant (says the sagfe) 'twere not absurd
To doubt, if Beams set out at Nature's Birth,
Are yet arrived at this so foreign World
Tho' nothing half so rapid as their Flight."
 
Longfellow - Ode to Charles Sumner
ESO Runaway Star

 

Textbook:

         1.  Chapter Twelve : Measuring the Properties of Stars, Sections 12.1 - 12.8,  pg 355 - 385

Objectives: You should be able to:
  1. Explain how to determine the distance to close stars by Stellar Parallax
  2. Calculate the distance to stars if the parallax angle is measured
  3. Describe how to determine the distance to a distant star by the Standard Candle method
  4. Explain how properties of stars are determined from their Light
  5. Understand the meaning of Luminosity
  6. Explain how the Inverse Square Law relates distance and apparent brightness
  7. Explain how the Stefan Boltzmann Law helps us determine the size of stars
  8. Explain the difference between Apparent and Absolute Magnitudes
  9. Explain how temperature affects a star's spectrum
  10. Describe the classification of stellar spectra, O,B,A,F,G,K,M
  11. Explain how Binary stars help us determine the mass of stars
  12. Construct an HR Diagram and identify types of stars on the diagram.
  13. Using the HR Diagram, discuss differences in Physical Properties between White Dwarfs, Main sequence and Giant Stars
Key Words: You may use these for Review or SEARCH items:
 Your preparation for entries into your Personal Lab Journal will be assisted if you get some help from internet pages on mythology of constellations.

July 29th

STELLAR STRUCTURE and EVOLUTION
"and is there glory from the heavens departed?
-- Oh! void unmarked! -- thy sisters of the sky
Still hold their place on high,
Though from its rank their orb so long hath started
Thou, that no more art seen of naked eye."
 
 
Mrs Hermann - The Last Pleiad
Solar Eclipse of July 11, 1991

 

Textbook:

         1.  Chapter Thirteen : Stellar Evolution, Sections 13.1 - 13.8,  pg 389 - 414

BlackBoard Streaming Video:

    1. HR Diagram
    2. Stellar Structure and Evolution Part I
    3. Stellar Structure and Evolution Part II
    4. Binary, Neutron Stars and Black Holes Part I
    5. Binary, Neutron Stars and Black Holes Part II
    6. Lab # 7 - Naked Eye Photometry
    7. Lab # 8 - Electropnic Photometry
    8. The Star Salesman
Objectives: You should be able to:
  1. Describe the Life History of a Typical Star
  2. Relate how Gravity determines the evolution of a star
  3. Describe the process of Star Formation
  4. Describe the Nature of Interstellar Dust
  5. Describe a theoretical model for Star Birth out of Interstellar Molecular Clouds
  6. Explain how stars generate energy
  7. Describe the importance of Mass in determining the core temperature and development of a star
  8. Relate the lifetime of a Main Sequence Star to its Mass and Luminosity
  9. Describe the process by which stars leave the Main Sequence and become Red Giants
  10. Describe how stars like our SUN will ultimately die
Key Words: You may use these for Review or SEARCH items:
The DEATHS of STARS
"Many a night I saw the Pleiads, Rising thro' the mellow shade, Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies Tangled in a silver braid.
Tennyson
Eggs in Eagle Nebula, M-16

 

Objectives: You should be able to:
  1. Describe how Main Sequence Stars become Giants
  2. Explain the fusion of Helium and the Triple Alpha Process
  3. Describe Degenerate Matter and how it supports a White Dwarf
  4. Describe the process by which a giant star gently sheds it outer mass as a Planetary Nebula
  5. Describe how massive stars go SuperNova
  6. Contrast Type I and Type II Super Novae
  7. Describe the evolution of Binary Star Systems
Key Words: You may use these for Review or SEARCH items:
"A day is a miniature eternity"
Ralph Waldo Emerson

M1 - Crab Nebula

Summer Sky II

 

BINARY STARS, NEUTRON STARS and BLACK HOLES

"The Sun is a mass of fiery stone, a little larger than Greece"
Anaxagoras, 434 BC
Black Hole Evidence

 

Textbook:

         1.  Chapter Fourteen : Stellar Remnants: White dwarfs, Neutron Stars, and Black Holes, Sections 14.1 - 14.3,  pg 419 - 437

               Test Yourself Questions, pg 437, 1 -5

Objectives: You should be able to:

  1. Explain what Neutron Degeneracy is
  2. Describe the structure of a Neutron Star
  3. Explain what a Pulsar is
  4. List evidence for Pulsar Planets
  5. Define Escape Velocity
  6. Define the Schwarzschild Radius
  7. Describe what a Black Hole is
  8. Discuss current evidence from the HST and radio interferometry for the existence of black holes

Key Words: You may use these for Review or SEARCH items:
 A Resource that might be helpful to you in designing and improving your observing journal is found on the www.

Lab #7   -   Naked Eye Astronomy

Lab # 8 - Clea Photometry

July 31st
Opportunity to Excel # 3:  The SUN, Stars, Stellar Structure and Evolution of Stars and their Final Fate! Exam 3 should be completed prior to the start of class on August 5th.