Understanding Stars: Types and Features
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ScribdTranslationsUnderstanding Stars: Types and Features
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ScribdTranslationsTHE STARS
Stars are masses of gas, primarily hydrogen and helium, that emit light. They are found at very high temperatures.
high. Inside, there are nuclear reactions.
The Sun is a star that we have very, very close. We see the other stars as very small luminous points, and only
at night, because they are at enormous distances from us.
They seem to be fixed, always maintaining the same one.
relative position in the skies, year after year. But it is not
Indeed, all those stars are in fast motion.
movement, although at such great distances that its
position changes are perceived only through the
centuries.
The number of stars observable to the naked eye from
The Earth has been calculated at about 8,000, half in each.
hemisphere. During the night, no more than
2,000 at the same time, the rest remain hidden by the
atmospheric haze, especially near the horizon, and the
pale light of the sky.
Astronomers have calculated that the number of stars in the Milky Way, the galaxy to which the Sun belongs, amounts to
hundreds of billions.
Like our Sun, a typical star has a visible surface called the photosphere, an atmosphere filled with hot gases, and,
above them, a more diffuse crown and a stream of particles called stellar wind. The colder areas of the
photosphere, which inthe Sunthey are called sunspots, they probably exist in other common stars. This has been
I have been able to verify it in some nearby large stars through interferometry.
THE INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF STARS cannot be observed directly, but there are studies that indicate currents.
of convection and a density and temperature that increase until reaching the core, where reactions take place.
thermonuclear.
Stars are composed mostly of hydrogen and helium, with varying amounts of heavier elements.
THE CLOSEST STAR TO THE SOLAR SYSTEM IS ALPHA CENTAURI
The individual stars visible in the sky are the ones that are closest to the Solar System.
Solar inthe Milky Way, our galaxy. The closest is Proxima Centauri, one of the
components of the triple star Alpha Centauri, which is about 40 trillion
kilometers from the Earth.
It is a three-star system located 4.3 light years away fromthe Earth, that is only
visible from the southern hemisphere. The brightest, known as 'Alpha Centauri A'
It has a real brightness equal to that of our Sun.
Alpha Centauri, also called Rigil Kentaurus, is in the constellation of Centaurus. To the naked eye, Alpha Centauri appears
as a single star, with an apparent magnitude of -0.3, making it the third brightest star in the sky
visible from the southern hemisphere.
When observed through a telescope, it is noticed that the two brightest stars, Alpha Centauri A and B, have
apparent magnitudes of -0.01 and 1.33 and they revolve around each other in a period of 80 years.
The weakest star, Alpha Centauri C, has an apparent magnitude of 11.05 and orbits its companions during a
an approximate period of one million years. Alpha Centauri C is also known as Proxima Centauri, as it is the star
closer to the Solar System.
CLASSIFICATION OF STARS
The photographic study of the stellar spectra began in
In 1885, the astronomer Edward Pickering at the observatory of.
Harvard College and concluded it with her colleague Annie J. Cannon.
This research led to the discovery that the
spectra of thestarsthey are arranged in a sequence
continues, according to the intensity of certain absorption lines.
The observations provide data on the ages of the
different stars, as well as their degrees of development.
The various stages in the sequence of spectra, designated with the letters O, B, A, F, G, K, and M, allow for a classification.
complete of all types of stars. The subscripts from 0 to 9 are used to indicate the sequences in the model within
each class.
Class O: Lines of helium, oxygen, and nitrogen, in addition to those of hydrogen. It includes very hot stars, and includes
both those that show bright line spectra of hydrogen and helium and those that show dark lines of the same
elements.
Class B: Helium lines reach maximum intensity in subdivision B2 and progressively pale in further subdivisions.
high. The intensity of the hydrogen lines increases steadily across all subdivisions. This group is
represented by the star Epsilon Orionis.
Class A: It includes the so-called hydrogen stars with spectra dominated by
the absorption lines of hydrogen. A typical star in this group is Sirius, which
appears in the previous photo.
Class F: This group is characterized by the so-called H and K lines of calcium and the lines
characteristics of hydrogen. A notable class F star is Delta Aquilae.
Class G: Includes stars with strong calcium H and K lines and hydrogen lines
less strong. The spectra of many metals are also present, especially
the iron one. The Sun belongs to this group and therefore the G stars are referred to as
solar-type stars
Class K: Stars that have strong calcium lines and others that indicate the presence of other metals. This group is typified.
by Arturo.
Class M; Spectra dominated by bands indicating the presence of metal oxides, especially those of titanium oxide.
The final violet of the spectrum is less intense than that of K stars. The star Betelgeuse is typical of this group.
SIZE AND BRIGHTNESS OF STARS
The largest stars known are the supergiants, with diameters about 400 times greater than that of the Sun, while
that the stars known as 'white dwarfs' can have diameters of only one hundredth of the Sun. However, the
giant stars are often diffuse and can have a mass barely about 40 times greater than that of the Sun, while the
White dwarfs are very dense despite their small size.
There can be stars with a mass 1,000 times greater than that of the Sun and, on a smaller scale, balls of hot gas too.
small ones to trigger nuclear reactions. An object that could be of this type
(a brown dwarf) was first observed in 1987, and since then it has been
detected others.
The brightness of stars is described in terms of magnitude. The brightest stars
they can be up to 1,000,000 times brighter than the Sun; white dwarfs are
about 1,000 times less bright.
THE CLASSES ESTABLISHED BY ANNIE JUMP CANNON ARE IDENTIFIED BY COLORS:
Blue color, like the star I Cephei
White-blue color, like the star Spica
White color, like the star Vega
White-yellow color, like Procyon
Yellow, like the Sun
Orange color, like Arcturus
Red color, like the star Betelgeuse.
Often stars are named using references to their size and color: white dwarfs, red giants.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
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