BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE PILANI
Introduction to Astronomy & Astrophysics (PHY F215)
PROBLEM SET-1
Conceptual Questions:
Q1. What are the common features in the spectra of all the stars? In which way do the spectra of
stars differ from one another?
Q2. Do all the elements present in a star show up as spectral lines in the spectra? If not, explain the
reason.
Q3. Explain the statement, “Spectral classification is a 2-dimensional classification.” Give an
explanation for the need for the second dimension. Spectral type and Luminosity(due to age)
Q4. Which stars are referred to as early-type stars in the spectral sequence? Is there any meaning
early-type stars refer to stars with spectral types O, B, and
behind the choice of the word? Does it have any physical meaning? early A. These stars are characterized by their high surface
temperatures and blue-white color.
Q5. The concept of color already gives an idea of the “surface temperature” of the star. Which new
information do we obtain from the spectral type? temperature, composition, luminosity, and evolutionary stage.
Q6. There are some implicit assumptions in the Saha equation. What are they? Can you think of the
cases when the Saha equation may falter?thermal equilibrium, complete ionisation, ideal gas
Q7. In which ways do stars of two different luminosity classes of any given spectral type differ from
one another? List all possible ways. LUMINOSITY, temperatures, age mass etc
Q8. Based on what you studied in Chapter 8 of C&O (Module 4), explain why most stars appear on
the diagonal band in the H-R diagram.
Q9. Let's consider a hypothetical scenario in which the Sun had a slightly higher mass than its original
mass. How would this affect its position on the HR diagram? higher up and to the left on the H-R diagram
Q10. Why do you think the ionization ratios depend on the number density of electrons? (The term
ne that appears in the denominator of the Saha equation.)
Problems:
Q1. Calculate the luminosity of a star with an effective temperature of 10,000 K and a radius of 4 solar
radii.
1st part BOLTZMANN (SLIDES)
Q2. Determine the temperature required for the ratio of hydrogen atoms in the second excited state
to those in the ground state to equal 1. Convince yourself that the approximation that at the
temperature of the solar photosphere (5777 K), hydrogen is either in the ground state or in the first
excited state is very realistic.
Q3.
g(j) plays the role of weight
In the above expression of the partition function, which term plays the role of the weight? Also, the
partition function diverges as n → ∞. Why, then, can we ignore these large-n terms?
Q4. For a star similar to the Sun, spectral lines due to an unknown element, X, are observed along with
the Balmer lines due to Hydrogen. Consider that the photosphere of this star has a temperature of
6000 K, and the electron pressure is 1.8 N m-2. The following properties of element X are given:
● For a transition from the ground state (n=1) to an excited state (n=2), the difference in energy
is 2.5 eV.
● Ionization energy for XI is 6 eV.
● Ionization energy for XII is 9.2 eV.
● The statistical weights for the ground state (g1) and the excited state (g2) of XII are 1 and 3,
respectively.
● The partition functions for the Ionization stages of X are: ZI = 1.4, ZII = 2.30
If the strength of a spectral line due to XII (n=1) is 450 times greater than that of a spectral line due to
HI (n=2), determine the relative abundance of both atoms in the Sun.
Q5. Assume that the center of a solar-like star (same mass and radius of the Sun) consists of pure
helium. Find the fraction of helium atoms that are singly ionized at the center of this star. You may
assume the central temperature to be T = 2 x 106 K and n = 8 x 1019 m-3. Assume that the energy
required for ionizing the neutral Helium is 24.5 eV, and for ionizing the singly ionized Helium is 54.4
eV. Take ZI = 1, ZII =2, ZIII=1.
Selected Problems from the Textbook:
8.5 – 8.8 and 8.10 – 8.16