Chapters 13 The nature of stars

This chapter outlines how our perception of the universe has changed
since Galileo’s time, and how we have come to understand so much about the
nature of stars
 The universe
• The universe (the cosmos) is everything that we know exists,
including all that is yet to be found
• Different cultures have viewed the universe differently
• Until the seventeenth century most people believed that the
Earth did not move; the stars were points of light
• The ancient Greeks developed several models of the universe;
in some the Earth moved, but most philosophers believed it
stayed still
• These models that place the Earth at the centre of the universe
are called geocentric
• In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Copernicus, Kepler
and Galileo developed new models of the universe with the Sun
at the centre and the Earth revolving around it; that is,
heliocentric models
 The universe
• In the next 100 years the idea that the stars were just points of
light, all at the same distance from the centre of the universe,
vanished
 The discovery of galaxies
• The Milky Way. Galileo’s telescopic investigations showed this
to be an enormous concentration of stars too faint for the
naked eye to distinguish
• With the invention of the telescope, many more of these
extended fuzzy objects were discovered. Due to their
appearance they were named nebulae
• William Herschel built the largest telescope of his time and
made some very significant discoveries:
- Uranus
- Binary stars occurred in pairs that orbited a common point
- The Sun, with its planets, was moving through space
- Nebulae
• A galaxy is an enormous group of stars held together by
gravity.
 The discovery of galaxies
• By the 1920s, an accurate method of measuring distance to
• objects had been discovered using a particular type of variable
star, known as a Cepheid variable
• Edwin Hubble found that Andromeda nebula was well beyond
our own ‘island of stars’. The universe was clearly much, much
larger. Our understanding of the stars, and their distribution
throughout the universe, was once more dramatically changed.
• The flat (e.g., spiral) galaxies tend do be rotating, whereas the
less flat ones (e.g., ellipticals) tend not to be
 Where we live
• In the 1920s and 1930s Hubble and other astronomers surveyed
the sky
• A technique known as spectroscopy was able to distinguish
galaxies from clouds of gas
- Stars emit a continuous spectrum of light, but some of it is
absorbed by atoms in their atmospheres to form absorption
spectra.
- nebulae can be excited by radiation from nearby stars, which
causes them to radiate light at particular frequencies to form
emission lines
- As galaxies are composed of stars and gas, they have spectra
that include absorption lines within a continuous spectrum and
some emission lines as well
 Where we live
• In the 1960s, astronomers conducted more detailed surveys of
galaxies
- Stars were clumped to form galaxies. Interactions between
galaxies, specifically collisions between galaxies, play an
important role in their formation. The shapes of galaxies are
influenced by their neighbours, and, often, galaxies collide
- Galaxies were clumped into clusters
- Clusters were combined to form super clusters
• The size of the universe is beyond comprehension
• Earth is the only place in the universe currently known to host
life
• The solar system
 Measuring distances to stars and galaxies
Parallax
• Parallax is a difference in the apparent position of an object
viewed along two different lines of sight
• The baseline is the distance between the two observation
points in a parallax measurement
• It took until 1838 for the first stellar parallax to be observed by
Friedrich Bessel
• Modern techniques to measure parallax include taking
photographs of the stars through telescopes at various times
during the Earth’s orbit about the Sun.
Measuring distances to stars and galaxies
Parallax
 Measuring distances to stars and galaxies
Parallax
• Parallax is the only direct method we have of measuring distances in space
• Limitation
- Parallax angles of less than 0.01 arcsec are very difficult to measure from Earth
because of the effects of the Earth's atmosphere. This limits Earth based
telescopes to measuring the distances to stars about 1/0.01 or 100 parsecs away
• Arc length of a circle
- The arc length of 360 degrees is 2π units
2𝜋 𝜋
- 1 𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 = 1 𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 so 𝑎𝑟𝑐 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ = = 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠
360 180
1 1
- 1 𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒 = 𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 = 𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒
60 60
𝜋 𝜋
so 𝑎𝑟𝑐 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ = = 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠
60×180 10800
1 1
- 1 𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 = 𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒 = 𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒
60 3600
𝜋 𝜋
so 𝑎𝑟𝑐 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ = = 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠
3600×180 648000
 Measuring distances to stars and galaxies
Parallax
• Using parallax to measure the distance from the Earth (or the sun) to a star

d = 1 / p in AU if p is in radians, in
parsecs if p is in arcseconds
1 astronomical unit (1 AU) = is the
average distance from the Earth to the
Sun
1 AU = 1.496 × 1011 m
d = distance to nearby star in parsecs
p = parallax angle of that star in
arcseconds
d = distance in parsecs
1 parsec = 3.086 x1016 m =
206265AU=3.262 ly
1 ly = 9.4605284 × 1015 metres
 Measuring distances to stars and galaxies
The moving cluster method
• The proper motion of a star in the cluster, that is, its motion
across the sky against the background stars, can be measured
by taking photos of the star and some background stars many
years apart
 Star brightness and distance
• Parallax method cannot be used if the stars are at huge distances away
• The luminosity (log scale) of a star is the total energy radiated per second
(power: J/s or W)
Lsun = 3.9 x 1026 W
• The brightness of a star is the total energy radiated per second per unit area
(W/m2). It depends on the luminosity and the distance between the two
objects
 Star brightness and distance
[Link]
measurement
• Cepheid variable is a large star, near the end of its life, that pulses at a rate
that is related to its luminosity
• Found by Henrietta Leavitt in 1912
• Henrietta Leavitt noticed that those with longer periods were brighter than
the shorter-period ones.
• Estimating the distance
- Once the period of a distant Cepheid has been measured, its luminosity can
be determined from the known behaviour of Cepheid variables
- Measure the average brightness (how bright does it appear to be?)
- The distance can be calculated using the formula

Called apparent
magnitude which Does not depend on
depends on the the distance
distance between between the
the observer and the observer and the
star star
 Absolute magnitude versus apparent
magnitude
• In order to see the same brightness, the distance between the observers
and the star must be fix. For example, a light globe appears to have the
same brightness if observed from people having he same distance from the
light globe

Absolute
magnitude Apparent magnitude: High
apparent magnitude means low
brightness (system used)
 Sample problem
The luminosity of a Cepheid variable star is known to be 8.0 × 1029 W.
Astronomers measure its brightness to be 8.6 × 10-10 W/m-2. What is its distance
from us (in light years?)
 Revision question 13.6 page 292
The distance to a star cluster has been measured using the Cepheid
variable technique to be 4000 light-years. A star in that cluster has a
measured brightness of 2.1x10-11 W/m2. What is the luminosity of that star?
 Sample problem 13.7 page 292
The period of a Cepheid variable star whose brightness is measured to be
5.1 × 10-13 Wm-2 is measured to be 10 days. What is the distance (in light years)
to this star? The luminosity of the Sun is 3.8 × 1026 W. Use the following graph
to determine your answer.
How to read the log scale
(1)Measure the distance from the point on the scale to the closest decade line
with lower value
(2) Divide this distance by the length of a decade (the length between two
decade lines)
(3) The value of your chosen point is now the value of the nearest decade line
with lower value times 10 to the power "a" where "a" is the value found in
step 2.
Example: What is the value that lies halfway between the 10 and 100 decades
on a logarithmic axis? Since it is the halfway point that is of interest, the
quotient of steps 1 and 2 is 0.5. The nearest decade line with lower value is 10,
so the halfway point's value is 10^0.5 × 10
 The sun
• Closest star to us.
• 333 000 times the mass of Earth.
• The mass of the Sun is a useful unit for comparing the masses
of stars, and is called a solar mass
1 solar mass = mass of the Sun = 1.99 × 1030kg
• Lsun = 3.86 × 1026 J/s (3.86 × 1026 W)
• The Sun was made largely of hydrogen
• List two things that the sun provide
- Warmth
- Energy for photosynthesis
 Nuclear fusion
• Is the process by which multiple nuclei join together to form a
heavier nucleus
• Reaction
4 H  He + Energy
4H = 4 x 1.00794 = 4.03176
He = 4.002602
Difference = 0.029158 = 0.7% = 1/140
Converted to energy via E=mc2
• Sample problem 13.10 page 298: When two hydrogen nuclei in
the centre of a star fuse, 1.44 MeV of energy is released. How
much mass is lost by the Sun in this reaction?
1ev = 1.6×10−19 J
 Lesson 1 (p103-105)

We will be able to
• Understand the life cycle of a star
• Understand the terms used in astrophysics
• Calculate luminosity of stars
• Calculate apparent brightness of stars
 Life cycle of a star
• Star formation
- Stars are made (or “born”) in dense concentration of dust and gas
- Since the regions are dense, they are opaque to visible light . Since
they don't shine by optical light, we must use IR and radio telescopes
to investigate them
• The balance between gravity trying to make the star shrink and heat
(from nuclear fusion) holding it up
• The bigger a star, the hotter and brighter it is. Hot stars are Blue.
Smaller stars are less bright, cooler and Red.
• Eventually, the hydrogen (the “fuel” for the nuclear fusion) in the
centre of the star will run out. No new heat is made and gravity will
take over and the centre of the star will shrink. This makes the very
outside of the star “float up” and cool down, making the star look
much bigger and redder - a Red Giant star
 Life cycle of a star
• Stars are formed in clouds of gas and dust, known as nebulae
• Two forces
- The balance between gravity trying to make the star shrink and
- heat (from nuclear fusion of hydrogen gas) holding it up
• Eventually, the hydrogen fuel within stars will begin to run out
• Stars will expand, cool and change colour to become other
objects. The path they follow beyond that depends on the mass
of the star
Life cycle of a star
 Luminosity and brightness

Lsun = 3.9 x 1026 W • The brightness of a star is the total

Luminosity of a star is the total energy energy radiated per second per unit
radiated per second (power) • The brightness depends on the
luminosity and the distance
𝐿 = 𝜎𝐴𝑇 4
𝐿 = 𝐿𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝑊)
between the two objects
A is the surface area of star 𝐿
𝜎 = 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑓𝑎𝑛′ 𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 = 5.7 × 10−8 𝑊𝑚−2 𝑇 −4 𝑏=
4𝜋𝑑 2
𝑇 = 𝑇𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 (𝐾) 𝑏 = 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑊𝑚−2
𝑑 = 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟 − 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒)
 Apparent magnitude
• In order to see the same brightness, the distance between the observers
and the star must be fix. For example, a light globe appears to have the
same brightness if observed from people having he same distance from the
light globe

Absolute
magnitude Apparent magnitude: High
apparent magnitude means low
brightness (system used)
 Units used for measuring distances in
astronomy
Light year: The distance light travels in 1 year at a speed of 3x108m/s
1 parsec = 3.1 x1016 m = 2.1x105AU=3.26 ly
We will learn how to calculate the distances later
 Lesson 2 Characteristics of Stars
p105-107

We will be able to:

• Use new vocabulary to describe stars in terms of their
temperature, size and brightness.
• Use these characteristics to estimate the age (and history) of a
star.
 Quiz 1
1. Nebulae: A. Groups of clouds and dust in
2. Binary stars: the outer space
3. Cluster: B. Group of stars closely held
4. Galaxy: together
5. Milky Way: C. An enormous group of stars
held together by gravity
D. Pairs of stars that orbited a
common point
E. The galaxy that contains our
Solar System
 Quiz 1 answer
1. Nebulae: A. Groups of 3. Cluster: B. Group of stars
clouds and dust in the outer closely held together
space

4. Galaxy: C. An enormous group

of stars held together by gravity

2 Binary stars: D. Pairs of

stars that orbited a
common point 5. Milky Way: E. The galaxy that
contains our Solar System
 Quiz 2

List different types of galaxies

 Quiz 2 answer
Spiral galaxies Elliptical galaxies

Irregular galaxies
 Quiz 3

Classify stars in 4 main categories according to size

 Quiz 3 answer

Diameter of the sun = 1,391,684 km

1 supergiants (a thousand times the diameter of the Sun)
2 giants (a diameter of between 10 and 100 times that of the Sun)
3 medium-sized stars (a diameter close to that of the Sun)
4 dwarfs (a diameter of only about 9000 km)
 Quiz 4

How does the sun produce energy? From which reaction?

 Quiz 4 answer
Energy: Nuclear fusion

• Multiple nuclei join together to form a heavier nucleus

• Reaction
4 H  He + Energy
4H = 4 x 1.00794 = 4.03176
He = 4.002602
Difference = 0.029158
Converted to energy via E=mc2
 Quiz 5
The mass of the sun is 1.99 × 1030 kg, 91% of which is hydrogen. Its
power output is 3.85 × 1026 W (J/s). Determine…
(a) The rate at which the sun's mass is decreasing

(b) The total mass destroyed if all the sun's hydrogen were
converted into helium

(c) the expected lifetime of the sun (assuming its power output
will remain constant)
 Quiz 6
a. The visible spectrum consists of 7 colours.
List the colours in the order of longest wavelength (lowest
frequency) to shortest wavelength (highest frequency)

b. What technique do we use to observe the spectrum of light

emitted from stars?

c. Blue stars are the cooler/hotter

Red stars are cooler/hotter
 Colour

• The wavelength at peak

intensity depends on the
surface temperature

• What technique do we use to view

the spectrum of light emitted from
stars?
Spectroscope
• What does the colour emitted
depend on?
Surface temperature
- Blue: Hotter
- Red: Cooler
 Lesson 3 Spectral type (p109-111)

We will be able to:

Understand different spectral types
Use Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram to locate different stars
 Different types of spectrum

Produced by glowing solids or dense bodies

Produced when a transparent gas is

observed through a spectroscope. The
emission lines correspond to the photons
emitted
A gas is placed in front of a source of a
continuous spectrum. The emissions lines
of the gas will absorb the colours of
corresponding wavelengths. This gives rise
to the absorption spectrum
This suggested that the black lines in the
solar spectrum were due to light passing
through gasses in the Sun
 Spectral Classification of Stars

Classified according to temperature

O, B, A, F, G (sun), K, M
 Hertzsprung Russell (H-R)diagrams
• Lsun = 3.9 x 1026 W
• Plotting the luminosity of a star
against temperature
• Log scale
• The plot can be used to predict
the stage of evolution of stars
• Spectral class is the
classification of stars based on
their spectral characteristics
• Main sequence: Stable stars
during their cycle
 Get up to date
[Link] main sequence stretching from the upper left (hot, luminous stars) to the bottom
right (cool, faint stars) dominates the HR diagram. It is here that stars spend about 90%
of their lives burning hydrogen into helium in their cores. Main sequence stars have a
Morgan-Keenan luminosity class labelled V.
Heat is produced during gravitational contraction of a star. A stable main sequence star
is one that has contracted until the inside is hot enough to start nuclear reactions
among hydrogen atoms. At this point the interior becomes a stable heat source,
radiating light and creating enough outward pressure to counterbalance the inward
force of gravity
It is here that stars spend about 90% of their lives burning hydrogen into helium in their
cores
[Link] giant and supergiant stars (luminosity classes I through III) occupy the region
above the main sequence. They have low surface temperatures and high luminosities
which, according to the Stefan-Boltzmann law, means they also have large radii. Stars
enter this evolutionary stage once they have exhausted the hydrogen fuel in their cores
and have started to burn helium and other heavier elements.
[Link] dwarf stars (luminosity class D) are the final evolutionary stage of low to
intermediate mass stars, and are found in the bottom left of the HR diagram. These
stars are very hot but have low luminosities due to their small size.
 Get up to date

Q1 – 3 (unit conversion for distances)

Q4 – 8 (luminosity and apparent brightness)
Q11 (nuclear fusion – how the sun makes energy)
Q12 – 13 (H-R diagram)
Q14 (terms)
 Populations I and II Stars
• Stars may be classified by their heavy element abundance, which
correlates with their age and the type of galaxy in which they are
found.
• Population I stars include the sun and tend to be luminous, hot and
young, concentrated in the disks of spiral galaxies. They are
particularly found in the spiral arms. With the model of heavy
element formation in supernovae, this suggests that the gas from
which they formed had been seeded with the heavy elements formed
from previous giant stars. About 2% of the total belong to Population
I.
• Population II stars tend to be found in globular clusters and the
nucleus of a galaxy. They tend to be older, less luminous and cooler
than Population I stars. They have fewer heavy elements, either by
being older or being in regions where no heavy-element producing
predecessors would be found. Astronomers often describe this
condition by saying that they are "metal poor", and the "metallicity"
is used as an indication of age.
 The mass of stars
• The mass of the Sun can be • In 1924, Sir Arthur Eddington
determined from the orbits of found that the more luminous
the planets around it the star, the greater its mass

• This formula applies to all

masses orbiting a central
body of mass M.
 The mass of stars
Sample problem 13.12 (p304)
Doppler effects
EM spectrum
 What else can the light from distant stars and galaxies tell us?

When an object such as a star or galaxy is moving towards us the

the wavelengths of the light it emits are shifted towards the blue end
of the spectrum (frequency is shifted higher). This is called blue shift.

If the object is moving away its light is shifted towards the red end of
the spectrum (frequency is shifted lower) . This is called red shift. This
phenomenon, the shifting of wavelengths due to the relative motion of
objects, is called the Doppler Effect.

You have experienced the Doppler Effect every time you listen to
a car drive by. As the car is approaching the pitch is shifted higher and as it passes and
moves away the pitch (frequency) is shifted lower (click).

Click car to hear sound again

 The expansion of the universe
The galaxies we see in all directions are moving away from the Earth, as evidenced by their
red shifts. Hubble's law describes this expansion
The fact that we see all other galaxies moving away from us does not imply that we are
the center of the universe! All galaxies will see all other stars moving away from them in an
expanding universe. A rising loaf of raisin bread is a good visual model: each raisin will see
all other raisins moving away from it as the loaf expands.

The fact that the universe is expanding then raises the question "Will it always expand?"
Since the action of gravity works against the expansion, then if the density were large
enough, the expansion would stop and the universe would collapse in a "big crunch". This
is called a closed universe. If the density were small enough, the expansion would continue
forever (an open universe). At a certain precise critical density, the universe would
asymtotically approach zero expansion rate, but never collapse. Remarkably, all evidence
indicates that the universe is very close to that critical density. Discussions about the
expansion of the universe often refer to a density parameter Ω which is the density divided
by the critical density, such that Ω = 1 represents the critical density condition.
 Hubble's Law
• Most galaxies were receding
• The more distant, the faster their recession
• the recession speed of galaxies is proportional to their distance from us