GEARS Workshop Wednesday Don’t forget there are hidden slides and notes – don’t just use the show

1. GEARS Workshop WednesdayDon’t forget there are hidden slides and notes – don’t just use the show 2011

2. Warm Up Online – and paper evaluation – Discuss how spectroscopy provides information about the motion of objects. Characterize the habitable zone in solar systems. Please use what is in your own brain only.

3. Overview Slides Great Observatories Stellar Evolution recap Introduction to imaging Ds9 introduction and spectral line identification Atmospheric transparency

4. Outcomes – from AstroGPS Identify end phases of stars like the sun Match evolutionary stages to initial mass ranges Relate atmospheric properties to astronomical equipment needed Relate mass of star to lifetime and power Correctly identify colors and luminosities of stars using an HR diagram

5. NASA’s Great Observatories http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/cosmic_reference/greatobs.html http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/postsecondary/features/F_NASA_Great_Observatories_PS.html Today we are going to look at some of the data from Chandra. The next 2 images are examples of what you can do with observations at multiple wavelengths of same part of sky

6. HST + Chandra

7. Spitzer + HST + Chandra

8. Stars We’ve spent some time looking at properties of blackbodies and learning how to learn about astronomical objects that we can’t get close to Temperature and color Temperature and overall luminosity Inverse square law of flux -> observed brightness

9. “ordinary” Sun Hydrogen fusing to Helium Main sequence = adulthood for stars Sun surface = 6000 K = peaks in visible light (recall people = 300 K = peaks in infrared light)

10. Red Dwarf Proxima Centauri X-ray image DIM in x-rays So Must be close!!!

11. Brown Dwarf = not quite main sequence

12. Star Formation What are some of the things you notice about places where we find young stars?

13. Star Formation

14. Eagle – M16 A new look at the famous "Pillars of Creation" with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has allowed astronomers to peer inside the dark columns of gas and dust. This penetrating view of the central region of the Eagle Nebula reveals how much star formation is happening inside these iconic structures. The Chandra data shows bright X-ray sources in this field, most of which are young stars. In this image, red, green, and blue represent low, medium, and high energy X-rays. The Chandra data have been overlaid on the Hubble Space Telescope image to show the context of these X-ray data. Very few X-ray sources are found in the pillars themselves. This suggests that the Eagle Nebula may be past its star-forming prime, since young stars are usually bright X-ray sources. However, there are two X-ray objects found near the tips of the pillars. One is a young star about 4 or 5 times as massive as the Sun, visible as the blue source near the tip of the pillar on the left. The other is a lower mass star near the top of the other pillar that is so faint it is not visible in the composite image.

15. M16 – xray stars

17. End of Stars Main sequence is the stage of existence where stars are fusing hydrogen to helium Spend largest fraction of their existence doing this More massive stars – short lived Low mass stars – long lived Range – 100,000 years – 100 billion years!

18. Star Formation What are some of the things you notice about places where we find young stars?

19. Star Formation

20. Eagle – M16 A new look at the famous "Pillars of Creation" with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has allowed astronomers to peer inside the dark columns of gas and dust. This penetrating view of the central region of the Eagle Nebula reveals how much star formation is happening inside these iconic structures. The Chandra data shows bright X-ray sources in this field, most of which are young stars. In this image, red, green, and blue represent low, medium, and high energy X-rays. The Chandra data have been overlaid on the Hubble Space Telescope image to show the context of these X-ray data. Very few X-ray sources are found in the pillars themselves. This suggests that the Eagle Nebula may be past its star-forming prime, since young stars are usually bright X-ray sources. However, there are two X-ray objects found near the tips of the pillars. One is a young star about 4 or 5 times as massive as the Sun, visible as the blue source near the tip of the pillar on the left. The other is a lower mass star near the top of the other pillar that is so faint it is not visible in the composite image.

21. M16 – xray stars

23. Star Formation Accompanied by dust! And some very powerful stars that are very high temperature – emitting lots of light at X-ray and UV

24. Red Giant BP Psc is a star like our Sun, but one that is more evolved, about 1,000 light years away. New evidence from Chandra supports the case that BP Psc is not a very young star as previously thought. Rather, BP has spent its nuclear fuel and expanded into its "red giant" phase – likely consuming a star or planet in the process. Studying this type of stellar "cannibalism" may help astronomers better understand how stars and planets interact as they age. The composite image on the left shows X-ray and optical data for BP Piscium (BP Psc), a more evolved version of our Sun about 1,000 light years from Earth. Chandra X-ray Observatory data are colored in purple, and optical data from the 3-meter Shane telescope at Lick Observatory are shown in orange, green and blue. BP Psc is surrounded by a dusty and gaseous disk and has a pair of jets several light years long blasting out of the system. A close-up view is shown by the artist's impression on the right. For clarity a narrow jet is shown, but the actual jet is probably much wider, extending across the inner regions of the disk. Because of the dusty disk, the star's surface is obscured in optical and near-infrared light. Therefore, the Chandra observation is the first detection of this star in any wavelength.

25. BPPSC – Red Giant

26. Planetary Nebula

27. White Dwarf An international team of astronomers, studying the left-over remnants of stars like our own Sun, have found a remarkable object where the nuclear reactor that once powered it has only just shut down. This star, the hottest known white dwarf, H1504+65, seems to have been stripped of its entire outer regions during its death throes leaving behind the core that formed its power plant. The Chandra X-ray data also reveal the signatures of neon, an expected by-product of helium fusion. However, a big surprise was the presence of magnesium in similar quantities. This result may provide a key to the unique composition of H1504+65 and validate theoretical predictions that, if massive enough, some stars can extend their lives by tapping yet another energy source: the fusion of carbon into magnesium. However, as magnesium can also be produced by helium fusion, proof of the theory is not yet ironclad. The final link in the puzzle would be the detection of sodium, which will require data from yet another observatory: the Hubble Space Telescope. The team has already been awarded time on the Hubble Space Telescope to search for sodium in H1504+65 next year, and will, hopefully, discover the final answer as to the origin of this unique star.

28. Artist impression

29. Supergiant to Supernova

30. Star Death A composite image from NASA's Chandra (blue) and Spitzer (green and red-yellow) space telescopes shows the dusty remains of a collapsed star, a supernova remnant called G54.1+0.3. The white source at the center is a dead star called a pulsar, generating a wind of high-energy particles seen by Chandra in blue. The wind expands into the surrounding environment. The infrared shell that surrounds the pulsar wind, seen in red, is made up of gas and dust that condensed out of debris from the supernova explosion. A nearby cluster of stars is being engulfed by the dust. The nature and quantity of dust produced in supernova explosions is a long-standing mystery, and G54.1+0.3 supplies an important piece to the puzzle.

31. G54.1+0.3 Pulsar with wind

32. Neutron Star This composite image uses data from three of NASA's Great Observatories. The Chandra X-ray image is shown in blue, the Hubble Space Telescope optical image is in red and yellow, and the Spitzer Space Telescope's infrared image is in purple. The X-ray image is smaller than the others because extremely energetic electrons emitting X-rays radiate away their energy more quickly than the lower-energy electrons emitting optical and infrared light. Along with many other telescopes, Chandra has repeatedly observed the Crab Nebula over the course of the mission's lifetime. The Crab Nebula is one of the most studied objects in the sky, truly making it a cosmic icon.

33. Crab

34. Black Holes http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/black_holes/

35. Black Hole G1915+105. 14 solar masses.

36. Fe In BH Using Chandra spectra obtained from more than 300 supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies, a team of astronomers has been able to determine the amount of iron near the black holes (light blue in illustration on the right). The black holes were all located in the North and South Chandra Deep Fields, where the faintest and most-distant X-ray objects can be identified.

38. Patterns and coincidences Along with physical models of gravity, gas pressure, electrostatic repulsion, nuclear physics Plus some nice spectral line measurements Get a beautiful scenario of stellar evolution Imagine the Universe powerpoint

39. Pretty Picture Finder http://www.nasaimages.org/http://heritage.stsci.edu/http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu

40. HR diagram & Stellar Evolution Review where main sequence stars, super giants, and white dwarfs are on HR diagram

41. Sharing GEARS wiki: gears-astro.wikispaces.com If you would like, we can give you permission to edit!

42. Images Learn digital image basics and false color meaning Learn a new software Duplicate a press release Identify some elements in some supernova Make your color supernova image Compare your color image to the press release! Get data from other observations

43. Digital Image Basics More pixels good? What is false color? Why do we need false color?

44. Ds9 • First open image and play with software • File: Open (you can’t open the files by double clicking on them) • Navigate to “My Computer” • Navigate to “E:” (or the name of your thumb drive) • Navigate to GEARS workshop software • Navigate to Data • Look for file

45. ds9 Make a press release Get an X-ray image of galaxy cluster in sky Get the same part of sky in visible light Match up the coordinates so the 2 images are lined up Try to match color scheme of press release

46. Supernova instructions Open ds9 Open chandraed virtual observatory Open image assigned. (115 or 126) Make a spectrum Identify 3-5 strong lines using database summarize the two types

47. Do if time/interest Make 3 energy cuts – or filters Make 3 color image Compare your result to the press release (look for 2007 or later) energy cuts and color choices

48. Spectral Line ID in X-ray http://www.atomdb.org Web Guide Check your units carefully

49. Complexities in Real Data • Roman numeral notation = ionization notation we teach minus 1 • Which element/transition is it? • How do we know if it is Sulfur versus Fe XX? • Verification with other lines is best • Most abundant in universe is indicated in chart • Do I use the EXACT wavelength? • What is the material is moving towards or away from us? May be Doppler Shifted

50. Supernova Remnants G292.0+1.8 & Tycho (left) – Saw from spectra that they weren’t the same type of object