Characteristics of Stars. Characteristics of Stars. Constellations are imaginary patterns of stars. Astronomers use these patterns to locate objects in the night sky. Constellations. Although the stars in a constellation look as if they are close to one another, they generally are not.
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Chemical Composition • Chemical composition of most stars: • 73% hydrogen • 25% helium • 2% other elements by mass
Brightness of the Stars • The brightness of a star is the amount of light a star gives off. • Depends on: • Star size • Star temperature
Brightness of the Stars • Betelgeuse: • Is fairly cool • A square meter of its photosphere does not give off much light • Because it is very large, it shines brightly
Brightness of the Stars • Rigel: • Is very hot • Each square meter of its photosphere gives off a lot of light • Even though it is smaller than Betelgeuse, it shines more brightly
Brightness of the Stars • How bright a star looks from Earth depends on: • Its distance from Earth • How bright the star truly is
Apparent Brightness • A star’s apparent brightness is its brightness as seen from Earth. • Apparent brightness is fairly easily measured using electronic devices.
Apparent Brightness • Example: • The sun looks very bright because it is so close. • In reality, the sun is a star of only average brightness.
Absolute Brightness • A star’s absolute brightness is the brightness the star would have if it were at a standard distance from Earth.
Absolute Brightness • In order to calculate a star’s absolute brightness, an astronomer needs: • The star’s apparent brightness • Its distance from Earth
Measuring Distances to Stars • Astronomers use a unit called the light-year to measure distances between the stars. • Light travels at a speed of about 300,000 kilometers per second.
Measuring Distances to Stars • A light-year is the distance that light travels in one year. • The light-year is a unit of distance, not time.
Parallax • Astronomers often use parallax to measure distances to nearby stars. • Parallax is the apparent change in position of an object when you look at it from different places.
Parallax in Astronomy • Astronomers look at a nearby star when Earth is on one side of the sun. • Then they look at the same star again six months later, when Earth is on the opposite side of the sun.
Parallax in Astronomy • Astronomers measure how much the nearby star appears to move against a background of stars that are much farther away.
Parallax in Astronomy • The less a nearby star appears to move, the farther away it is.
Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram • They plotted the surface temperatures of stars on the x-axis and their absolute brightness on the y-axis.
Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram • The points formed a pattern called the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, or H-R diagram.
Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram • Astronomers use H-R diagrams to: • Classify stars • Understand how stars change over time
Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram • Most of the stars in the H-R diagram form a diagonal area called the main sequence. • Within the main sequence , surface temperature increases as absolute brightness increases.
Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram • Hot bluish stars are located at the left of an H-R diagram • Cooler reddish stars are located at the right of the diagram.
Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram • The brightest stars are located near the top of an H-R diagram • The dimmest stars are located at the bottom.
Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram • Giant and supergiant stars are very bright. • Can be found near the top center and right • White dwarfs are hot, but not very bright • Appear at the bottom loft or bottom center of the diagram
A Star is Born • All stars begin their lives as parts of nebulas. • A nebula is a large cloud of gas and dust spread out in an immense volume.
A Star is Born • A star is made up of a large amount of gas in a relatively small volume.
A Star is Born • In the densest part of a nebula, gravity pulls gas and dust together. • A contracting cloud of gas and dust with enough mass to form a star is called a protostar.
Protostar • The Spitzer Space Telescope has pierced thick cosmic dust to reveal this embedded protostar, or embryonic star, in HH46-IR.
A Star is Born • A star is born when the contracting gas and dust from a nebula become so dense and hot that nuclear fusion starts.
A Star is Born • During nuclear fusion, enormous amounts of energy are released.
Lifetimes of Stars • How long a star lives depends on its mass. • Small-mass stars use up their fuel more slowly than large-mass stars, so they have much longer lives.
Deaths of Stars • When a star begins to run out of fuel its core shrinks and its outer portion expands. • The star becomes either a red giant or a supergiant.
