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This overview delves into the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990, revealing insights into stellar evolution, including the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram that maps the relationship between stellar brightness and temperature. Key stages of stellar life cycles such as birth, main-sequence, red giant, and death—including phenomena like supernovae, neutron stars, and black holes—are explored. Additionally, we discuss various galaxy types and the Doppler effect, which provides evidence of an expanding universe post-Big Bang, linking cosmic observations to the fate of the universe.
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Deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope in Earth orbit, April 24, 1990
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram • Shows the relation between stellar • Brightness (absolute magnitude) and • Temperature • Diagram is made by plotting (graphing) each star's • Luminosity (brightness) and • Temperature
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram • Parts of an H-R diagram • Main-sequence stars • 90% of all stars • Band through the center of the H-R diagram • Sun is in the main-sequence • Giants (or red giants) • Very luminous • Large • Very large giants are called supergiants • Only a few percent of all stars
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram • Parts of an H-R diagram • White dwarfs • Fainter than main-sequence stars • Small (approximate the size of Earth) • Lower-central area on the H-R diagram • Not all are white in color • Perhaps 10% of all stars
Stellar evolution • Two opposing forces in a star are • Gravity – contracts • Thermal nuclear energy – expands • Stages • Birth • Main-sequence stage • 90% of a star's life is in the main-sequence • Red giant stage • Burnout and death • white dwarf, neutron star, or a black hole
Stellar remnants • White dwarf • Small and Dense • Spoonful weighs several tons • Neutron star • Gravitational force collapses atoms • Electrons combine with protons to produce neutrons • Pea size sample weighs 100 million tons • First one discovered in early 1970s Crab nebula (remnant of an A.D. 1054 supernova)
Stellar remnants • Black hole • More dense than a neutron star • Intense surface gravity lets no light escape • As matter is pulled into it • Becomes very hot • Emits x-rays • Likely candidate is Cygnus X-1, a strong x-ray source
Galaxies • Other galaxies • Existence was first proposed in mid-1700s by Immanuel Kant • Four basic types of galaxies • Spiral galaxy • Arms extending from nucleus • About 30% of all galaxies • e.g., Milky Way
Great Galaxy, a spiral galaxy, in the constellation Andromeda
Galaxies • Other galaxies • Four basic types of galaxies • Barred spiral galaxy • Elliptical galaxy • Irregular galaxy
The study of light • Doppler effect • The apparent change in wavelength of radiation caused by the relative motions of the source and observer • Used to determine • Direction of motion • Increasing distance – wavelength is longer ("stretches") • Decreasing distance – makes wavelength shorter ("compresses")
Red shifts • Doppler effect • Change in the wavelength of light emitted by an object due to its motion • Movement away stretches the wavelength • Light appears redder • Movement toward “squeezes” the wavelength • Light shifted toward the blue • Expanding universe • Most galaxies exhibit a red Doppler shift
Big Bang theory • Accounts for galaxies moving away from us • Universe was once confined to a "ball" that was • Supermassive • Dense • Hot
Big Bang theory • Big Bang marks the inception of the universe • Occurred about 15 billion years ago • All matter and space was created • Matter is moving outward • Fate of the universe • Two possibilities • Universe will last forever • Outward expansion sill stop and gravitational; contraction will follow
Big Bang theory • Fate of the universe • Final fate depends on the average density of the universe • If the density is more than the critical density, then the universe would contract • Current estimates point to less then the critical density and predict an ever-expanding, or open, universe