Download Astronomy Study Guide #2

Astronomy Study Guide #2
01. A star has an apparent magnitude of m_v= -1 while another
has m_v=+16. How does their brightness compare to an observer on Earth?
02. What kind of star is the sun?
03. What does the color of visible stars tell us?
04. What is the H-R diagram?
What does it look like?
05. What two parameters does the brightness of a star depend on?
06. What is the stellar spectral classification sequence?
07. What do studies of binary stars help us learn?
08. Solar granulation is evidence for what aspect of energy transport?
09. In traveling from the center of the sun to the top of the
earth's atmosphere, how does light energy get here? (Hint: Energy Transport)
10. What do you have to do in order to find the absolute magnitude of a star?
What is apparent magnitude?
11. Which stars which contribute most to the chemical enrichment of the
interstellar medium?
12. What is a light year?
A parsec?
How is the latter determined?
13. What is remarkable about stars called ``Cepheids"?
14. How would you order electromagnetic radiation in terms of wavelength?
(think rainbow!)
15. Some of our astro-photographs showed rich starfields but with some small
dark regions where there seem to be too few stars. What are these?
16. What kind of stars would you expect to see in a very young cluster's H-R
Diagram?
17. Why do stars twinkle?
18. What are the layers seen in the Sun's atmosphere?
19. Why do sunspots look dark?
20. What are ``Roche Lobes" and ``Lagrangian Points?" How do these help us
understand close binary star systems?
21. How do we know there exists material between the stars (interstellar gas)?
Compare direct and indirect evidence.
22. What are the main interactions between radiation and matter?
23. What is the ``Doppler Effect" and how does it apply to light? And to stars?
24. Why are the Balmer lines of hydrogen important? What are they and how are
they formed? (Hint: We saw these in the spectral tube demonstrations.)
25. How will stars less massive than 1.5 M_0 end their Post-Main Sequence
lives? 3.5 M_0 stars? More massive than 3.5 M_0 stars?
26. What does the position of the ``main sequence turnoff'' in the H-R Diagram
for star clusters tell us?
27. What is a “Nova?" A ”SuperNova?”
28. What is a “planetary nebula?"
29.
How is it formed?
Which kind of star enriches its surroundings?
30. What will be the Sun's terminal phase?
i.e. How will it die?
31. Why does the nucleosynthesis of Iron (Fe) signal the death of a star?
32. What is a neutron star? A pulsar?
A Black Hole?
33. How would you describe the luminosity of a Nova?
That of a SuperNova?
34. What is Hydrostatic Equilibrium?
How does it work in stars?
35. What are the main methods of Energy Transport in stars?
36. What happens in the thermonuclear fusion of Hydrogen?
called?
What is the process
37. What is the single-most important stellar parameter?
38. What is the ``main sequence'' and how is it described?
39. What determines the lifetime of a star?
40. What are the mass ranges of Main Sequence stars in solar masses
( in M0)?
41. Stars on the Main Sequence fall into what sizes compared to the Sun
(in R0)? How about Temperature ranges for these stars?
42. How do we detect an eclipsing double star?
43. What happens to a star during its pre-main sequence contraction?
44. What is so important about the Orion nebula?
Pleiades?
The Eagle nebula?
The
45. Describe the conditions in the core of the sun? (Hint: Use T, P, D)
46. What do we call stars that are burning hydrogen in their cores?
47. According to their mass, compare the stages in the life cycles of stars from
start to finish.
48. Where do Iron atoms, like those in the hemoglobin in our blood, come from?
49. If we can't see them, how do we detect Black Holes?
50. How are Black holes formed?
KEYWORDS:
Fission
Energy Generation
Fusion, p-p cycle, Cosmic Abundance Curve
Energy Transport: Radiation, Convection, Conduction
Luminosity, Brightness
Magnitude, Brightness (Size & Heat => Radius & Temperature)
Light, Spectrum, Refraction, Reflection, Dispersion, Doppler Effect;
Interactions: Absorption, Emission; Spectral Classification
Chemical Differentiation
Hydrostatic Equilibrium
Virial Theorem
Mass, Mass, Mass
Sun: Photosphere, Chromosphere, Corona, Sunspots, Prominences
Main Sequence, Red Giant, White Dwarf, Neutron Star, Pulsar, Black Hole
Variable Stars, Cepheids, Binaries (Roche Lobes), Light Curve