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H205 Cosmic Origins APOD Today: The Origin of Stars Begin EP 6 Tuesday Evening: John Mather 7:30 Whittenberger Examining a Star Forming Region Exploring Orion How do we know star formation is occurring today? 1. We find stars in the Galaxy that must be young a. Massive stars are short-lived, so they must have formed recently 2. We see evidence for all the stages of star formation in different environments in the Galaxy Stars are forming continuously in the Galaxy The Eta Carina Nebula contains some of the Milky Way’s most massive stars What Causes Stars to Form? Immense clouds of gas Balance of pressure and gravity Gravity overcomes pressure Clouds begin to contract The Great Nebula in Orion Stars are born in cold, dense interstellar clouds • cold gas • dust grains Star formation is triggered when an interstellar cloud is compressed by a shock wave • • • • collision with another cloud nearby supernova explosion nearby hot star wind disturbance from the Galaxy Assembly of a protostar trigger fragmentation free collapse Early contraction Stages of Star Formation accretion of gas Star’s mass increases but its radius decreases temperature stays low Late contraction surface temperature rises Most of the energy from contraction Main sequence arrival Assembly of a Protostar As the cloud begins to collapse, it fragments into blobs that contract into individual stars. The blobs glow faintly in radio or microwave light because they are very cool. They gradually heat up as they contract and begin to glow in the infrared, but they remain hidden in the interstellar cloud. Lynds 1014 Molecular Cores G2, Coalsack Barnard 68 Stars form from molecular cores Cool, dense interstellar clouds Molecules form, allow the cloud to cool The cloud collapses under gravity When are clouds stable? What’s Inside an MC? Protostars! The cocoons of protostars are exposed when the surrounding gas is blown away by winds and radiation from nearby massive stars. Star Formation in Orion Hyperlink: HubbleSOURCE: Orion Nebula Fly-Through Proplyds The Cone Nebula Examining a Star Forming Region Assembly of a Protostar Life track illustrates star’s surface temperature and luminosity at different moments in time 1. Luminosity and temperature grow as matter collects into a protostar Early Contraction 2. Surface temperature remains near 3,000 K while convection is the main energy transport mechanism Early Contraction accretion of gas Star’s mass increases but its radius decreases temperature stays low (about 3000K) What will happen to a young star’s luminosity during the early contraction phase? How will a young star appear in an HR diagram? Late Contraction 3. Luminosity remains nearly constant during late stages of contraction, while radiation is transporting energy through star Late Contraction surface temperature rises Most of the energy from contraction How does a star’s position in the HR diagram change during late contraction? Fusion Begins: It’s a Star!! 4. Nuclear fusion begins when contraction causes the star’s core to grow hot enough for fusion. The core temperature continues to rise until star arrives on the main sequence Protostellar Disks and Jets Inside the cocoons are protostellar disks of gas and dust accreting onto the protostar, and bi-polar jets of hot gas being thrown back into space. Accretion Disks and Jets The collapsing protostar eventually heats up enough to slow the collapse through hydrostatic pressure, and blows away its cocoon. What’s left is a young stellar object, in the final stage of accretion of gas. Young stellar objects still have accretion disks and jets of hot gas. Key Ideas – Star Formation 1) Stars are forming continuously in the Galaxy 2) Stars are “born” in dense, cold, interstellar clouds (giant molecular clouds) 3) Star formation is triggered when the cloud is compressed Key Ideas – Part II 4) Once the compression begins, the star falls together under its own gravity (protostar). A protostar looks starlike after the surrounding gas is blown away, but its thermal energy comes from gravitational contraction, not fusion 4) The collapsing gas becomes a young stellar object with an accretion disk and jets 4) When the young stellar object begins fusing hydrogen into helium it becomes a true star A Concept Map… Life Tracks for Different Masses Models show that Sun required about 30 million years to go from protostar to main sequence Higher-mass stars form faster Lower-mass stars form more slowly What is the smallest mass a newborn star can have? Fusion and Contraction Fusion will not begin in a contracting cloud if some sort of force stops contraction before the core temperature rises above 107 K. Thermal pressure cannot stop contraction because the star is constantly losing thermal energy from its surface through radiation Is there another form of pressure that can stop contraction? Degeneracy Pressure: Laws of quantum mechanics prohibit two electrons from occupying same state in same place Brown Dwarfs Degeneracy pressure halts the contraction of objects with <0.08MSun before core temperature become hot enough for fusion Starlike objects not massive enough to start fusion are brown dwarfs Brown Dwarfs A brown dwarf emits infrared light because of heat left over from contraction Its luminosity gradually declines with time as it loses thermal energy Brown Dwarfs in Orion Infrared observations can reveal recently formed brown dwarfs because they are still relatively warm and luminous What is the greatest mass a newborn star can have? Radiation Pressure Photons exert a slight amount of pressure when they strike matter Very massive stars are so luminous that the collective pressure of photons drives their matter into space Upper Limit on a Star’s Mass Models of stars suggest that radiation pressure limits how massive a star can be without blowing itself apart Observations have not found stars more massive than about 150MSun What are the typical masses of newborn stars? Observations of star clusters show that star formation makes many more low-mass stars than high-mass stars For Wednesday The Origin of Solar Systems Complete EP 6 Lecture Tuesday Evening!