Download What is a Scientist? - Cockeysville Middle School

Objective: To identify characteristics of stars in
order to explain how these characteristics affect
a star’s appearance from Earth.
Astronomy Note: How can you tell stars apart?
Drill:
1. Take out your log book and your text.
2. Title a new page “Characteristics of Stars”.
3. Create a list of at least 6 characteristics.
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Think about our earlier lessons on
classifying matter.
Identify characteristics that can be used to
tell 2 stars apart.
Color
Brightness
Location
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Temperature
Composition
Sun or not
Size
Mass
Age
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Which characteristics do you think will be
easiest to learn about? Why?
Astronomers classify stars according to physical
characteristics.
Skim text page 127 to identify 5 characteristics
that astronomers use to classify stars.
Color
Brightness
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Temperature
Composition
Size
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Activity 2:
Exploring Characteristics of Stars
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Objective: To identify characteristics of stars in
order to explain how these characteristics affect
a star’s appearance from Earth.
Astronomy Note: How can you tell stars apart?
Drill:
1. Take out your activity sheet and your
text.
2. You have 10 minutes to complete the ditto.
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COLOR AND TEMPERATURE (Text Page 127)
What does the color of a star indicate
about the star?
Temperature
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Identify the temperature associated with each
color, and include an example of a star that
would appear each color.
Temperature
Example
Red:
about 3,200° C
Betelgeuse
White/Yellow:
about 5,500° C
Our Sun
Blue:
over 20,200° C
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SIZE (Text Page 127)
Stars vary greatly in their sizes. List five sizes
of stars from smallest to largest and a fact
related to each type of star.
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Star
a. Neutron Stars
Fact
about 20 km in diameter
b. White Dwarf Star about the size of Earth
c. Medium Sized Star
like our sun
d. Large/Giant Star
10-100 times the size of
our sun
e. Super Giant Star
from our sun to Jupiter
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COMPOSITION (Text Page 128)
What are the two main elements found in most
stars?
Hydrogen 73%
Helium 25%
Other Gases 2%
What tool do scientists use to study the
composition of stars?
Spectrograph
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Brightness of Stars (Text Page 128-129)
What two factors determine how bright a star
really is?
1. Temperature
2. Size
What are 2 factors that determine how bright a
star appears from Earth?
1. Distance From Earth
2. Absolute Brightness
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Hmmm…
PARALLAX
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Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram (Text Page 132-133)
On what 2 characteristics is the HertzsprungRussell Diagram based?
1. Absolute Brightness
2. Surface Temperature
What pattern exists for main sequence stars
based upon these two characteristics?
For main sequence stars, as the surface temperature
increases, the absolute brightness increases.
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HOMEWORK:
Ditto – Galaxies and Stars
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