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Stars, Test 2
Test 2 for Stars the Galaxy and the Universe
Term | Definition |
---|---|
The Main Sequence | EVERYTHING this test is about. Most stars are on the Main Sequence.dd |
The more massive a star, the more... | luminous, larger, and hotter. |
What determines the location of a star along the main sequence? | The Mass |
Interstellar medium | What stars are made out of. Gas and dust between the stars. Most is gas; 1% is interstellar dust. |
No stars less than about _____ have ever evolved off the main sequence. | 0.8M. |
Fun facts about the gaseous portions of interstellar medium. | tenuous (1 atom per cubic centimeter). Gas emits various kinds of light, depending on its temperature. |
Fun facts about the dust portions | solid grains, or "interstellar soot" (iron, silicon, carbon, and more). blocks visible light. |
Size of interstellar dust | large molecules about 300nm |
Interstellar reddening | Dust blocks short wavelengths more efficiently. Whilst long wavelengths such as infrared and radio waves penetrate dust. |
Temperature of dust | typically cool (10-300K). Will emit infrared radiation. |
Gas temperatures | ~10^6 K (very hot). Heated by shock waves from supernovae. |
H II regions | T~10^4 K. Hydrogen heated and ionized by ultraviolet light from hot, luminous stars |
Ionized | stripped of one or more electrons |
Neutral Hydrogen Regions | Very cold. Hydrogen in single, neutral atoms, emits radio waves lamda=21nm. light penetrates the dust --> good for mapping the milky way. |
Interstellar clouds | Includes most interstellar gas. Cool temperatures. |
Intercloud gas | regions of hot gas which lies between interstellar clouds. |
Molecular clouds | interstellar clouds which is cold enough for hydrogen to be in the H2 molecule. 120 light-years in size. Where stars form. |
Temperature of Molecular clouds | 10K |
Infrared vs Visible light view of the Milky Way | Light cannot escape the dark clouds, but dust absorption does not affect infrared light as much. |
How stars form | Denser portions of the cloud collapse into star-forming cores. Rate of collapse is slowed by magnetic fields, turbulence and angular momentum but eventually, gravity wins. |
cores. | Caused by collapsing molecular clouds. |
Effect of angular momentum | Spin of the core produces a disk of material around the protostar. As more material is added, the speed of the cloud increases. Material is added perpendicular to the axis, not to the top/bottom, so a disk forms. |
protostar | center of the star that is surrounded by large envelope of infalling gas and dust. Large, cool and luminous. emits infrared light. |
Protostellar system | central protostar + disk + infalling envelope |
Accreation Disk | Formed from the rotating cloud material. |
The balancing Act that is protostar creation | As mass is added the interior is compressed and becomes hotter, pressure rises. gravity is balanced by the outward pressure force. thermal energy is radiated away and the protostar slowly shrinks. |
Becoming a star | When the core becomes small enough and the temperature hot enough, hydrogen fusion begins and it becomes a main sequence star. |
Temperature required for fusion | 10 million kelvin. |
Mass required for hydrogen fusion | 0.08M. (Brown dwarfs) |
Evolutionary track | Path of temperature and luminosity with time. Protostars of differeny masses follow different paths on their way to the main sequence. |
Hayashi track | |
Bipolar outflow | At the upper/bottom poles of a protostar. May be the result of magnetic interaction between disk and central protostar. Ejects lots of mass that would otherwise land on the star and disrupt the infall of material |
Herbig-Haro objects | when powerful jets collide with interstellar medium |
Star clusters | Gravitationally bound groups of stars |
Time takes to form stars | May take millions of years. High-mass stars take less time to form and quickly evolve. |
Hydrogen burning in low-mass M-S stars | p-p chain. proton-proton. fuses 4 hydrogen nuclei into 1 helium nucleus giving off radiation (positrons and neutrinos) in the process. |
positrons | e+ |
neutrinos | neutral charge |
CNO cycle | Happens in high mass stars. 12C + 4X1H + 2Xe- = 12C + 4 He* gamma rays + neutrinos. |
gamma | gamma rays |
ν | neutrinos |
CNO produces energy for stars about _______. | 1.5 M. |
Descriptions of high-mass stars | convection mixes hydrogen in the core, which increases the amount available for fusion. Once H is exhausted, the star leaves the M-S and expands and cools. |
What mass classifies a high-mass star? | Mass > 8M. [O5, B0, B5 stars] |
Super giants | upper right corner of the H-R diagram. He is ignited in a nondegenerate core which causes the central temperature to rise and heavier elements to fuse/generate energy. Will fuse elements up until iron. |
The more massive the star, the heavier the elements that can fuse. | |
Instability strip | the temperature and luminosity results in a pulsating star |
pulsating variable stars | ones that move across the H-R diagram. |
Cepheid variables | high-mass supergiants. 1 to 100 day periods. more luminous stars have longer periods. |
RR Lyrae variables | low-mass stars on the horizontal branch. less luminous than cepheid variables. |
End of Fusion | fusion of iron or more massive elements requires energy. fusion stops and the core collapses. |
Final days of a high-mass star | each stage of burning is progressively shorter with Silicon burning only lasting a few days. |
Chandrasekhar limit | the limit on the mass that an electron degenerate object can have before gravity wins. 1.4 M. |
Type II supernova | |
nucleosynthesis | new elements are created in a nuclear explosion. |
neutron stars | Type-II supernova leaves behind a neutron-degenerate core or neutron star. |
pulsar | rapidly rotating neutron stars. highly magnetized with a beam of radiation sweeps by earth like a lighthouse beam. |
black holes | if the mass of a neutron star exceed 3M. it will collapse to a black hole. Can form directly from Type II supernova or from accretion by a neutron star in a binary system. |
star clusters | bound groups of stars. |
main sequence turnoff | location gives cluster age. Yound clusters still have massive stars on the Main-Sequence. |