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Astronomy Test 2
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| How do stars form? | Stars form from collapsing interstellar gas clouds made mostly of hydrogen and helium. |
| What happens during the main sequence phase? | The star stabilizes as nuclear fusion of hydrogen to helium keeps it burning for millions to billions of years. |
| What happens when a star runs out of hydrogen? | It expands and cools, entering the red giant phase. |
| What happens to low-mass stars like the Sun? | They expand into red giants, shed their outer layers as a planetary nebula, and leave behind a white dwarf. |
| What happens to high-mass stars? | They continue fusion up to iron, then explode as a supernova. |
| What determines if a stellar core becomes a neutron star or black hole? | The Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit (if the core is too massive for neutron degeneracy pressure to hold up, it collapses into a black hole.) |
| What is hydrostatic equilibrium? | The balance between gravity pulling inward and nuclear fusion pushing outward, keeping a star stable. |
| What is the triple alpha process? | A fusion reaction in red giants where helium fuses to form carbon. |
| What happens in a nova? | A white dwarf in a binary system pulls hydrogen from a companion star, which ignites in a surface explosion. |
| What is a Type Ia supernova? | If a white dwarf exceeds 1.4 solar masses, carbon fusion ignites uncontrollably, destroying the star. |
| How do neutron stars form? | When the core of a massive star collapses after a supernova but is not massive enough to become a black hole. |
| What stops a neutron star from collapsing further? | Neutron degeneracy pressure, which resists further compression. |
| What is a pulsar? | A rotating neutron star that emits beams of radiation, appearing to pulse as it spins. |
| What causes glitches in a pulsar’s rotation? | Sudden shifts in its interior, causing slight changes in spin rate. |
| What is unique about a magnetar? | It has an extremely strong magnetic field and emits high-energy X-rays and gamma rays. |
| What causes starquakes in magnetars? | Instabilities in their magnetic fields, releasing massive bursts of energy. |
| How does a black hole form? | If a collapsing stellar core has more than 3 solar masses, no known force can stop its collapse. |
| What is the event horizon? | The boundary around a black hole where nothing, not even light, can escape. |
| How do we detect black holes? | By observing X-rays from material falling into them or their gravitational effects on nearby objects. |
| What is Hawking radiation? | A theoretical process where black holes slowly lose mass and may eventually evaporate over time. |
| What is a quark star? | A hypothetical star where neutrons break into quarks, possibly explaining extremely powerful supernovae like SN-2006GY. |
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