May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes A bit about me! Dr. Belinda Wilkes, Professional Astrophysicist (Astronomer) Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Mass., USA On contract to NASA to run Chandra X-ray Observatory (Hubble’s X-ray sister) English, BSc St. Andrews, PhD Cambridge In USA since 1982
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes Astronomers learn by looking
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes Life Cycle of a Star The Sun: our nearest star
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes Stars have different colors B: blue – hottest A: green – warm C: red - cool What can we measure?
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes Color, Brightness + Count them
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes What makes the Sun Shine?
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes Where are Stars Born? Clusters: Pleiades
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes Stellar Nurseries Infrared: 30 Doradus in LMC Optical
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes Circumstellar Disks First image of dust disk, around 18 th brightest star 25 light years away Disk thought to be debris left from planet formation Infrared
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes Stellar Life Star burns fuel in its core (fusion: H→Helium) Initially fuel is H, star is on Main Sequence “Adult” (e.g. The Sun) When H runs out, core heats up and He, burns: “Middle Age” (Giant star) then He runs out, it burns heavier elements, e.g. Fe
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes HR Diagram shows age and mass
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes Death of a Star When all fuel runs out, the core collapses Outer regions of star explode outwards: Supernova SN shine more brightly than a galaxy for a few hours/days
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes We are made of stardust!
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes Cassiopeia A: X-rays
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes The Crab Nebula Hubble Space T/p: OpticalChandra X-ray Observatory: X-ray
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes Chandra X-ray Observatory
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes What are X-rays?
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes Focusing X-rays
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes Launch: 23 July 1999 Space Shuttle Columbia
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes STS-93 Shuttle Crew Commander: Eileen Collins Mission Spclst: Cady Coleman Astronomer: Steve Hawley
May 2006April 2004Belinda Wilkes Supernovae by Chandra