Prepared by: Kristine Anne P. Guindoy IV- 6 BEED Prepared by: Kristine Anne P. Guindoy IV- 6 BEED

ARTICLE

 The first naked – eye supernova in 383 years was discovered in the southern sky in February 1987.This steller explosion was officially named SN 1987A (SN stands for supernova and 1987 indicates that it was the first supernova observed in 1987). Naked eye super nova are rare. Only a few have been recorded in historic times. Arab observers saw one in 1006 and the Chinese recorded one in 1054 at the present location of the Crab Nebula. In addition, the astronomer Tycho Brahe observed a supernova in 1572 and Kepler saw one shortly thereafter in 1604

 Prior to this event, researchers could only test their hypothesis on dim supernovae seen in distant galaxies. Thus when SN 1987A occurred, astronomers quickly focused every available telescope in the Southern Hemisphere on this spectacular event. As one astronomer remarked, “this Super nova is better studied by far than any supernova in the history”. More important this event has allowed astronomers to use observational data to test their theoretical models of stellar evolution.  Super Nova 1987A occurred about light years away in the large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way. As expected the supernova rapidly increased in brightness to a peek magnitude of 2.4, out shining all the other stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Also as predicted within a few weeks it began to fade. However SN 1987A did provide some surprises.

Vast number of hot, usually luminous celestial bodies, consisting of matter and known elements and found distributed in galaxies throughout the universe.

Extremely slight back and forth shifting in the apparent position of a nearby star due to the orbital motion of the Earth.

Close one eye and with your index finger in a vertical position, use our eye to line up your finger with some distant objects. Now without moving your finger view the object with your other eye.

The measure of a star’s brightness is called it’s magnitude. The measure of a star’s brightness is called it’s magnitude.

Apparent Magnitude - A star’s brightness as it appears when viewed from earth. Apparent Magnitude - A star’s brightness as it appears when viewed from earth.

Absolute Magnitude - “ true” brightness of star if it were at a standard distance of about 32.6 light years. Absolute Magnitude - “ true” brightness of star if it were at a standard distance of about 32.6 light years.

NameDistanceApparent Mag.Absolute Mag. Sun NA Alpha Centauri --- Sirius Arcturus Betelgeuse Deneb

Blue - very hot stars with surface temp. above 30,000 K. Red - much cooler less than 3000 K Yellow - temp between 5000 and 6000 K Blue - very hot stars with surface temp. above 30,000 K. Red - much cooler less than 3000 K Yellow - temp between 5000 and 6000 K

 Developed by Einar Hertzsprung and Henry Russell.  Is constructed by plotting the absolute magnitudes and temperatures of stars on a graph.

 Supergiant Stars - very large stars  Giant stars - large stars  White dwarfs - very small stars

 Stars fluctuate in brightness. Some called pulsating variable fluctuate regularly in brightness by expanding and contracting in size.  NOVA- stars that are explosively brightens.

 New stars are born out of enormous accumulations of dust and gasses, called nebula.

This is the Helix Nebula, as imaged by the Spitzer telescope.

 Emission Nebulae - derive their visible light from the fluorescence of the ultra violet light from a star in or near the nebula.  Reflection Nebulae - reflected the light nearby stars.

 Birth Place - the birthplaces of the stars are dark, cool, interstellar clouds which are comparatively rich in dust and gases.

 From this point in the evolution of a main sequence star until its death, the internal gas pressure struggles to offset the unrelenting force of gravity.

 The evolution to the red giant stage results because the zone of hydrogen burning continually migrates outward, leaving behind an inert helium core.

 Is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter.  The name is from the Greek word galaxias [γαλαξίας], literally meaning "milky", a reference to the Milky Way galaxy.

IIs a large, disk – shaped spiral galaxy about 1000,000 light years wide and about 10,000 light years thick at the center. TThere are three distinct spiral arms of stars with some showing splintering.

 IRREGULAR GALAXIES - Which lack symmetry and account for only 10% of the known galaxies.

 SPIRAL GALAXIES -Which are typically disk shaped with a somewhat greater concentrations of stars near their centers, often containing arms.

 ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES  - The most abundant type, which has an ellipsoidal shape that ranges to nearly spherical and they lack spiral arms.