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Properties of Stars. Star Color – the color of a star is a clue to its temperature a.The coolest stars are red b.The medium stars are yellow c.The hottest.

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Presentation on theme: "Properties of Stars. Star Color – the color of a star is a clue to its temperature a.The coolest stars are red b.The medium stars are yellow c.The hottest."— Presentation transcript:

1 Properties of Stars

2 Star Color – the color of a star is a clue to its temperature a.The coolest stars are red b.The medium stars are yellow c.The hottest stars are blue

3 Star Characteristics The color of the star can be a clue to its temperature. – The hotter the star the shorter the wavelength the star emits.

4 Measuring Distance to Stars Parallax – using the location of a star at two different times to calculate its distance from Earth – The nearest stars have the largest parallax (seem to move the most) and the farthest stars have the smallest parallax (seem to move the least)

5 The closer the star the more it “moves” in the sky!

6 Measuring Distance to Stars Light-year – the distance light travels in one year (9.5 trillion kilometers) We use this when determining astronomical distances since miles and kilometers would be way too small of a number The next closest star after our sun, Proxima Centauri, is 4.3 light years away from our sun

7 Stellar Brightness Apparent magnitude – measure of how bright a star appears from Earth This varies due to the star’s temperature, size, and distance away from Earth Absolute magnitude – measure of how bright a star actually is To get a stars absolute magnitude, astronomers have to compare all stars at an equivalent distance

8 These three stars can have the same absolute magnitude when their sizes, temperatures, and distances from Earth are taken into account

9 Comparison of Apparent Magnitude and Absolute Magnitude of Stars NameDistance (light years) Apparent Magnitude* Absolute Magnitude* SunN/A-26.75.0 Alpha Centauri4.270.04.4 Sirius8.70-1.41.5 Arcturus36-0.1-0.3 Betelgeuse5200.8-5.5 Deneb16001.3-6.9 The more negative, the brighter and the more positive, the dimmer Astronomers estimate that there are 200-400 billion stars in our Milky Way Galaxy, but we can only see about 2,500 visible to the naked eye on Earth

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11 Life Cycle of a Star 1. Stars begin as large clouds of gas and dust called nebula 2. The nebula then contracts and shrinks and its temperature increases – This process may take ~ 1 million years 3. Now the star is a protostar – still developing, large, red object – It can’t be classified as a star yet because it does not undergo fusion

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13 1.A star becomes a main-sequence star when fusion begins – Stars at this stage have a delicate balance between gravity pushing inward and the gas pressure pushing outward Stable, main-sequence stars have varying lifespans: – Large, blue stars may only last a few million years – Small, red stars may last hundreds of billions of years

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15 As a star begins the end of its lifecycle it will become a red giant – Red giants are red in color because they are cooler – Red giants are HUGE in size compared to when they were a main-sequence star

16 When a small to medium sized star dies it becomes a white dwarf – White dwarf – a small, cool star near the end of its life When a large star dies it becomes a supernova – Supernova – an exploding star – When the largest stars explode, they can form black holes

17 Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram H-R Diagram – shows the relationship between the absolute magnitude and temperature of stars


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