Classification of Stars

Classification of Stars
We can classify stars in to groups according to their colour and surface Temperature.
A very hot star emits blue in its spectrum so it looks blue. A medium star will look yellow and a cool star
appear as red.
Life cycle of a star

A star goes through a life cycle. This is determined by the size of the star. The diagram
summarises the stages:
Stars about the same size as our Sun:
 follow the top path

 Nebula→ main sequence star → red giant → white dwarf → black dwarf
Stars much bigger than our Sun:
 follow the bottom path

 Nebula →main sequence star → red super giant → supernova → neutron star or black hole
Nebula.
The space between the stars is not empty. It is filled with gases and
dust particles referred to as interstellar medium or interstellar matter.
The gas is mostly hydrogen and the dust. Interstellar matter clump
together to form clouds called nebulae. It is in these clouds or nebula
that stars are formed.
Main sequence.
Gravitational attraction pulls hydrogen atoms together. The initial star will be big and cold. As it
pulls its mass closer together, the hydrogen atoms will start to fuse
together to make helium atoms. This is called nuclear fusion. A huge
amount of energy is released during nuclear fusion, compared with a
chemical reaction.
The outward pressure, caused by the highly energetic nuclear reactions
taking place in the star, just cancels out the gravitational attraction
pulling the star in on itself. A star spends most of its lifetime like
this. Our sun is at this stage in its development.
Red Giant
Eventually, the hydrogen in the star is used up. When this happens, the star starts to collapse
under its own gravitational attraction.
There is no longer enough outward pressure from nuclear reactions to stop the star collapsing,
this causes the star to become unstable.
A sudden surge of radiation is emitted, which causes the star to expand massively. The Star is
now a red giant. It will stay like this for a long time with helium nuclei joining together to make
heavier elements.
Life of low mass stars
Once helium fusion has stopped, the core of the star will collapse
under its gravitational attraction. The outer layers are thrown
outwards to form something called a planetary nebula.
The core of the star shrinks until it becomes something known as

a white dwarf
Life of large mass stars
These stars have shorter life spans than smaller stars. They become red
giants very quickly (in fact, they are called red super giants because they are
so big).
When they explode, they cause a supernova:
The collapsed core will either form a neutron star - where the gravitational attraction has
pulled everything together so much all the particles have turned in to neutrons, or a black
hole - which is so dense, even light can not escape from its gravitational field. Neutron stars are
formed if the star's mass is between 1½ and 3 times the mass of our sun. A black hole is formed if
the star's mass is over 3 times the mass of our Sun.
The brightness of a star
When you look at the sky at night, you see the moon, stars, planets, and even a few distant
galaxies. Some objects are bright, and some are dim. Brightness really depends on how far the
star is, and what the star is made from and kind of nuclear reactions that are taking place.
Absolute magnitude
This is a similar measure that represents how bright an object actually is. This works by
imagining we could place every object in the sky at a distance of 10 parsecs (190 trillion miles)
away. Absolute magnitude is how bright stars would appear in our sky if they were all at that
distance - or in other words, it's the apparent magnitude they would have if they were moved
to that distance.
The Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) Diagram
The Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) Diagram is one of the most important tools within astronomy.
Astronomers use it to give stars a spectral class and a type. Basically, it’s a graph with two
variables. Temperature is on the X-axis, and luminosity (or brightness) is on the Y-axis. By
plotting these two simple variables, we can locate a star on the HR diagram. Its position says a
lot about its properties.
HR diagram is useful because it can be used to describe the life story of a star and to predict the
final stage of its life.
1. Astronomers make detailed observations of individual stars. Which measurement will
lead to finding the surface temperature of the star?
 A) The colour of the star.

 B) The brightness of the star.
 C) The observed size of the star.
 D) The motion of the star.
2. Stars that are stable and producing energy from fusion for millions (or billions) of
years are called...
 A) red giant stars.

 B) brown dwarf stars.
 C) variable stars.
 D) main sequence stars.
3.
What is a 'nebula'?
 A) A large cloud of dust and gas.

 B) A small dwarf star.
 C) A type of supernova.
 D) A type of galaxy.
4. Very large stars - much larger than the Sun - will explode as a supernova. This happens in the
star's evolution after the star has been...
 A) A nebula.
 B) A white dwarf.
 C) A red giant.
 D) A pulsar.
5. Large stars have a very different evolutionary ending to stars like our Sun. Which of
these best describes the end stages of very large stars and extremely large stars?
Very large stars Extremely large stars

( > 8 times the Sun's mass) ( > 20 times the Sun's mass)
A. neutron star black hole
B. black hole white dwarf
C. white dwarf neutron star
D. white dwarf black hole

Classification of Stars

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Classification of Stars

Life cycle of a star

 follow the top path

Stars much bigger than our Sun:

 follow the bottom path

Life of low mass stars

The core of the star shrinks until it becomes something known as

Life of large mass stars

When they explode, they cause a supernova:

 A) The colour of the star.

 A) red giant stars.

 A) A large cloud of dust and gas.

Very large stars Extremely large stars

A. neutron star black hole

B. black hole white dwarf

C. white dwarf neutron star

D. white dwarf black hole

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