25 STARS AND THE UNIVERSE

The Sun as a Star

The Sun

• The Sun lies at the centre of the Solar System

o The Sun is a star which makes up over 99% of the mass of the solar
system
o The fact that most of the mass of the Solar System is concentrated in the
Sun is the reason the smaller planets orbit the Sun

 The gravitational pull of the Sun on the planets keeps them in orbit

• The Sun is a medium sized star consisting of mainly hydrogen and helium
• It radiates most of its energy in the infrared, visible and ultraviolet regions of
the electromagnetic spectrum

• Stars come in a wide range of sizes and colours, from yellow stars to red
dwarfs, from blue giants to red supergiants
• These can be classified according to their colour
• Warm objects emit infrared and extremely hot objects emit visible light as well
Therefore, the colour they emit depends on how hot they are

• A star's colour is related to its surface temperature . A red star is the coolest
(at around 3000 K) A blue star is the hottest (at around 30 000 K)

The colour of a star correlates to its temperature

Nuclear Fusion in Stars

The source of the Sun's energy: Energy is released in the Sun by the process
of nuclear fusion. In nuclear fusion, four energetic hydrogen atoms collide and
fuse (join together) to form an atom of helium.

All the naturally occurring elements, apart from hydrogen, have been formed
by nuclear fusion in stars
Nuclear fusion occurs when two light nuclei collide at high speed and join to create
a larger, heavier nucleus but some mass turns into energy
When the Universe was first formed, 13.8 billion years ago, the only element present
was hydrogen
If two hydrogen nuclei collide with enough energy they will fuse into a helium nucleus
In the centre of a stable star, hydrogen atoms undergo nuclear fusion to form helium

The equation for the reaction is shown here:

Deuterium and Tritium are both isotopes of hydrogen. They can be formed
through other fusion reactions in the star

• A huge amount of energy is released in the reaction in the form of heat and light
This provides a pressure that prevents the star from collapsing under its gravity

The fusion of deuterium and tritium to form helium with the release of energy

Nuclear fusion requires very high temperature and pressure: The nuclei all
have the same positive charge so need to be moving fast enough to overcome the
electrostatic repulsion and get the nuclei close enough to fuse.
 GALAXIES
• The Universe is is a large collection of billions of galaxies. It is also the name
given to the entirety of space
• A galaxy is a large collection of a billions of stars formed by the force of gravity
Stars are astronomical objects such as the Sun
• These stars are part of Solar systems. Our Solar system is in the Milky Way galaxy
• Each Solar system has a number of planets . Our planet, the Earth, is the third of
eight planets in our Solar System .The Sun is at the centre of our Solar System

Hierarchy of the solar system

Our Sun is one of many billions of stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way.

There might be 200 billion (2 × 10¹¹) stars in the Milky Way

The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy with a central bulge

•

•
It has a diameter of 100 000 light years and the disc is about 2000 light-years
thick. Our Solar System is located about 30 000 light-years from the galactic
centre, two-thirds of the way along a spiral arm.

The Milky Way is spinning and it takes our Solar System about 225 million
years to travel once around the galaxy.

Andromeda Galaxy is our closest spiral galaxy

Our nearest galactic neighbour is the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy,which is 25000
light –years away from us and 42000 light –years from the centre of the milky
Way.

Our solar system is just one out of potentially billions in our galactic
neighbourhood, the Milky Way. There are estimated to be more than 100
billion galaxies in the entire universe

• Astronomical distances such as the distances between stars and galaxies, are
so large that physicists use a special unit to measure them called the light-year

• One light-year is:

The distance travelled by light through (the vacuum of) space in one year

• The speed of light is the universal speed limit, nothing can travel faster than the
speed of light
• But over astronomical distances, light actually travels pretty slowly
• The diameter of the Milky Way is approximately 100 000 light-years o This
means that light would take 100 000 years to travel across it
 • One light year = 9.5 × 1012 km = 9.5 × 1015 m

Life Cycle of Stars

1. Nebula
All stars form from a giant interstellar cloud of hydrogen gas and dust called a
nebula

2. Protostar
• The force of gravity within a nebula pulls the particles closer together until it
forms a hot ball of gas, known as a protostar
• As the particles are pulled closer together the density of the protostar will
increase o This will result in more frequent collisions between the particles
which causes the temperature to increase

3. Main Sequence Star

• Once the protostar becomes hot enough, nuclear fusion reactions occur within
its core o The hydrogen nuclei will fuse to form helium nuclei
o Every fusion reaction releases heat (and light) energy which keeps the core
hot

• The force of gravity keeps the star in equilibrium

• At this point, the star is born, and it becomes a main-sequence star
• During the main sequence, the star is in equilibrium and said to be stable o
The inward force due to gravity is equal to the outward pressure force which
results from the expanding hot gases inside the star

Equilibrium in Stars

• Stars are held together by a delicate balance of force of gravity which pulls the outer
layers inwards and radiation pressure due to nuclear fusion acting outwards forces
• When the inward pull of gravity and the force from the outward thermal expansion
acting on the star are equal, the star will be in equilibrium

• This is how the stars in the main sequence remain stable for millions of years

Forces acting within a star. The centre red circle represents the star’s core and
the orange circle represents the stars outer layers
• If the temperature of a star increases, the outward pressure will also increase o This
will cause the star to expand
• If the temperature drops the outward pressure will also decrease o This will cause
the star to contract
• As long as these two forces balance, the star will remain stable
• Once these forces are unbalanced, then they will no longer be in equilibrium causing
the star to expand or contract
o This happens when fusion in the core of stars, and hence thermal expansion, ceases at
the end of the star's life

• The different life cycles are shown below:

• Once a star is born it is known as a main-sequence star

• During the main sequence, the star is in equilibrium and said to be stable
o The inward force due to gravity is equal to the outward pressure force from the fusion
reactions

4. Red Giant or Red Super Giant

After several billion years the hydrogen causing the fusion reactions in the star will begin
to run out
Once this happens, the fusion reactions in the core will start to die down
This causes the core to shrink and heat up
o The core will shrink because the inward force due to gravity will become greater than
the outward force due to the pressure of the expanding gases as the fusion dies down
A new series of reactions will then occur around the core, for example, helium nuclei
will undergo fusion to form beryllium

These reactions will cause the outer part of the star to expand
A star the same size as the Sun or smaller will become a red giant
A star much larger than the Sun will become a red super giant
o It is red because the outer surface starts to cool

5. For Red Giant Stars

Planetary Nebula
Once this second stage of fusion reactions have finished, the star will become
unstable and eject the outer layer of dust and gas
o The layer of dust and gas which is ejected is called a planetary nebula

White Dwarf
The core which is left behind will collapse completely, due to the pull of gravity, and the
star will become a white dwarf
 The white dwarf will be cooling down and as a result, the amount of energy it emits
will decrease

Black Dwarf
Once the star has lost a significant amount of energy it becomes a black dwarf
It will continue to cool until it eventually disappears from sight

The lifecycle of a solar mass star

6. For Red Super Giants Supernova

• Once the fusion reactions inside the red supergiant finally finish, the core of the
star will collapse suddenly causing a gigantic explosion o This is called a
supernova
• At the centre of this explosion a dense body, called a neutron star will form
• The outer remnants of the star will be ejected into space during the supernova
explosion, forming a planetary nebula o The nebula from a supernova may
form new stars with orbiting planets

Neutron Star (or Black Hole)

• In the case of the biggest stars, the neutron star that forms at the centre will
continue to collapse under the force of gravity until it forms a black hole o A
black hole is an extremely dense point in space that not even light can escape
from
Lifecycle of a star much larger than our Sun
The Expanding Universe
Galaxies & Redshift

Usually, when an object emits waves, the wavefronts spread out symmetrically
If the wave source moves, the waves can become squashed together or
stretched out

Diagram showing the wavefronts produced from a stationary object and a moving
object

A moving object will cause the wavelength, λ, (and frequency) of the waves to
change:
o The wavelength of the waves in front of the source decreases and
the frequency increases
o The wavelength behind the source increases and the frequency
decreases
o This effect is known as the Doppler effect

The Doppler effect also affects light

o If an object moves away from an observer the wavelength of light
increases
 This is known as redshift as the light moves towards the red end
of the spectrum

Redshift is:An increase in the observed wavelength of electromagnet

radiation emitted from receding stars and galaxies

Light from a star that is moving towards an observer will be blueshifted and light
from a star moving away from an observer will be redshifted
 The observer behind observes a red shift

• The Milky Way is just one of billions of galaxies that make up the Universe
• Light emitted from distant galaxies appears redshifted when compared with
light emitted on Earth

• The diagram below shows the light coming to us from a close object, such as
the Sun, and the light coming to us from a distant galaxy

Comparing the light spectrum produced from the Sun and a distant galaxy

The diagram also shows that the light coming to us from distant
galaxies is redshifted o The lines on the spectrum are shifted
towards the red end
 • This indicates that the galaxies are moving away from us
• If the galaxies are moving away from us it means that the universe is expanding
The observation of redshift from distant galaxies supports the Big Bang theory

• Another observation from looking at the light spectrums produced from distant
galaxies is that the greater the distance to the galaxy, the greater the redshift o
This means that the further away a galaxy, the faster it is moving away from us

Graph showing the greater the distance to a galaxy, the greater the redshift

The Big Bang Theory

Around 14 billion years ago, the Universe began from a very small region that was
extremely hot and dense
Then there was a giant explosion, which is known as the Big Bang
This caused the universe to expand from a single point, cooling as it does so, to form the
universe today
Each point expands away from the others
o This is seen from galaxies moving away from each other, and the further away they are the
faster they move
Redshift in the light from distant galaxies is evidence that the Universe is expanding and
supports the Big Bang Theory
o As a result of the initial explosion, the Universe continues to expand

All galaxies are moving away from each other, indicating that the universe is
expanding

An analogy of this is points drawn on a balloon where the balloon represents space and the
points as galaxies
o When the balloon is deflated, all the points are close together and an equal distance apart
o As the balloon expands, all the points become further apart by the same amount
o This is because the space itself has expanded between the galaxies

A balloon inflating is similar to the stretching of the space between galaxies

Redshift and CMBR

Evidence for the Big Bang

• The Big Bang theory is very well supported by evidence from a range of
sources
• The main pieces of evidence are o Galactic red-shift o Cosmic
Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR)

1.Evidence from Galactic Red-Shift

• Galactic redshift provides evidence for the Big Bang Theory and the expansion of the
universe
• The diagram below shows the light coming to us from a close object, such as the Sun,
and the light coming to the Earth from a distant galaxy

Comparing the light spectrum produced from the Sun and a distant galaxy

• Red-shift provides evidence that the Universe is expanding because:

• Red-shift is observed when the spectral lines from the distant galaxy move closer to the
red end of the spectrum
o This is because light waves are stretched by the expansion of the universe so the
wavelength increases (or frequency decreases)
o This indicates that the galaxies are moving away from us

Light spectrums produced from distant galaxies are redshifted more than
nearby galaxies o This shows that the greater the distance to the galaxy, the
greater the redshift

This means that the further away a galaxy is, the faster it is moving away from the
Earth

o
These observations imply that the universe is expanding and therefore support the Big
Bang Theory
Absorption spectrum: Many dark lines cross the spectrum of sunlight . These dark lines are
the wavelength of light missing from the sunlight because the cool gas in the Sun’s
atmosphere absorbs them .

Tracing the expansion of the universe back to the beginning of time leads to the
idea the universe began with a “big bang”

2.Evidence from CMB Radiation

The discovery of the CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background) radiation led to the Big
Bang theory becoming the currently accepted model
o The CMB is a type of electromagnetic radiation which is a remnant from the early
stages of the Universe
o It has a wavelength of around 1 mm making it a microwave, hence the name
Cosmic Microwave Background radiation

In 1964, Astronomers discovered radiation in the microwave region of the

electromagnetic spectrum coming from all directions and at a generally uniform
temperature of 2.73 K
o They were unable to do this any earlier since microwaves are absorbed by the atmosphere
o Around this time, space flight was developed which enabled astronomers to send
telescopes into orbit above the atmosphere

According to the Big Bang theory, the early Universe was an

extremely hot and dense environment
o As a result of this, it must have emitted thermal radiation

The radiation is in the microwave region

o This is because over the past 14 billion years or so, the radiation initially from the Big
Bang has become redshifted as the Universe has expanded

o Initially, this would have been high energy radiation, towards the gamma end of the
spectrum
o As the Universe expanded, the wavelength of the radiation increased o Over time, it
has increased so much that it is now in the microwave region of the spectrum

The CMB is a result of high energy radiation being redshifted over billions of
years

• The CMB radiation is very uniform and has the exact profile expected to be
emitted from a hot body that has cooled down over a very long time o This
phenomenon is something that other theories (such as the Steady State
Theory) cannot explain

• The CMB is represented by the following map:

 The CMB map with areas of higher and lower temperature. Places with higher
temperature have a higher concentration of galaxies, Suns and planets

• This is the closest image to a map of the observable Universe

• The different colours represent different temperatures o The red / orange /
brown regions represent warmer temperature indicating a higher density of
galaxies
o The blue regions represents cooler temperature indicating a lower density of
galaxies
 The temperature of the CMB radiation is mostly uniform, however, there are
minuscule temperature fluctuations (on the order of 0.00001 K)
o This implies that all objects in the Universe are more or less uniformly
spread out

Measuring distances with supernovae:

Luminosity L :The total power output of radiation emitted by a star

It is measured in units of Watts (W)

Standard Candles : An astronomical object which has a known luminosity due to a

characteristic quality possessed by that class of object
Eg: Type 1a supernovae

A supernova explosion involving a white dwarf .Type la supernovae occur when

a white dwarf star in a binary star system (when two stars orbit each other) pulls
in material from its companion star until it reaches a certain mass and then
explodes.
The luminosity at the time of the explosion is always the same
Observations of type la supernovae in a very distant galaxy suggest that the
expansion of the Universe is accelerating.

Using Standard Candles as a Distance Indicator

Measuring astronomical distances accurately is an extremely difficult task

A direct distance measurement is only possible if the object is close enough to
the Earth
For more distant objects, indirect methods must be used - this is where standard
candles come in useful
If the luminosity (output power) of a source is known, then the distance can be
estimated based on how bright it appears from Earth
Supernovae always have the same luminosity (output power) therefore they act
as a 'standard candle. By recording how bright the supernova appears to be and
 knowing how bright it really is, it is possible to work out how far away it is. So the
distance to a distant galaxy can be determined by the brightness of a
type la supernova

Hubble & The Age of the Universe

• In 1929, the astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that the universe was expanding
o He did this by observing that the absorption line spectra produced from the light
of distant galaxies was shifted towards the red end of the spectrum
o This doppler shift in the wavelength of the light is evidence that distant galaxies
are moving away from the Earth

• Hubble also observed that light from more distant galaxies was shifted further
towards the red end of the spectrum compared to closer galaxies o From this
observation he concluded that galaxies or stars which are further away from the
Earth are moving faster than galaxies which are closer
o

• Hubble used redshift data to determine the recession velocities of these galaxies,
and standard candles to determine the distances
• From these measurements, he formulated a relationship, now known as Hubble’s
Law

• Hubble’s law states:

The recessional velocity v of a galaxy is proportional to its distance from Earth

Hubble's law: distant galaxies are moving away from Earth with a speed, v, that is proportional to their
distance, d, from Earth; v = Ho d where Ho is the Hubble constant
v = Ho d
 km s-1 Mpc-1
v - recession speed of galaxies (how fast they are moving away from us) (m/s) or ( )d

- galaxies distance from us. (m) (Mpc)

 Ho - Hubble constant [the gradient (slope) of this graph] (1/s)

 18
The accepted value is that H0 = 2.2 × 10– per second

The graph confirms that the further away the galaxy is, the faster it is moving away from us.

As the equation shows, the Hubble Constant, H0 is defined as:

The ratio of the speed at which the galaxy is moving away from the Earth, to its
distance from the Earth

Age of the Universe

Since Hubble's Law states that

It can be rearranged to show that

Hubble’s law shows that the further away a star is from the Earth, the faster it is
moving away from us

A key aspect of Hubble’s law is that the furthest galaxies appear to move away the
fastest

The gradient of the graph can be used to find the Age of the Universe

When the distance equals zero, this represents all the matter in the Universe being at a
single point
This is the singularity that occurred at the moment of the Big Bang

The units of the gradient are per second (the same as the units of the Hubble
Constant)
o By taking the reciprocal ,

o or, the units will become seconds

o Therefore the reciprocal of the gradient represents time and gives the
amount of time which the Universe has been expanding for

Astronomers have used this formula to estimate the age of the Universe at about
13.7 billion years

Estimate for the age of the Universe

The current estimate for Ho is 2.2 x 10-18 per second.

From the equation that links distance, speed and time, we know that:

The reciprocal (inverse) of the Hubble constant is known as Hubble time because it can be
used to work out the age of the Universe.

Hubble time: the inverse of the Hubble constant, which gives an estimate for the age of the
Universe

So:

Therefore, the age of the Universe is:

= 4.5 x 1017 s

1 second = 3.171 × 10- 8 years

So 4.5 x 1017 s = 4.5 x 1017 s x3.171 × 10- 8 = 14.4 x 109 years

The Universe began at a single point (called a singularity) about 14.5 billion years ago.