j

IrStars: Crash Course Astronomy #26

Available at https://youtu.be/ld75W1dz-h0 or just youtube/google "Crash Course Astronomy 26"
1. A 51 c,-tr'Vrv\. is the result when you divide the incoming
l ,- M'. from an object into individual c..o tof'S , or
wavelengths.

a. The continuous spectrum of a star has jq in it,

darker bands where different elements ( 'i:otb
different colors.

b. Of the astronomers and researchers mentioned, which one do you believe made the
greatest contribution to our understanding of stars and their functionality? Explain
why.

1. The classification scheme proposed by Cannon and decoded by Payne-

Gaposchkin is still used today, and o..t'f'41\1♦5 st_ars by their
-tefl\f:ft.1Vr"e , assigning each a 1,etft(\
1. What mnemonic is useful to memorize this structure?
Oh, 8-e A( Fi" &vy ,'"$S l"\
c. Why aren't there any green stars? Explain.
i-t-«; "oe,c:.o..,vs c,f- t\.-t, v.Jr;,.._,Y,_ c/\J vt o@.,1e,s
S '!. e c, o (or' f.... ·i i«,,v'\ C.A)\ t>\: Oh) "'-H )" Q- &-\ i f- f/11/e
'{Jt\ n Li k -t-"'-"'-" 0-....vtY tk-efl. c.,_oto-V\ b,tlt-
we' [( WI r
J.. V te-t(II, Ii- ¼cte,
d. You can measure how bright the star appears to be in your telescopl:!, and by using
the cl.i& 'l you can calculate how much c E'ffl Y. it's actually
giving off-what astronomers call its lv".!'1)oSi17

1. T e best to understand,. a large group of objects is to look for

• .1"r1erlJS
-".L.+-S-=r----¥-=---

11. The -!-(g_ Q«- &/Y\

graph in all of astronomy. is the single most important

u1. Stars spend most of their lives fusing h.Ycl.M;".1 •

into h-:e!:.1'vM, , which is why the (V\,<>,J f1
6 -e../{/ven(_e, has most of the stars on it.

iv. I.J1,;t-e D w are the result of a star like

the Sun eventually running out of hydrogen fuei.
Low Mass Stars: Crash Course Astronomy #2
Available at https://youtu.be/jfvMICHv1g4 or just youtube/google "Crash Course Astronomy 29"
1. Stars make energiin their cores b-y-pvsfM h.YJf:O'g--e V1
LV\to tf vt,11\,,

- a. - The rate at which hydrogen fusion occurs depends on how much

P t-ebSv"i the star has in its - . •
-- -GO
b. A really-low mass red dwarf can last tr-, l fc"f P\, years.

c. What are some characteristics of stars with mass similar to that of the Sun?
Explain.

2. When you heat a gas, it )(f' JS . The Sun's outer layers will do just that, and
our star will grow to well over "f-wf it's current size. Astronomers call a star
like this a v \, i t,.,(l..P • •

a. The details are complicated, but the core continues to G(Jn+r)g;,,+' and
·h.1! { VP . It gets so hot that the outer layers swell even more, and the
Sun can bloat up to a'fantastic 10 to 150 times its present size. It will then be a
R 0 Hw .
- At some point, the core contracts and heats up so much that the conditions will
finally be primed for "'- Ii' v vr\ f-vSi Ov\ •. Suddenly, helium is
converted into C.Ovf\i,o Yl . releasing a lot of energy.

c. The Sun will probably undergo a series of tremendous P"'1"0 )<j M'
epic eruptio s as the helium fusion spikes, creating huge surges m e n-e- y
Y r""Oo-\J c+1at'\ . It' II lose even more mass each time.

d. What are the characteristics of the "endg3:111e ' for the

Sun? Explain with detail.

1. Some stars, with more mass than the Sun, still go

tfuough another phase before dying: they form what
are called p\ +o.f) \\J ,o V lo..e .
-:3_ This is all p_aft of the KCA.fVJ'"Cll vyc.-l ofthe Universe.
., 'lY \
\j W h--:-it:-_e---:o=-w-a_rf_s_&_P l an-et_a_ry_N_e_b_u_la_e_:-C-ra_s_h_C_o_u_r_s_e_A_s-tr-o-no_m_y_#_3 ,0
Available at https://youtu.be/Mj06h8BeeOA or just youtube/google "Crash Course Astronomy 30"
l. 'F VS 0- v\, is the Sun's energy source. Once the core is nearly
pure Cu,,Y':1i (Tr/\ , that power is switched off.

a. What is electron degeneracy pressure? Explain.

1. Be ause it's so d-,'t\'\)e . , the - t'- (tx at the surface_ ofa

white dwarf screams up, easily toppmg 100,000x the Earth's gravity.

ii. W hi te d w arfs are so hot they also grow in the vl , even m

x - r ys
ft"CAV rOl-et

iii. Any gas near a newly formed white dwarf is likely to be affected by the
intense f"°'-'J.i<M-tah pouring out of it.

b. The first 'P l -Qtf.l'\ Y'r \7V \u_, was discovered in 1764 by the French
astronomer Charles Messier, who spent years spanning the skies looking for
comets.

1. If the wind from a star blows off in a sphere, how can planetaries come in
different fantastic shapes? Explain Noam Soker's idea.

11. The glow in a planetary nebula is due to the hut C,et\ tra {.
W hi ½Af .JJ,)(C fir -th. 9'1S
1. Most of the gas is h.'=/ o-r"O" 5e f\
which glows in the j

2. 0 X Y b glows OJ -eV\ ,
giving plan taries their characteristic hue.

111. When you see a planetary nebula, you're,seeing a

very short s r\QlP ShO t of the t he '
the J.e,e>-,{- , of a star.
1v. When our S n dies, it'll go q I vi &tl
..
Y
High Mass Stars: Crash Course Astronomy #31
Available at https://youtu.be/PWx9DurqPn8 or just youtube/google "Crash Course Astronomy 31"
1. If a star has more than aboutg times the Sun's mass, it
can create ttw4-rt"'4v"1S in i c;,<r in excess of 500
million degrees Celsius, and then C.,q,.f'\' n will fuse.

a. In the end, you get carbon fusing into t'\e.-dh

h. Si or'\1. , and·some S. oJJum.,

1. These build up in the core, it shrinks, heats up

to about 1.5 billion degrees, and then oxygen
fuses, creating \ 1 l,e,on . Among a pile of
other elements, silicon fusion creates l O Yl

b. Because the star was born massive, it spent its hydrogen fusing days as a b(Vit
VV'-,g,ih. :S e'v\fM\C -e
1. It swells up just as the Sun will, but instead of becoming a red giant, it
generates so much energy it becomes a t"-.o- S veet\- ia,n.-i-- .

c. VY Canis Maioris, the largest known star, is a staggerin two billion kilometers
across. We even have a special term for it: a y·f1't'-8 , OJ\+-- .
d. What is the huge difference that occurs when inert iron builds up in the core, then
shrinks and heats up? Explain.

1. The lb
Y'o..1/1-\- of the core is so mind-bogglingly strong that the outer
parts GN(Sh', -J-,o wn on the inner parts at a significant
fraction of the 'S l r d -f l ('?J hi: .

e. The complicated quantum physics brewing in the core generates vast numbers of
subatomic particles called V\ tt'{ V\. OS

i. What are some characteristics of a supernova? Explain.

f'\ -e. -{-j &-l-oJ' ¼,o..t.C . tfh C
'\-O & , '1-l i-h,, -e,, \ Cl'1\cl.it'l
o v, 1, o J<J
0
..../ dw- \.v<iJ"'J <-
-,., 6 P ec-J cJ(: \,f f f'
1. !he expandini material, called the S V r=e"no-V<7\.
11"-" ,forms fantastic shapes.

2. Supernova are critical for our own ilk iS' .

;.iJ\
? : ,
/,Ne_utron Stars: rash Course Astronomy #32
Available at https://youtu.be/RrMvULBHFIMor just youtube/google "Crash Course Astronomy 32"
1. ln{ower mass stars, the core supports itself via '°C,-t f'--0
-e-V\-'{ , the result of a rule in quantum
mechanics that says electrons vehemently resist being squeezed
together.

2. What is neutron degeneracy in larger mass stars? Explain.

3. What are some of the properties of neutron stars? Pick a couple of the statistics
you foun_d to be most interesting.

a. The first neutron star was detected in l't fJVJ

b. t'V lsct.J'··,sare neutron stars.
of a neutron star is amazingly stable, JAakinlthese K
act like a very accurately timed C O) G- l (} v
11. Some spin hundreds of times per second; these are called 1N1. t ( [ ,·5 t1-J
PV S 0-f-S , and if they spun much faster, the C-Oi\.\-r:i£U,ot-{ &,re..,
would rip them apart despite their tremendous gravity.

c. Uber-powerful neutron stars are given the name (,g <lf1:S

1. What are some of their characteristics? Explain.

11. In a neutron star, the C V"VS.4 and _ r ve-f tV

,,c.. . are
locked together, so a change in one O\..ff,ect the other.

111. When the Sun's magnetic field throws a tantrum, we

get a r/ (cu' f1l f'\e.,. , which can be
as powerful as billions of1mclear bombs.
A VV\,-"""f netrx.f\. f l"'-' dwarfs that into
insignificance.

4. The "weirdest" thing in the sky is held pretty securely bY. the
other type of object created in a supernova: a b hO
le
Black Holes: Crash Course Astronomy #33 \
Available at https:/lyoutu.be/gZWPBKULkdQ or just youtube/google "Crash Course Astronomy 33"
1. lh.. 'r)Y'- .q,-f is the velocity at which you need
to fling something off the surface of an object to get it to escape.

a. In our Universe, nothing can travel faster than lhe

S-t -J 0 l 'd -t- .
b. A t> l h,o \is the ultimate end state for
the core of a high mass star.

1. That region of space, that surface around t E e

velocity is the speed of light is called the --=...-. . . . . . ".=" " cL
.f v-e-n-i..- hvf lz.o(}
n. What are some misconceptions of black holes? Explain.

111. Black holes also come in different SI

1v. What would happen in the few milliseconds before you died entering a black
hole?

v. One of Albert Eins in's biggest ideas is that spac isn't just emptiness, it's
an 1l ¼flJO-. \ k? , like a f-<>--bM (,, in which all
M tt-{fk\A and "t- er<a yis embedded.

1. Space and time are basically two parts of the same thing what we
now call 5 f "'-.C.,< - "\ \ W\.R..-- . '
2. Black holes war:P space-time so much that, at the event horizon
t
I V'-t e- -e,s -ent t c,..l \Y S-\-o J . f '
v1. Black ho-les are so strange, with such fiercely
complicated a_,,{V\. and ? 'f6(C-$ to
explain them, that scientists are still trying
to.figµre out even basic things about them.

v11. Black holes have ;: c.- --- '-- --=----------------

most of the objects we see in the Universe.