SSC/Groups-General studies: Geography -1

Stars and Stellar Phenomena

Stars
 A star is a luminous sphere of plasma held together by its own gravity. Plasma is the most
Page | abundant form of ordinary matter in the Universe. Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of
1 matter, the others being solid, liquid, and gas. Plasma has properties unlike those of the other states.
 The nearest star to Earth is the Sun.
 Other stars, mostly as we see in the Milky Way, those are visible from Earth during the night,
appearing as fixed luminous points in the sky due to their immense distance from Earth.
 A star shines due to thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium in its core, releasing enormous
energy and then radiates into outer space.
 A star's life begins with the gravitational collapse of a gaseous nebula of material composed
primarily of hydrogen, along with helium and trace amounts of heavier elements. Once the stellar
core is sufficiently dense, hydrogen becomes steadily converted into helium through nuclear
fusion, releasing energy in the process.
 Once the hydrogen fuel at the core is exhausted, a star with at least 0.4 times the mass of the Sun
expands to become a red giant.
 When the star exhausts its fuel then it evolves into a degenerate form, recycling a portion of its matter
into formation of a new of stars with a higher proportion of heavy elements. Meanwhile, the core
becomes a stellar remnant or a white dwarf, or a neutron star, or a black hole depending upon the
size of its mass.
 Compact stars are the endpoints of stellar evolution whose mass is small.
 A white dwarf, also called a degenerate dwarf, is a stellar remnant of a Dying star whose fuel is
exhausted and its size is comparable with that of our SUN. The nearest known white dwarf is Sirius B.
 A neutron star is a type of stellar remnant that can result from the gravitational collapse of a
massive star after a supernova (a massive explosion of a star). Neutron stars are the densest and
smallest stars known to exist in the universe with a radius of only about 12–13 km, they can have a
mass of about two times that of the Sun. Neutron stars are composed almost entirely of neutrons. A
neutron star has a mass of at least 1.1 and perhaps as many as 3 solar masses
 A black hole is a a type of stellar remnant that can result from the great gravitational collapse of a
massive star and is a region of space exhibiting such a strong gravitational pull that no particle or
electromagnetic radiation like LIGHT can escape from it. The theory of general relativity BY
EINSTEIN predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can deform under great gravitational collapse
to form a black hole. The boundary of the region from which no escape is possible is called the event
horizon.
 Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was awarded, along with William A. Fowler, the 1983 Nobel Prize
for Physics, with Chandrasekhar cited for his mathematical theory of the physical processes of
importance to the structure and evolution of the stars. Popularly known as ‘The Chandrasekhar
limit’ it is the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf star. This limit was initially ignored by the
community of scientists because such a limit would logically require the existence of black holes,
which were considered a scientific impossibility at the time. White dwarfs resist gravitational
collapse primarily through electron degeneracy pressure. The Chandrasekhar limit is the mass above
which electron degeneracy pressure in the star's core is insufficient to balance the star's own
gravitational self-attraction. Consequently, white dwarfs with masses greater than the limit would
be subject to further gravitational collapse, evolving into a different type of stellar remnant, such
as a neutron star or black hole. The currently accepted value of the limit is about (2.765 × 1030 kg)
 A constellation is a group of stars specifically arranged in to distinct shapes. Constellations are
defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). There are 88 officially recognized
constellations. Ex: Andromeda is the constellation of stars resembling a Persian mythological
character Andromeda who was chained lady or the Princess, like wise Hydra resembles a
mythological water creature.

Sri Maheshwari CCE 0866-2432787/2438787

 SSC/Groups-General studies: Geography -1
 ZODIAC is a belt of the heavens within about 8° either side of the ecliptic (The ecliptic is the apparent
path of the Sun on the celestial sphere), including all apparent positions of the sun, moon, and most
familiar planets. It is divided into twelve equal divisions or signs (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer,
Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces).
 A binary star is a star system consisting of two stars orbiting around their common center of mass.
Systems of two, three, four, or even more stars are called multiple star systems. Examples of binaries
Page | are Sirius and Cygnus X-1
2  A galaxy is a gravitationally bound system of stars held together revolving round a common
center. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias literally meaning "milky". Galaxies can
be categorized according to their visual shapes including elliptical, spiral, and irregular. Many
galaxies are believed to have black holes at an active center. Our star SUN is a part of galaxy called
MILKY WAY GALAXY. The Milky Way's central black hole, known as Sagittarius A, has a mass
four million times that of our Sun. There are approximately 170 billion (1.7 × 1011) galaxies in the
observable universe. The space between galaxies is filled with an interstellar cloud of dust,
hydrogen, helium and other ionized gases called ‘nebula’.
 A galaxy group or group of galaxies is an aggregation of galaxies comprising about 50 or fewer
gravitationally bound members. Our Milky Way Galaxy is part of a group of 54 galaxies called the
Local Group.
 The galactic year, also known as a cosmic year, is the duration of time required for the Solar
System to orbit once around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.Estimates of the length of one
orbit range from 225 to 250 million terrestrial years. The Solar System is traveling at an average
speed of 828,000 km/h (230 km/s)
 Milky Way galaxy is home to our planetary system and SUN. Canis Major, Ursa Major, Large
Magellanic Cloud, Ursa Minor are some of the Satellites of Milky Way galaxy. The Andromeda
Galaxy also known as Messier is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. The Andromeda Galaxy
is the largest galaxy of the Local Group, which also contains the Milky Way.
 Due to their great distance from the Earth, all stars except the Sun appear to the unaided eye as
shining points in the night sky that twinkle because of the effect of the Earth's atmosphere. The Sun
is also a star, but it is close enough to the Earth to appear as a disk instead, and to provide daylight.
 Stars range in size from neutron stars, which vary anywhere from 20 to 40 km in diameter, to super
giants like Betelgeuse in the Orion constellation, which has a diameter approximately 1,070 times that
of the Sun—about 1,490,171,880 km. Betelgeuse, however, has a much lower density than the Sun.
 The motion of a star relative to the Sun can provide useful information about the origin and age of a
star, as well as the structure and evolution of the surrounding galaxy. This is measured by the Doppler
shift of the star's spectral lines. The Doppler Effect (or Doppler shift) is the change in frequency of a
radiation wave for an observer moving relative to its source. It is commonly heard when a vehicle
sounding a siren or horn approaches, passes, and recedes from an observer. Compared to the emitted
frequency, the received frequency is higher during the approach, identical at the instant of passing
by, and lower during the recession.
 A pole star is a visible star that is approximately aligned with the Earth's axis of rotation and appears visible
always at the poles. It lies approximately directly overhead when viewed from the Earth's North Pole or
South Pole. The term pole star usually refers to Polaris, which is the current northern pole star, also known
as the North Star. The South Pole lacks a bright star like Polaris to mark its position. At present, the naked-
eye star nearest to this imaginary point is the faint Sigma Octantis, which is sometimes known as the South
Star.
 An aurora is a natural light display in the sky (Came from the Latin word aurora, "sunrise" or the Roman
goddess of dawn), predominantly seen in the high latitude (Arctic and Antarctic regions or poles) regions.
Aurorae are caused by cosmic rays, solar wind and magneto-spheric plasma interacting with the upper
atmosphere of the earth. Their charged particles, mainly electrons and protons, enter the atmosphere from
above causing ionization and cause beautiful display of colored light across poles and nearby sub polar
regions.Most auroras occur in a band known as the auroral zone, which is typically 3° to 6° and between 10°
and 20° north and south lattitudes at all local times), most clearly seen at night against a dark sky.
 In northern latitudes, the effect is known as the aurora borealis (or the northern lights), named after the
Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for the north wind, Boreas, by Galileo. In southern
pole it is called, the aurora australis (or the southern lights).

Sri Maheshwari CCE 0866-2432787/2438787