Astrophysics

Notes:
___

Planets, Stars & Galaxies

Specification Point 8.2

Know that:

the universe is a large collection of billions of galaxies

a galaxy is a large collection of billions of stars

our solar system is in the Milky Way galaxy.

Our planet, the Earth, is the third of eight in our Solar System.

The Sun, which lies at the heart of our Solar System is a star – one of billions that lies within
a giant grouping of stars called the Milky Way.

The Milky Way is also just one of billions of similar groupings, called Galaxies, that are
believed to exist with our Universe – the name that we give to the entirety of space.
 2

Gravitational Field Strength

Specification Point 8.3

Understand why gravitational field strength, g, varies and know that it is different on other
planets and the Moon from that on the Earth.

Gravity is a force that acts between all objects with mass – any object with mass will create a
gravitational field.

An object’s gravitational field strength,g, depends on a couple of things:

The mass of the object (the more mass something has, the stronger its gravity).

Your distance from the object (gravity gets weaker with distance).

This means that the value of the gravitational field strength,g on a planet or moon differs:
 3

Note: The gravitational field strength can be used to find the weight of an object using the
equation:

weight = mass x g

Orbital Motion

Specification Point 8.4

Explain that gravitational force:

causes moons to orbit planets

causes the planets to orbit the Sun

causes artificial satellites to orbit the Earth

causes comets to orbit the Sun.

In order to orbit a body such as a star or a planet there has to be a force pulling things
towards that body.

This force is the gravitational attraction of the larger body – if this force did not exist then
objects would not orbit each other, they would simply continue travelling along at a constant
speed in a straight line.
 4

Gravitational attraction causes the Moon to orbit around the Earth

The Orbits of Planets

Specification Point 8.5

Describe the differences in the orbits of comets, moons and planets.

There are several similarities in the way different planets orbit the Sun:

Their orbits are all slightly elliptical (stretched circles) with the Sun at one focus.

They all orbit in the same plane.

They all travel the same direction around the Sun.

There are also a few differences:

They orbit at different distances.

They orbit at different speeds.

They all take different amounts of time to orbit the Sun.

 5

Planets orbit the Sun in the same direction and plane, but travel at different speeds and
have different orbital periods

Comets

The orbits of comets are very different to those of planets:

The orbits are highly elliptical (very stretched) or hyperbolic.

This causes the speed of the comets to change significantly as its distance from the Sun
changes.

Not all comets orbit in the same plane as the planets and some don’t even orbit in the same
direction.
 6

Comets travel in highly elliptical orbits, speeding up as they approach the Sun

As a comet approaches the Sun:

It loses gravitational potential energy and gains kinetic energy.

This causes the comet to speed up – it travels fastest at the point where it is closest to the
Sun.

The icy body of the comet also starts to melt, and forms a tail which always points away from
the Sun.

Exam Tip

When referring to the force of gravity:

be careful to call it weight , gravitational force or gravitational attraction.

Don’t refer to it as just gravity and certainly don’t call it gravitational field strength or
gravitational potential (both of which mean different things).

Orbital Period

Specification Point 8.6 Save

use the relationship between orbital speed, orbital radius and time period:

orbital speed = 2π x orbital radius / time period

v=2xπxr/T
 7

The orbits of planets are almost circular.

This means that in one orbit a planet travels a distance equal to the circumference of a circle
describing that orbit.

In one orbit, a planet travels a distance of 2 x π x r, where r is the orbital radius

Since speed is equal to distance divided by time, the speed of a planet is given by:

orbital speed = 2 π x orbital radius / time period

v=2xπxr/T

Exam Tip

Remember when calculating orbital speed to use the circumference of a circle, 2 x π x r, and
not just its radius.

The Colour of Stars: The Basics

Specification Point 8.7

Understand how stars can be classified according to their colour.

Stars come in a wide range of sizes and colours, from yellow stars to red dwarfs, from blue
giants to red supergiants.

The primary way of classifying stars from here on Earth is by their colour.
 8

Colour & Temperature

Specification Point 8.8

Know that a star’s colour is related to its surface temperature.

Warm objects emit infrared. Extremely hot objects emit visible light as well. The colour they
emit depends on how hot they are.

The temperature of a star affects its temperature: The coolest stars are red; the hottest ones
are blue

In Astronomy the colours work the opposite way around to everyday life:

Red is a cool colour (well, if you call 4000 Kelvin Cool)

Blue is a very hot colour (corresponding to a temperature of around 10 000 Kelvin).

By measuring the colour of a star, astronomers can figure out the star’s surface temperature.

Solar Mass Stars

Specification Point 8.9

Describe the evolution of stars of similar mass to the Sun through the following stages:

Nebula

Star (main sequence)

Red giant

White dwarf.

All stars form from a giant cloud of hydrogen gas, called a nebula.

The force of gravity within a nebula pulls the gas together until it forms a hot ball of gas,
known as a protostar.
 9

Once the protostar gets hot enough, nuclear reactions start within its core and it becomes a
main sequence star.

The lifecycle of a solar mass star

Solar mass stars have life spans of the order of billions of years.

(The Sun’s lifespan is anticipated to be around 10 billion years – we’re about half way
through it).

Eventually the Sun will reach a stage when it starts to run out of hydrogen gas in its core.
Once this happens, the nuclear reactions in the core will start to die down.

When this happens the core will start to shrink and heat up, starting a new series of
reactions around the core. These will cause the outer part of the Sun to swell up and it will
become a red giant.

Once this second stage of reactions have finished, the core will collapse completely,
becoming a white dwarf (the hot remnants of a star) whilst the outer parts will be ejected,
forming a spherical cloud of gas around the white dwarf – a planetary nebula.

Larger Stars

Specification Point 8.10

Describe the evolution of stars with a mass larger than the Sun

Stars that are larger than the Sun have much shorter lifespans – perhaps in the region of
hundreds of millions of years (instead of billions).
 10

The lifecycle of a star much larger than the Sun

When the nuclear fuel in the core of a large star starts to run out, the star will swell up once
again, but this time it will form a much larger star – a red supergiant.

Once the reactions inside the red supergiant finally finish, the core of the star will collapse
suddenly causing a gigantic explosion – 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 cast off into space, forming a nebula.

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.

Exam Tip

The term nebula in astronomy refers to any cloud of gas or dust. The nebula that form stars
are made from hydrogen, whilst the ones that are formed when stars die are made from
much heavier elements, such as helium.

Paper 2 Only

Absolute Magnitude

Specification Point 8.11P

Understand how the brightness of a star at a standard distance can be represented using
absolute magnitude.

Astronomers measure the brightness of stars using the magnitude scale. This scale runs back
to front: The brighter the star, the smaller the magnitude.

The brightness of a star depends on two main things:

How much light the star emits.

 11

How far away the star it (more distant stars are usually fainter than nearby stars).

The absolute magnitude of stars is a measure of how bright they would be if they were all the
same distance away from us.

As with the apparent magnitude of a star, the greater the brighter the star, the lower the
magnitude.

Paper 2 Only

Hertzsprung-Russell Diagrams

Specification Point 8.12P

Draw the main components of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram (HR diagram).

A Hertzsprung-Russell diagram is a plot showing:

The absolute magnitude of a star of the y-axis.

(Going from dim at the bottom to bright at the top.)

The temperature of a star on the x-axis.

(Going from hot on the left to cold on the right – the opposite way to normal.)
 12

Stars are classified with the help of Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams. Note how the
temperature runs from hot to cold on the x-axis. (Image source: ESO)

The main features of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram are:

Most stars lie on the Main Sequence – a band of stars going from top left to bottom right.

Below the main sequence (and slightly to the left) are the White Dwarfs.

Above the main sequence on the right hand side are the Red Giants and above those are the
Red Supergiants.

Paper 2 Only

What is the Big Bang?

Specification Point 8.13P

Describe the past evolution of the universe and the main arguments in favour of the Big
Bang.
 13

The main idea behind the big bang theory is that the universe was created around 14 billion
years ago in a hot dense state and has expanded since then, cooling as it did so, to form the
universe we currently observe.

The universe continues to expand, and this can be observed by measuring the motion of
distant galaxies away from us

The Evidence

Specification Point 8.14P

Describe evidence that supports the Big Bang theory (red-shift and cosmic microwave
background (CMB) radiation).

One of the main pieces of evidence for the big bang is the observed motion of galaxies:

The light from distant galaxies is redshifted, which indicates that they are moving away from
us.

A second piece of evidence in support of the big bang is the existence of the Cosmic
Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR).

According to the big bang theory, the early universe was a hot dense place. As a result of
this, it must have emitted thermal radiation.

Over the past 13 billion years or so, that radiation has become redshifted until it now lies in
the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The CMBR is very uniform and is exactly what you would expect to be emitted from a hot
body – something that other theories cannot explain.

Paper 2 Only

The Doppler Effect

Specification Point 8.15P

Describe that if a wave source is moving relative to an observer there will be a change in the
observed frequency and wavelength.

Usually, when an object emits waves, the wavefronts spread out symmetrically.

If the wave source moves, though, the waves can get squashed together or stretched out
 14

When a wave source moves: The waves in front of it get squashed together; the waves
behind get stretched out

This causes the wavelength (and frequency) of the waves to change:

The wavelength of the waves in front of the source decreases and the frequency increases.

The wavelength behind the course increases and the frequency decreases.

(Think about the sound made by a racing car as its moves first towards you and then away
from you.)

This effect is known as the doppler effect.

The Doppler Shift of Light

Specification Point 8.16P

Use the equation relating change in wavelength, wavelength, velocity of a galaxy and the
speed of light:

The Doppler effect also affects light, changing the frequency (and wavelength) of light being
received from moving objects:

If an object moves towards an observer the wavelength of light decreases.

This is known as blueshift, as the light moves towards the blue end of the spectrum.
 15

If an object moves away from an observer the wavelength increases.

This is known as redshift as the light moves towards the red end of the spectrum.

When a star moves towards an observer, the light is blueshifted. When it moves away, the
light is redshifted

The speed of galaxies may be determined by measuring the change in the wavelength of
light coming from that galaxy:

In the above equation:

λ0 is the wavelength of light for a stationary observer (the reference wavelength, as

measured in a laboratory) and λ is the measured wavelength.

Δλ refers to the change in wavelength.

Paper 2 Only

The Redshift of Galaxies

Specification Point 8.17P

Describe the red-shift in light received from galaxies at different distances away from the
Earth.

The light coming to us from distant galaxies is redshifted.

(This indicates that the galaxies are moving away from us.)

Furthermore, the greater the distance to the galaxy, the greater the redshift.

(The more distant galaxies are moving away from us faster).

The greater the distance to a galaxy, the greater the redshift

 16

This relationship between redshift (or speed) and distance is known as Hubble’s law.

The Expansion of the Universe

Specification Point 8.18P

Explain why the red-shift of galaxies provides evidence for the expansion of the universe.

The fact that light from distant galaxies is redshifted shows that the galaxies are moving
away from us – and, indeed, each other.

This is precisely what you would expect to see happening if the universe was expanding from
some initial point:

Suppose the galaxies were originally all grouped together and then started to spread out at
different speeds:

The galaxies that are moving fastest would move the furthest – the distance they move
would be proportional to their speed: Exactly the sort of relationship shown in the above
graph.