Activity Title – Stars

Objectives: (1) Define stars; (2) Infers characteristics of stars based on the sun’s characteristics; (3) Identify
stars according to color and temperature, and (4) explain why stars have different colors

CONCEPT NOTES:

 Stars – giant, luminous spheres of plasma

o It develops from a giant, slowly rotating cloud that is made up entirely or almost entirely of
hydrogen and helium.
o Due to its own gravitational pull, the cloud begins to collapse inward, and as it shrinks, it spins
more and more quickly, with the outer parts becoming a disk while the innermost parts become
a roughly spherical clump.
 Key characteristics:
o Brightness – star’s brightness as viewed from earth as its apparent magnitude, but since the
distance between earth and the star can affect the light one sees from it, they now also
describe the actual brightness of a star using the term ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDE & LUMINOSITY.
 Absolute Magnitude – what its apparent magnitude would be if it were 10 parsecs (32.6
lightyears) from earth.
 Luminosity – power of a star; the rate at which it emits energy.
o The brightness of a star depends on its SURFACE TEMPERATURE & SIZE.
o Color – the color of a star depends on surface temperature


o Surface temperature – depends in parts on its mass and affects its brightness and color.
  The LUMINOSITY of a star is PROPORTIONAL to its temperature to the 4th power.
 It measures in Kelvin (Absolute zero) equals to 273.15 degrees Celsius.
o Size – affects its brightness; measures it size in terms of the sun’s radius
o Mass – in terms of solar mass, mass of our sun.
 Stars masses might not be similar in size due to different densities.
 The mass of a star affects surface temperature.
o Magnetic field – stellar field increases with the star’s rate of rotation and decreases as the star
ages.
o Metallicity – measures the amount of “metals” it has – that is, any element heavier than
helium.

EXERCISE QUESTIONS:
1. What is star?
2. What are the characteristics of star?
3. What is the color of the hottest star?
4. What is the color of the coolest star?
5. Why do stars have colors?
6. Why do you think stars have different colors?