Worksheet: CHARACTERISTICS OF STARS

Multiple Choice: Carefully read the following questions and choose the correct answer from the given
choices.

1. What is brightness in astronomy?

a. The size of a star
b. The amount of light a star radiates
c. The color of a star
d. The distance from Earth to a star

2. What does a star's color indicate?

a. Its age
b. Its size
c. Its surface temperature
d. Its luminosity

3. How is surface temperature of stars typically measured?

a. Celsius
b. Fahrenheit
c. Kelvin
d. Rankine

4. Which type of star is the hottest based on its surface temperature?

a. Blue stars
b. Red stars
c. White stars
d. Yellow stars

5. What is the Sun's approximate surface temperature in Kelvin?

a. 2,500 K
b. 5,500 K
c. 10,000 K
d. 50,000 K

6. How is a star's mass typically measured in comparison to the Sun?

a. Solar size
b. Solar radius
c. Solar luminosity
d. Solar mass
 7. If a star has a mass of 7.5 solar masses, it is:
a. Smaller than the Sun
b. The same size as the Sun
c. Larger than the Sun
d. About the same mass as the Sun

8. How is a star's size measured in comparison to the Sun?

a. Solar radii
b. Solar mass
c. Solar temperature
d. Solar luminosity

9. What is the initial phase in a star's formation when it is a bunch of gas that has collapsed from a
giant cloud?
a. Neutron star
b. Main sequence star
c. Protostar
d. White dwarf

10. What is the phase in which most stars convert hydrogen into helium by releasing a lot of energy?
a. Neutron star
b. Main sequence star
c. Protostar
d. White dwarf

II. Fill in the table below using the provided phrases at the word pool.

Star Type Brightness Color Surface Temperature Mass Size

T Tauri
Red
Giant
`White
Dwarf
Red
Dwarf
Supergiant
Word Pool

 Cool
 Bright  Hot
 Very bright  Orange to red
 Hot or Cool
 Not very bright  Reddish/orange
 Very faint  White to blue then
 So Bright (30-500 red
Suns)  Red
 Red or Blue

 Less than 3 solar masses  Large

 About 8 solar masses  Extremely Large
 1.2 solar masses  Relative to sun’s size
 0.08-0.6 solar mass  Small
 10-70 solar masses  Largest stars

III. Critical Question:

The graph below represents the brightness and temperature of stars visible from Earth.

1. Which location on the graph best represents a star with average brightness and temperature?

A) A

B) B

C) C

D) D

2. Which star color indicates the hottest star surface temperature? Why?
A) yellow B) red C) white D) blue
3. The star chart below shows part of the December Holiday sky visible at Manila. Some of the
brighter stars are labeled and the constellation Orion is outlined.

In the space below, list the stars, other than Bellatrix, in order of decreasing luminosity. Rigel, the
most luminous star, has already been listed.

1) Rigel
2) __________________
3) __________________
4) __________________
5) __________________