1

Astrophysics 2023-2024
Problem Sheet II
Topics 3 & 4

Please, follow the instructions in Moodle (http://ev.us.es) to hand in your so-

lutions. Please note that the last page of this pdf contains a list of constants and
parameters that may be useful to solve some problems.

1. The binary system composed of the stars S1 y S2 has been estimated to be

250 pc away from the solar system. But this estimate has been made without
taking stellar extinction into account. The star S1 is an A0V main sequence
star and S2 is a G5V main sequence star. The colour index of the two stars
has been measured, with (B − V )1 = 0,10 and (B − V )2 = 0,80 respectively.
It is known that for stars of type A0V, (B − V )0 = 0,00.
a) How far away is the system actually located?
b) What is the real colour index for S2 ?
Data: Assume AV /E(B − V ) = 3,1, where E(B − V ) is the colour excess
produced by extinction.

2. The star Algol (β Persei) is an eclipsing binary system composed of the more
luminous Algol A and the fainter Algol B with period P = 2,87 days. The
respective effective temperatures are TA = 9200 K and TB = 4500 K, and the
corresponding radii RA = 4,13 R⊙ and RB = 3 R⊙ . The total time of duration
of the main eclipse (from the beginning of the decrease in luminosity until it
is completely recovered) is 10 h.
a) How much does the total luminosity decrease in the main eclipse (Algol B
eclipses Algol A) and in the secondary eclipse (Algol A eclipses Algol B)?
b) Assuming Algol A is at the centre of mass of the system, what is the
velocity? How long does the luminosity minimum last?

3. In the solar spectrum there are strong calcium absorption lines (the CaII H
and K lines), corresponding to excitations from the ground state of singly
ionized calcium. These lines are hundreds of times stronger than the hydrogen
Balmer series absorption lines, even though calcium is about a million times
less abundant than hydrogen on the Sun. Estimate the expected strength of
the calcium K line and Balmer series lines at the solar surface temperature
assuming that the partition functions for Ca I and Ca II are 1,32 and 2,30,
 2

respectively, the electron pressure is log P e = 1,5 dyn cm−2 , the ionization
energy of calcium is 6,11 eV, the K line corresponds to a transition from the
Ca II ground state to an excited state at 3,12 eV with statistical factors g1 = 2
for the Ca II ground state and g2 = 4 for the excited state, and that the ratio
of calcium abundance relative to hydrogen abundance in the solar surface
is 2,2 × 10−6 . Hint: You can solve this problem using the Saha equations
to determine the population of ionic species and the Boltzmann formula to
determine the relative population of ground and excited states within each
ionic species.

4. U Geminorum is a cataclysmic variable of the dwarf nova type. It is composed

of a hot, dense white dwarf and a cooler, reddish main sequence star, which
is losing mass and generating an accretion disc around the white dwarf. The
mass spirals down from a radius rex = 1 R⊙ to rin = 0,14 R⊙ . The mass of the
white dwarf is M = 1.2 M⊙ and the luminosity emitted by the accretion disc
is L= 1,16 L⊙ . Assuming that the system satisfies the virial theorem,
a) What is the annual mass transfer from the red star to the accretion disc?
b) At what effective temperature is the accretion disc?

5. The star Capella (α Aurigae) has a visual apparent magnitude mV = 0,71

and a visual absolute magnitude MV = 0,14. From the width of the spectral
lines we have obtained that the surface gravity of Capella is g = 700 cm s−2 . If
Capella’s bolometric flux measured from the Earth is Fbol = 1,5×10−12 J cm−2
s−1 and its effective temperature Tef = 5300 K. a) Calculate the bolometric
luminosity in solar units. b) At what wavelength will we observe the maximum
flux? c) Calculate the radius and mass of Capella. Is Capella a main sequence
star? Reason your answer.
 3

Data

c (light velocity): 3 × 1010 cm/sec; 3 × 108 m/sec

G (gravitation constant): 6,67 × 10−8 dyne cm2 g−2 ; 6,67 × 10−11 Nm2 kg−2
k (Boltzmann constant): 1,38 × 10−16 erg/K; 1,38 × 10−23 J/K; 8,617 × 10−5 eV/K
h (Planck constant): 6,6 × 10−27 erg sec; 6,6 × 10−34 J sec
mproton (proton mass): 1,6726 × 10−24 g; 1,6726 × 10−27 kg
eV (electronvolt): 1,6 × 10−12 erg; 1,6 × 10−19 J
σSB (StefanBoltzmann constant): 5,67 × 10−5 erg cm−2 sec−1 K4 ; 5,67 × 10−8 J m−2 sec−1 K4 .
pc (parsec): 3,086 × 1016 m.
AU (astronomic unit): 1,496 × 1011 m.
amu (atomic mass unit): 1,66 × 10−27 kg.
hidrogen atomic mass, m(H1 )=1.007825 amu
helium atomic mass, m(He4 )=4.002603 amu.

Mbol,⊙ = 4,74; mb,⊙ = −26,8.

L⊙ = 3,828 × 1026 W ; Tef,⊙ = 5777 K; C.B.⊙ = −0,08; LV,⊙ = 4 × 1025 W.
R⊙ = 6,96 × 108 m; M⊙ = 1,989 × 1030 kg.
RV (Venus radius´): 6,051 × 106 m; MV (Venus mass): 4,867 × 1024 kg.
R⊕ (Earth radius): 6,371 × 106 m; M⊕ (Earth mass): 5,977 × 1024 kg.
RM (Mars radius): 3,389 × 106 m; MM (Mars masse): 6,39 × 1023 kg.
RJ (radius Jupiter): 6,991 × 107 m; MJ (mass Jupiter): 1,899 × 1027 kg.
RS (radius Saturn): 5,823 × 107 m; MS (mass Saturn): 5,683 × 1026 kg.
RU (radius Uranus): 2,5362 × 107 m; MU (mass Uranus): 8,681 × 1025 kg.
RN (radius Neptun): 2,462 × 107 m; MN (mass Neptun): 1,024 × 1026 kg.
RL (radius Moon): 1,737 × 106 m; ML (mass Moon): 0,07346 × 1024 kg.

Main sequence star properties as a function of spectral type

(†) (⋆)
Spectral type MV B-V Tef f M/M⊙ R/R⊙ L/L⊙
O5 −6 −0,45 35000 39,8 17,8 3,2 × 105
B0 −3,7 −0,31 21000 17,0 7,6 1,3 × 104
B5 −0,9 −0,17 13500 7,1 4,0 6,3 × 102
A0 +0,7 +0,0 9700 3,6 2,6 7,9 × 101
A5 +2,0 +0,16 8100 2,2 1,8 2,0 × 101
F0 +2.8 +0,30 7200 1,8 1,4 6,3
F5 +3,8 +0,45 6500 1,4 1,2 2,5
G0 +4,6 +0,57 6000 1,1 1,05 1,3
G5 +5,2 +0,70 5400 0,9 0,93 7,9 × 10−1
K0 +6,0 +0,81 4700 0,8 0,85 4,0 × 10−1
K5 +7,4 +1,11 4000 0,7 0,74 1,6 × 10−1
M0 +8,9 +1,39 3300 0,5 0,63 6,3 × 10−2
M5 +12,0 +1,61 2600 0,2 0,32 7,9 × 10−3
(†)
:Absolute magnitude in V-band.
(⋆)
:Effective Temperature.