14 The Universe

Contents

The Night Sky

Stars
Origin of Stars
Brightness of Stars
Star Temperature
Star Types
The Life of a Star
Protostar Stage
Main Sequence Stage
Red Giant Stage
Back Toward Main Sequence
Beginning of the End for Less Massive Stars
Beginning of the End for Massive Stars
Galaxies
The Milky Way Galaxy
Other Galaxies
A Closer Look: Extraterrestrials?
A Closer Look: Redshift and Hubble’s Law
The Life of a Galaxy
A Closer Look: Dark Matter
A Closer Look: Dark Energy
People Behind the Science: Stephen William Hawking
People Behind the Science: Jocelyn (Susan) Bell Burnell

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Answers to Questions for Thought

1. The celestial meridian is an imaginary line passing through the point on the celestial
sphere directly above your head, through the north celestial pole, continuing around to
pass through the south celestial pole back to the point above your head. Since this line
runs north south, and the sun appears to move from east to west, the sun never moves
along the celestial meridian.
2. A light year is a unit of distance defined as the distance light travels during one year.
This distance is about 9.5 1012 km.
3. Astronomical distances are so large that measuring them in units of miles or kilometers
would result in huge numbers. In addition, the large distances cause the standard units of
length to have little meaning because there are no referent points of comparison. So
light-years are used to measure distances in terms of time, and parsecs measure distances
in terms of angles.
4. As the gas forming the protostar falls together, the gravitational potential energy of the
gas is decreased. This energy is converted first to kinetic energy of the gas molecules.
This kinetic energy is then converted to heat when the gas molecules collide as the gases
grow denser.
5. Located at the center of a star and extending about one quarter of the distance to the
surface of the star is the core. This region contains about half the mass of the star at a
density of about twelve times that of solid lead and at a pressure of about 300 billion
atmospheres. The temperature is about 15 million degrees Celsius. Above the core
extending to about nine-tenths the way to the surface is the radiation zone. It has about
the density of water and absorbs and re-radiates energy from the core. The convection
zone is in the final tenth of the way to the star’s surface and is not very dense—only
about 1 percent the density of water. Gases at the boundary between this zone and the
radiation zone are heated, rise to the surface, and radiate away the energy that was
originally released in the core of the star. The cooler gases then contract and fall to
begin the process again. The temperature at the surface is about 5500°C.
6. The more massive a star, the higher the pressure at the core, and the faster the fusion
reactions take place. Therefore, in general, even though more massive stars have more
fuel, they use it at such a rapid rate that the massive stars “burn out” more quickly than
less massive stars. A star that has a mass of one twenty-fifth that of the sun would last
longer than both the sun and a star sixty times as massive as the sun.
7. Apparent magnitude is a measure of how bright a star appears in the sky. Since different
stars of the same size might be at different distances from the earth, they might have
different apparent magnitudes. To be able to compare the brightness of stars to one
another directly, the absolute magnitude scale is used. This scale gives the brightness of
a star if it were located 10 parsecs away from the earth.

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 8. The color and temperature of an incandescent object have long been understood to be
closely related. This relationship is due to the electrons surrounding an atom being
excited by higher temperatures to higher energy levels. When the electrons return to the
ground state energy level, they emit light. The more energy that the electron has to lose
to return to the ground state, the higher energy light it has to emit. Higher energy light is
shorter frequency light, or “bluer” light. So hotter objects glow closer to the blue end of
the spectrum and cooler objects emit light that is closer to the red end of the spectrum.
Comparing the intensities of blue light and red light emitted by a star gives a good
measure of the temperature. The spectral classification scheme is based upon the
temperature of the star. Originally it was based upon the intensities of the hydrogen lines
in the star’s spectra. The current system has a set of temperature ranges assigned to each
classification. Type O is 30,000 to 80,000 K and is bluish. These stars are short-lived.
Type B is 10,000 to 30,000 K and again is bluish. The range of 7,500 to 10,000 K is
type A, which is still bluish. The white type F has a range of 6,000 to 7,500 K, and the
yellow stars like our type G Sun has a temperature of 5,000 to 6,000 K. The relatively
cool type K stars are 3,500 to 5,000 K and are orange-red in color. The type M stars
have a temperature of 2,000 to 3,500 K and are reddish.
9. The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram is a plot of the temperatures of stars indicated by
spectral type versus the brightness of the stars indicated by absolute magnitude. The
diagram shows that most stars fall close to a narrow diagonal band called the main
sequence. The position of a star on this diagram suggests the star’s mass and age.
10. The main sequence on the H-R diagram is the narrow diagonal band that runs from the
bright blue stars down to the dimmer red stars. Most stars fall on or near this diagonal
band. The mass of a main sequence star is the prime factor in determining if a star is hot
and blue, cooler and yellow, or cold and red.
11. A star begins as a large cloud of gas that is gradually attracted together by gravity into a
protostar. The protostar collapses down until the temperature and pressure at the center
become high enough to sustain nuclear fusion. This fusion heats the core even more and
the pressure at the core increases. Eventually equilibrium between the outward force of
the pressure and the inward force of gravity is established after about fifty million years.
The star is now a part of the main sequence and burns its fuel steadily. Eventually, the
hydrogen in the center of the star begins to run out. The fusion reaction slows down and
the equilibrium between the pressure and gravity is upset. The star again begins to
collapse until the hydrogen remaining outside the core begins to fuse. This causes the
outer layers of the star to expand, and the star becomes a red giant. The star is no longer
on the main sequence because its properties have changed. The helium core is heated by
the fusing hydrogen surrounding it and eventually, after its temperature has risen enough,
begins to fuse as well. The star moves back toward the main sequence when this stage is
reached. After millions of years of helium fusion in the core and hydrogen fusion in the
outer layers, the star heats up and again expands to a red giant. After this expansion, the

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 center may cool enough so that the atoms in the core become neutral rather than part of
an ionized plasma. These neutral atoms absorb heat from the surrounding star and the
star expands and cools. As it cools it begins to collapse back, heating the star again.
This occurs several times and eventually blows the outer layers of the star away, forming
a planetary nebula. The carbon core and helium fusion layer surrounding it
gravitationally collapses to form a white dwarf.
12. A violent flare up of a star for a short time is called a nova. Many novas occur because
they are part of a binary star system. An old white dwarf star can pull matter off a
younger companion star until enough matter builds up on the surface of the white dwarf
for a fusion explosion to ignite. A supernova is the rebound explosion from the
catastrophic collapse of a massive star that has run out of fuel. The collapse is caused by
the loss of the supporting pressure from the fusion in the interior of the star as the fuel
runs out.
13. (a) A white dwarf is formed if the star is about the mass of the sun or less. The low mass
of the star allows its center to convert from a hot plasma to neutral matter. This absorbs
heat from the surrounding star until the surrounding material undergoes an expansion-
cooling and contraction-heating process. Eventually the matter surrounding the core is
blown away in a violent explosion.
(b) A red giant star forms as the hydrogen in the core runs out and the star begins to
collapse. When the hydrogen in the outer layers gets hot enough to fuse, the star
expands to a red giant. A star can become a red giant twice in its life if helium in the
core begins to fuse after it collapses from its initial red giant stage. The heat from this
new energy source again expands the star.
(c) When a star has used up all of its energy sources, it collapses in a catastrophic
explosion called a supernova. If the remains of the compressed core after the supernova
are between about 1.4 and 3 solar masses, the remaining matter is compressed so much
that the nuclei of all the atoms collapse, forcing protons and electrons together into
neutrons and forming the core of a small, superdense neutron star. Such a neutron star
has a center core of pure neutrons.
(d) A black hole is the final stage of a supermassive star (with a mass greater than 3
solar masses) when all the fuel in the center has been used up. The core undergoes a
gravitational collapse that has nothing to stop it. The force of gravity overwhelms all
other forces and even prevents light from escaping.
(e) A supernova is the result of the collapse of a star more massive than the sun when all
its fuel has been exhausted. The energy released in this collapse causes the outer layers
of material to rebound outward in a violent explosion.
14. The pressure from the high temperatures at the center of a star trying to expand the core
balances the force of gravity attempting to collapse the star. This equilibrium can last
millions of years because the pressure is a result of the high temperatures from the fusion

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 process. Since there is so much matter in a star, it takes millions of years to fuse
together.
15. Massive stars can fuse elements to create heavier elements up to iron. If the stars are
sufficiently massive to undergo a supernova, the energy released in the supernova
explosion can fuse atoms to make even heavier elements.
16. Helium nuclei are more massive than hydrogen nuclei, and therefore when traveling at
the same speed as hydrogen atoms they have a higher kinetic energy. Since temperature
is a measure of the energy of the atoms, the temperature is higher. In addition, a helium
nucleus has a higher positive charge than a hydrogen nucleus. This higher positive
charge creates a larger repulsive force between helium nuclei than hydrogen nuclei,
requiring even higher speeds for the nuclei to collide and fuse. These higher speeds
mean higher kinetic energies of the atoms, which mean higher temperatures.
17. A protostar becomes a star when the fusion process is started in the core. If this does not
happen, the protostar could result in a cold gas giant such as Jupiter or Saturn.
18. A red giant star is a bright, low-temperature star that is very large. A red giant star forms
as the hydrogen in the core runs out and the star begins to collapse. When the hydrogen
in the outer layers gets hot enough to fuse, the star expands to a red giant. A star can
become a red giant twice in its life if helium in the core begins to fuse after it collapses
from its initial red giant stage. The heat from this new energy source again expands the
star. A red giant can be brighter than it was as a main sequence star because even though
it has a lower surface temperature and is not as luminous, it has much more surface area
radiating light, making the star very bright.
19. Since there is not enough mass to create the high pressures and temperatures required to
fuse the heavier elements, the fusion process stops at helium fusion.
20. The expansion of the universe is the expansion of space itself. The galaxies are not
growing larger, they are moving with space as it expands.
21. The big bang theory is supported by the presence of present-day microwave background
radiation from outer space, the current data on the expansion of the universe, the relative
abundance of hydrogen and the products of fusion reactions, and measurements of
background microwave radiation by satellites.

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