ASTROPHYSICS 2

SPECTRAL CLASSIFICATION OF STARS

Stars a classified by colour

according to their surface temperature
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STELLAR EVOLUTION
Average Stars – mass comparable to the Sun:
1) Stellar Nebula
 luminescent cloud
 star-forming region of cosmic dust and hydrogen
 collapse / contraction =>> protostar (inside molecular cloud)
 T-Tauri phase (spinning protostar, with protoplanetary disk)
2) Main-Sequence Star
 stable phase – 90% of the life of a star
 nuclear fusion of Hydrogen into Helium (in the core)
 significant emission of light and thermal energy
 gravitational forces of attraction balance the forces of
expanding gas due to high temperatures
 at the end of the phase, Hydrogen in the core is depleted
=>> Hydrogen nuclear fusion stops
3) Red Giant
Massive Stars – mass larger than the Sun:
1) Stellar Nebula  gravitational forces dominate => star is compressed
2) Main-Sequence Star  large increase in temperature => Helium nuclear fusion
3) Red Supergiant  release of energy => star expands to a large size
4) Supernova  the expanded star cools slightly => emission of red light
 contracting Red Supergiant becomes unstable  the phase ends when most Helium nuclei have been fused
 the star explodes as Supernova 4) White Dwarf
 dust and gas are thrown into space => new stellar (planetary) nebula  new nuclear reactions begin
5) Neutron Star  gravitational forces prevail => Red Giant contracts
 matter remaining after the supernova forms a very dense neutron star  outer layers are cast off => Planetary Nebula (dust + gas)
6) Black Hole  temperature increases => emission of blue & white light
 neutron star with > 5x the mass of the Sun collapses to form a Black Hole  huge increase in the density of matter
 light cannot escape from a black hole due to extremely strong gravitational field  eventually, White Dwarf cools down => cold Black Dwarf

All the elements in the periodic table up to iron are formed in stars
but heavier elements are only formed in supernova explosions.

Birth of a solar system:
BRIGHTNESS OF A STAR
Apparent Brightness (magnitude, m) of a star
- light radiation measured at an observation location
- depends on the actual distance away from the star
NOTE: by old convention, the scale for m is backwards,
=>> brighter stars are assigned lower magnitude m
For stars A and B, the difference in apparent magnitudes (Δm) is related to
the ratio of actual measured intensities ( IA / IB ) as follows:
mB −m A=2.5× log 10
( ) IA
IB
ASTROPHYSICS 2
Brightness of a star depends on:
 distance to the star from the Earth
 star material and kinds of nuclear reactions
Luminosity (L)
 actual brightness, intrinsic property of a star
 Light Energy emitted from a star per second [J/sec = Watts]
Absolute Brightness (magnitude, M) of a star
- relative measure, determined for a standard distance from a star
- standard distance = 10 parsecs (pc) = 32.6 light years
- brightness of different stars can be compared directly
For a star with apparent magnitude m measured at an actual distance d (pc),
the absolute magnitude M is calculated as follows:
M =m+5 [ 1−log 10 ( d ) ]
NOTE: as luminosity L increases, absolute magnitude M decreases
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( )IA Our Sun: L = 3.8×1026 Watts, M ~ (+5)

for example : =100 → ( mB −m A )=5 Polaris (the North Star): L = 8.7×1029 Watts, M ~ (-3.5)
IB
HERTZSPRUNG-RUSSELL (HR) DIAGRAM

MAIN COMPONENTS:

Main sequence
from upper left – very hot (blue) and very bright
to the lower-right – cool(red) and very dim

Red Giants
middle horizontal branch – moderately bright
from moderately hot (center) – white-orange
to cool (right) – orange-red

Red Supergiants
upper – very bright
from the upper middle – moderately hot (white-orange)
to the upper right – cool (orange-red)

White dwarfs
the lower left – very hot (blue-white) and very dim
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Absorption spectra for Hydrogen: DOPPLER EFFECT – Red Shift in the observed light
For more distant galaxies, absorption lines (black lines) are shifted
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further to the right (the red part of the visible spectrum) Radiation Source moving towards (away from) the observer
=>> change in the observed frequency and wavelength

=>> Change in wavelength relative to the reference wavelength (λ0),

given the velocity of a galaxy (v) relative to the speed of light:

∆ λ λ−λ 0 v
λ0
=
λ0
=
c
; f=c/λ

=>> Shift towards Red Colour (Red-shift) in the spectrum of light

received from the galaxies at different distances away from the Earth

=>> Red-shift: longer λ, lower f

=>> Galaxies are expanding and moving away – Universe expansion

=>> Big Bang theory – Universe started from a point,
expanding outwards
=>> Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) Radiation
At the time of the Big Bang explosion – very rapid expansion and
very large red-shift in radiation.
Original radiation was shifted as far as microwave region.
Presently CMB radiation is detected in all directions in space.
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