CONSTELLA

TIONS
 RIGEL

SIRIU
S

Which star is bigger? ---- Sirius or Rigel? Can

you really tell the size of the star just by looking
at it?
Definition of terms:
Star – is a swirling, glowing ball of gases.
Constellation – is a group of stars that
has a shape resembling that of an
animal, a mythological character, or
some other object.
Galaxy – is a large constellation or large
groups of gases, dust and stars in space
held together by gravity .
Type: Elliptical galaxy, spiral galaxy and
irregular galaxy .
 STARS

Galaxy (Milky Way)

Constellation
TYPES OF
GALAXY
 When we look at the night
sky, we see thousands of
stars. In reality, there are
approximately 400 billion
stars in our galaxy, and there
are about 170 billion
galaxies. A person
can see only about 3,000
stars on the average.
CHARACTERISTICS OF STARS

 Color and Temperature

 Brightness and Magnitude
of Stars
 Sizes of Stars
 Distances of Stars
 Composition of Stars
Color & Temperature
• Star color ranges from red to blue.
The color of the star indicates its
surface temperature.
• The coolest star is about 2800⁰C at
the surface. These star appear red.
• The temperature of the hottest star
is about 28000 ⁰C or higher . These
star appear blue.
Sun – Yellowish, 5500⁰C
• Stars that are cooler
appear orange, stars that
are hotter than the sun
appear white.
 Color and Temperature of
Selected Stars

Surface
Star Color Temperature in
Celsius
Sun Yellow 5,700
Proxima Cantuari Red 2,300
Epsilon Iridani Orange 4,600
Vega White 9,900
Sirius White 10,000
Alnilam Blue 27,000
Figure 2 shows the size of the Sun,
the closest star to Earth, as
compared to some other stars that
we see at night.
As we can see, the Sun is so small
compared to other nearby stars.
Also, Sirius, which appear bigger
than
Rigel, is actually very small
compared toRigel. It appears larger
only because it is closer to us.
 Brightness
• The brightness of a star as seen from
the Earth depends on two factors:
distance and the actual
brightness (or absolute brightness)
of the star.
• The star’s brightness as seen from
Earth is its apparent brightness,
apparent brightness depends on how
far away a star is from the Earth.
 Effect of Distance to aaprent
brightness
• Compared to the Sun, Sirius is
about 27 times as powerful as
the Sun, but Rigel is almost 100
times farther away than Sirius.
• In terms of apparent brightness,
Sirius is about as twice as bright
as Rigel. Sirius looks very bright
when viewed from the Earth
because it is closer to Earth
Astronomers consider the
star’s absolute brightness
when comparing stars. A
star’s absolute brightness
is the brightness the star
would have if all stars were
the same standard distance
from Earth.
 RIGEL

SIRIU
S
 Sizes of Star
• Stars varies in size, from huge to
super giants to tiny neutron stars.
• Astronomers group stars in to five
types:
o Neutron stars
o White dwarfs
o Medium-sized stars
o Giants
o Super giants
 Types of stars according to
sizes:
Neutron stars – the smallest, it has a
diameter of about 16 km
White dwarf – about 7300 km, slightly
greater than that of the Earth
Medium-sized star – about one-tenth the
diameter of the sun. Sun has 1.35 million
km in diameter
Giant star – 10 to 100 times that of the sun
Supergiant stars – up to 1000 times the
diameter of the sun
Distances of Stars
• Scientist use parallax to determine
how far away a star is from Earth.
Parallax – an apparent change in the
position of an object caused by a
change in the position of the observer
• The closer a star is to Earth, the
greater its apparent change of
position. Very distant stars seem not
to shift position at all.
• Scientists express distances
between stars in light years.
• Light year is the distance that
light travels in one year at a
speed of 300 000 km per
second (kps) or 186,000
miles per second
• A light year is about 9.5
trillion km (9 500 000 000
000 km)
• The closest star is Proxima Centauri,
4.2 light years from Earth.
• Other stars are hundred of light years
away .
 Composition of Stars
• Using spectroscope, astronomers
have found that almost all stars
have the same general chemical
make-up .
• The most element in stars is
hydrogen, the lightest element
that makes up 60% to 80% of the
total mass of a star .
• The second element is
helium, combination of
H and He make up about
96% to 99% of stars
mass.
• Other elements are
oxygen, neon, carbon
and nitrogen.
 The Polaris
• Polaris, commonly known as North Star,
is the
• brightest star in the constellation Ursa
Minor (Little Dipper).
• It is very close to the north celestial pole,
making it the current northern pole star .
Because it lies nearly in a direct line with
the axis of the Earth's rotation "above" the
North Pole, Polaris stands almost
motionless in the sky, and all the stars of
the Northern sky appear to rotate around
it.
In Figure 3, Polaris and the
star trail are seen.
Star trail – a type of
photograph that utilizes
long-exposure times to
capture the apparent
motion of stars in the night
sky due to the rotation of
the Earth.
• In Metro Manila, when you face North,
Polaris, which is 11.3⁰ from the
horizon, is seen at around 15° due to
atmospheric refraction.
• In some parts of the country (i.e.
Southern Philippines), it would be very
difficult to locate Polaris since star
lights near the horizon are washed out
by lights lit by men, and /or
obstructed by manmade or
topographical structures and/or trees.
Constellati
on for a
certain
• An observer from Earth will be able to see
the stars that are on the night side. The stars
on the same side as the sun cannot be seen
because sunlight overpowers all the star
lights.
• During summer in the Philippines, the
constellations of Orion and Taurus are not
visible at night. They will be visible again as
the cold season begins. During this time,
Scorpios will not be seen in the night sky .
• As the Earth revolves around its orbit, the
stars that were concealed by the bright light
of the Sun in the previous months will appear
in the night sky.
 How Early People Used
the Constellations
While constellations were
associated with religion, they
also have practical uses. Before
the calendars, people had no
way of determining when to sow
or harvest except by looking at
these patterns in the sky .
 Ancient people developed a way
to remember the patterns by
giving these patterns names and
stories. For example, in the
northern hemisphere, the
constellation Orion indicates the
coming of cold season.
 The constellations made it easier
for them to recognize and
interpret patterns in the sky .
• For example, Gemini is seen in the
Philippines during the months of
April and May .
• Farmers interpreted the appearance
of Gemini as the end of planting
season and it signified rich harvest.
• The table below shows how the
Matigsalug Manobo of Bukidnon
used the stars and constellations in
relation to their agriculture.
 Local Month of Related Western
Name Appearance Agricultural Act. Equivalent
Baha Dec to Feb Clearing of forest Taurus
Start of planning what
Pandarawa January crops to be planted & Pleiades
how wide is the area
Start planting & setting
Balatik Feruary Orion’s Belt
of traps
Planting of rice, corn &
Malihe March
veggies
End of planting season,
Gibbang April & May Gemini
signifies rich harvest
Malara May Stop planting Canis Minor

Time to clean or clear

Lepu Late May the fields while waiting Aquila
for harvest time

Start of the rainy

Buwaya June
season