Astrophysics

• Motion in the universe

• Stellar Evolution
• Cosmology
 1.0 Motion in Universe
Object in Space
Gravitational Field Strength
Orbital Motion
Differences in Orbits
Orbital Period
Worked Example
2.0 Star Evolution
The Life Cycle of Solar Mass
Stars
The Life Cycle of Solar Mass Stars
The Life Cycle of Larger Stars
The Life Cycle of Larger Stars
The Brightness of Stars
• The absolute magnitude of stars is
a measure of how bright they
would be if they were all the same
distance away from Earth
• More specifically, if it was 10
parsecs (32.6 light-years or 3.04 ×
1014 km) away from the Earth
Cosmology

• Big Bang Theory

• Doppler Shift
• Galactic Red-shift
The Big Bang Theory
 Evidence for the Big Bang
• Since there is more evidence supporting the Big Bang theory than the
Steady State theory, it is the currently accepted model for the origin
of the Universe
• The main pieces of evidence for the Big Bang are
• Galactic red-shift
• Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation
 Evidence from Galactic Red-shift
• The Doppler red-shift of light observed from distant stars and galaxies gives evidence that the universe is
expanding (moving away from a central point). This allows for Big Bang Theory, because after a “bang”
occurs all of the matter moves away from the point of origin.
• As the light moves away from an object the distance between its waves becomes greater. This is displayed
by red light, where the waves are further apart (longer).
• The opposite is evidence of blue light, where the waves become compressed as the object moves closer.
• An object that displays a red-shift is moving away (receding) from the viewer; and an object that displays
a blue-shift is moving towards the viewer.
Example past question
 Doppler Shift
The Doppler Effect
Example past question
Galactic Red-shift
Q&A