CHAPTER 25

“STARS AND THE

UNIVERSE”
PREPARED BY: S. M. NAYEEM
 THE SUN
• The Sun is a medium mass star that is made up of
75% hydrogen, 24% helium and rest 1% is made of
other elements like oxygen and carbon.
• The glowing Sun radiates energy of which 40% is
visible light, 50% infrared and 10% is ultraviolet.
• Sun is a stable star powered by the thermonuclear
fusion reaction of hydrogen producing helium.
• The temperature of the Sun is so hot inside that
matter exists as plasma.
• The Sun has a mass of 2 x 10 30 kg which is defined
as Solar Mass which is 99.86% of the Solar System.
 STARS & GALAXIES
• The force of gravity pulls stars together in groups
called galaxies. Our galaxy, the Milky Way is spiral.
• Our Sun is one of the billions of stars in Milky Way.
• The distance between stars is measured is units
called light years which is the distance travelled by
the light in one Earth year.
• 1 light year = 9.5 x 1015 m.
 STELLAR EVOLUTION
Just like humans, stars go through a life-cycle from young
Protostar to elderly white dwarfs.
We classify stars according to their colour, which is
related to their temperatures.
Hot bodies radiate heat and this radiation exerts force
called radiation pressure. The hotter the object the
higher is the radiation pressure.
Radiation pressure acts outward causing the star to
expand where as gravity acts inward pulling making the
star to contract. They are opposite to each other.
A star becomes stable when the radiation pressure and
the force of gravity becomes equal.
 CLASSIFICATION OF STARS
• Stars can be classified according to their colour. The
hottest stars will emit more high frequency light whereas
the coolest stars emit more light with lower frequencies.
Low frequency light corresponds to the red end of the
visible light spectrum whereas high frequency light
corresponds to the blue end. This means that stars which
emit blue light are hotter than stars which emit red light.
• Stars having very high temperature appear to be bluish.
• Stars having medium temperature appear to be yellowish.
• Stars having very low temperature appear to be reddish.
 How Does A Star Become Stable?
• Stars are extremely hot bodies that radiate heat and
this radiation exerts force called radiation pressure.
• This radiation pressure acts outward causing the
star to expand.
• There is also a force of gravity that acts due to mass.
The force of gravity acts inward pulling matter and
causing the star to contract.
• Radiation pressure and gravity acts opposite to each
other.
• A star becomes stable when the radiation pressure
equals the force of gravity.
 LIFE CYCLE OF A STAR
Star formation is initiated when a cloud of dust and
gas aggregates to form a nebula.
Nebulae are mainly composed of hydrogen.
As the dust and gas particles are pulled closer
together by the force of gravity, a Protostar is formed.
Its temperature rises, providing the right conditions
for hydrogen nuclei to fuse and make helium in the
process of nuclear fusion.
Nuclear fusion releases energy, keeping the core of
the star nice and hot.
 LIFE CYCLE OF A STAR (contd.)
• The star goes through a very stable phase where
the outward radiation pressure generated by
nuclear fusion is equal to the force of gravity which
pulls the star inwards.
• Stars can spend several billion years in this stable
phase and this is the stage that our Sun is currently
in.
• Eventually all the hydrogen will be used up and the
force of gravity will exceed the pressure generated
by nuclear fusion.
 LIFE CYCLE OF A STAR (contd.)
The star will then be compressed due to gravity which
will generate heat and this will result in the star
expanding.
The expanded star will be much cooler and the
surface will become red in colour.
If the star formed is small or medium in size (like our
Sun) then it will be called a red giant.
Larger stars will be referred to as red super giants.
 LIFE CYCLE OF A STAR (contd.)
Red giants will transform into white dwarfs by ejecting its
outer layer of gas and dust.
Whatever that remains after transformation will be a dense,
hot core that will emit white light as its surface temperature
will have increased.
Red super giants will continue fusing more and more heavy
elements, getting hotter eventually and expanding until they
explode into a supernova.
The supernova will then expel dust and gas into space, leaving
behind a neutron star.
In the case of very big stars (having five times or more mass
than our Sun) it will turn into a black hole.
 LIFE CYCLE OF A STAR (contd.)
• Stars originate from young stage called PROTOSTAR.
• A star may end in WHITE DWARF STAR from RED
GIANTS or end in NEUTRON STAR from RED SUPER
GIANTS on their way.
• Classified according to their colour.
• Colour depends on temperature.
• Hottest star emits the highest frequency light.
• Coolest star emits the lowest frequency light.
• Hottest star appears blue.
• Coolest star appears red.
 THE BIG BANG
The ‘Big Bang’ theory states that about 14 billion
years ago the universe expanded from a single,
incredibly small point which rapidly expanded
during a hot explosion and is still expanding
today. This all happened in an unimaginably
small time - one billionth of a trillionth of a
quadrillionth of a second - and expelled matter
faster than the speed of light. Literally in the
blink of an eye, the universe was born.
 THE BIG BANG (contd.)
The evidence supporting the big bang theory
includes cosmic microwave background
radiation (CMBR) and red-shift. CMBR is the
energy leftover from the original explosion
while red-shift shows that the universe is
expanding.
 COSMIC MICROWAVE
BACKGROUND RADIATION
CMBR is heat energy which is ‘left over’ from
the big bang during the initial hot explosion. It
has very low frequency and is emitted from all
parts of the universe, in all directions. As the
universe expands and cools down, the
background also cools, causing the CMB
radiation to have a lower frequency. This
‘leftover’ radiation is strong evidence in support
of the Big Bang theory.
 DOPPLER EFFECT
• Waves emitted from moving objects show a
change in frequency (and wavelength) as they
move.
• This phenomenon is referred to as the
Doppler effect.
• The apparent change in the frequency and
wavelength of a wave emitted by a source in
motion relative to an observer is known as
the Doppler Effect.
 RED SHIFT
The same thing happens with stars emitting light
waves - as it moves further away, the light it emits
will have a lower frequency. Lower frequencies of
light correspond to the red end of the visible
spectrum, which is why we call it red-shift. This means
that the further away the star is, the lower the
frequency of light it will emit.
Astronomers have discovered that the greater the
distance a star is from Earth, the more it emits light in
the red part of the spectrum. This suggests that the
stars are moving away from us and provides evidence
that the universe is expanding.
 RED SHIFT CALCULATION
We can calculate how much the light emitted
from a galaxy has ‘red-shifted’ using the
following equation:
 EXAMPLE – ‘RED-SHIFT’
Calculate the observed change in wavelength when
light is emitted from a galaxy moving away from
Earth at a speed of 3.00 x 107 m/s and a wavelength
of 250 x 10-10 m. The speed of light is 3.00 x 108 m/s.
 HUBBLE’S LAW
• Doppler Effect is used to work out how fast the
galaxies are moving away from us.
• The speed with which the galaxies are moving away is
directly proportional to the amount of redshift
produced by the light in the emission spectrum.
• Hubble’s Law relates the speed of recession of the
galaxies with the distance of separation.
• Hubble’s Law states that the speed of recession of
galaxies v from each other is directly proportional to
the distance of separation d of the galaxies.
• The ratio of v to d is defined as Hubble’s constant H0
 HUBBLE’S CONSTANT & AGE OF UNIVERSE

• H0= recessional speed ÷ distance of separation

• The current estimate of H0 = 2.2 x 10-18 per second
• The reciprocal of Hubble constant is known as
Hubble time.
• Hubble time can be used to work out the age of the
universe.
• Time = Distance ÷ Speed
• Time universe = d ÷ v = 1 ÷ H0
• Age of Universe 4.5 x 1017 s 14.4 x 109 years
 Practice Questions
• For some clusters, the recessional velocity is
measured as v = 106 m/s. What is the distance?
 Question
• For each of the galaxies below calculate the
value for the Hubble’s constant and hence
calculate the average value for the constant.