9.

2 -The Characteristics
of Stars
But first…
Measuring Distances in the Sky!
Within the solar system, it is convenient to use the
ASTRONOMICAL UNIT, which is the average
distance from Earth to the Sun.

1 AU = 150 000 000 km

 Distances Beyond the Solar System
Astronomers use LIGHT YEARS to measure the
distance to stars or other celestial objects outside of
the Solar System.

A light year is the distance that light travels in a

vacuum (empty space) in 1 year.

1 ly = 9.46 x 1015 km
What are Stars?
Recall that stars are giant balls of gases that produce
and emit large quantities of energy by way of
nuclear fusion.

LUMINOSITY is the total amount of energy

produced by a star per second.
ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?
Sirius is the brightest star
visible in the Northern
Hemisphere. Its
luminosity is 22. This
means that it gives off
22x more energy per
second than the sun!
STAR BRIGHTNESS
The Sun definitely appears brighter than Sirius
because it is much closer to Earth.

DISTANCE FROM EARTH:

Sirius - 9 ly
The sun - 0.000016 ly
STAR BRIGHTNESS
Think of the difference between someone shining a
flashlight in your eyes, vs. seeing car headlights
approaching from a distance of 1 km. The flashlight
appears brighter but if you put the headlights and
the flashlight side by side, it is the headlights that
are brighter.
APPARENT MAGNITUDE
- how bright the star APPEARS to an observer on
Earth
- the Hipparchus system (200 B.C.)
- scale of 1-6
Magnitude 1 = very bright
Magnitude 6 = very faint
ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDE
- the ACTUAL amount of light given off by a star
- the brightness of stars as if they were all located
33 ly from Earth

See Table 1 on p. 371

STAR COLOUR AND TEMPERATURE
Colour Temperature (०C)
HOTTEST blue 25000-50000
white
yellow 5000-6000
orange
COOLEST red 2000-3000
STAR SIZE
- measured in solar mass
STAR SIZE
 HOMEWORK:
p. 373 #1-3 & 5-9.