...Famous Stars in our Galaxy There are about 300 billion different stars in our galaxy. All of which contain different history, characteristics and general information. They each contain their own story of how they came about. Many of these stars are a part of a certain constellation and have been around for billions of years. Polaris is one the best known stars. (“How Do Stars Form,” n.d.) This star is known by many names like the North or Pole Star. Polaris has not always been the North Star and will not always remain the North Star. As centuries change the North Star will also do so. “A famous star called Thuban, in the constellation Draco the Dragon, was the North Star when the Egyptians built the pyramids.” (earthsky) Polaris will remain as the North Star for many more centuries to come. There was a time where people depended on their lives on this star to guide them. Fortunately, they used the North Star and the Big Dipper without getting lost. “. When slavery existed in the United States, slaves counted on the Big Dipper (which they called the Drinking Gourd) to show them the North Star, lighting their way to the free states and Canada.” (earthsky) Polaris is not hard to miss in the sky; it is the 50th brightest star and does not disappear. The reason this star will not disappear is due to the fact that the Earth’s axis is aligned pointing towards Polaris in the same direction North faces but will eventually shift over time. In comparison to the sun, this star is 10,000...
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...low mass stars have huge influences on our universe, but do you know what influence they have. Stars emit energy at 10 million degrees celsius by the process of nuclear fusion. nuclear fusion can releases a lot of energy. Low mass stars are formed in a nebula of swirling gases. Low mass star’s life cycle forms from a cloud of hydrogen gas to a dense ball if heated carbon which will burn out over a long period of time which can leave elements behind that can be used to form planets.After this process a white dwarf can form after millions of years which will eventually cool after another few million years and become a black dwarf. The sun is also a low mass star. But what keeps our sun going as a low mass star and will it ever explode....
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...Milky Way B) you, Earth, solar system, Milky Way, Local Supercluster, Local Group C) you, Earth, solar system, Local Group, Milky Way, Local Supercluster D) you, Earth, Local Group, Local Supercluster, solar system, Milky Way E) you, Earth, solar system, Milky Way, Local Group, Local Supercluster Answer: E 3) About where is our solar system located within the Milky Way Galaxy? A) at the center of the galaxy B) about 10 percent of the way from the center of the galaxy to the outskirts of the galactic disk C) about two-thirds of the way from the center of the galaxy to the outskirts of the galactic disk D) near the far outskirts of the galactic disk E) in the halo of the galaxy above the galactic disk Answer: C 4) Roughly how many stars are in the Milky Way Galaxy? A) 1 billion B) 100 billion C) 10 billion D) 100 million E) 100 trillion Answer: B 5) Modern telescopes are capable of seeing bright galaxies up to about A) 1 million light-years away. B) 10 million light-years away. C) 1 billion light-years away. D) 10 billion light-years away. E) 1 trillion light-years away. Answer: D 6) Suppose we imagine the Sun to be about the size of a grapefruit. How big an area would the orbits of the eight planets of the solar system cover? A) the size of a typical dorm room B) the size of a typical campus building...
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... 1. Our place in the universe a. The modern view of the universe 1) What is our Sun and what is its role in the solar system? a. The Sun is a fairly ordinary but large star. b. The Sun is the focal point of our solar system, because all of the planets orbit the Sun. 2) What is our Milky Way galaxy and the sun’s position in it? a. The Milky Way galaxy is where our solar system is located in the universe. b. The Milky Way galaxy is home to over 100 billion stars and the Sun is one of those stars. 3) What is the Big Bang and what does it say about the age of the universe? a. The Big Bang is when the universe began. b. The Big Bang is thought to have happened about 14 billion years ago. 4) What is meant by the phase “looking out in the universe is looking back in time?” a. When viewing the universe we see a vast amount of stars. b. The light from stars must travel great distances to reach us, and these distances take years. c. So when we see a star we are seeing the star as it was when the light first started traveling. b. Where are we in the universe? 1) What is Earth’s place in the solar system? a. The Earth is our home. b. The Earth is the only planet known to sustain human life. 2) How close are the nearest stars to the Sun as compared to the distance between the Sun and the Earth? 3) How large is our Milky Way galaxy? a. The Milky Way galaxy is home to our solar system. b. The Milky Way galaxy has a 100,000 light-year diameter. 4) How many stars are estimated...
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...While reading Yann Martels «life of Pi» book Pi always talked about stars and moon he always described them. Sky is very mystery and interesting, it is always helped to people know the way, know the weather and many other things. Stars. We always see them at night. They draw our attention to the special, mesmerizing glow. Our ancestors believed that they can influence our destiny and our future. I think they can’t say about our fate but they can say us about weather and they can help us to find our way if we are lost. For a long time one of the main purposes of astronomy has navigation - star guided the captains of ships in the high seas and the conductors of caravans in the desert, for many centuries helped the stars do not go astray travelers. Navigation with the stars: The most common way to navigate by stars...
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... Our place in the universe A. The modern view of the universe 1. The Sun is a star in our solar system that generates heat and light to our planet, Earth through nuclear fusion. 2. Our Milky Way galaxy is an island of stars in space with hundreds of billions of stars like our Sun. 3. The Big Bang is a theory of when the universe started expanding about 14 billion years ago. 4. The phase “looking out in the universe is looking back in time,” refers to the light from other stars we see at night happened in 1913 because light takes time to travel through space. B. Where are we in the universe? 1. Earth’s place in the solar system is the third planet nearest to the Sun, a star. It is very small but the only dense planet with life forms. 2. The nearest stars to the Sun and compare the distance between the Sun and Earth a. The nearest star system is Alpha Centauri that is 4.4 light-years away. b. The distance between the Earth, and the Sun is 92,600,000 miles; it takes eight minutes for light from the Sun to reach Earth. 3. The Milky Way galaxy is about one hundred thousand light-years in diameter. 4. It is estimated that one hundred billion stars are in our galaxy. 5. The Earth is only four and one-half billion years of age in comparison to the universe is 14 billion. C. Motion in the universe 1. Earth orbits the Sun at 66,000 miles per hour that is equal to 107,000 kilometers per hour, which is one hundred times faster than a speeding bullet. 2. Our Sun is moving...
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...completed outline: 1. Our place in the universe a. The modern view of the universe 1) What is our Sun and what is its role in the solar system? a) Our sun is a hot ball of glowing gases that is at the heart of our solar system. b) Our suns role is to give out energy and heat. This energy and heat allows for there to be life on earth. However, even though our sun is unique and life giving there are billions of stars that are just like it in the Milky Way galaxy. (Solar System Exploration, 2012) 2) What is our Milky Way galaxy and the sun’s position in it? a) The Milky Way galaxy is a spiral galaxy that has arms that extend out from the center like a pinwheel. Our galaxy is one of about 100 billion visible universes. (Solar System Exploration, 2012) b) The sun’s posistion in the galaxy is in the Orions arm of the Mily Way. However, because of how our planets are set up in our system there is life on Earth. The Sun has an almost circular orbit. The sun is just the right distance from the center of our galaxy to promote life. The planets and our sun are just the right distance apart for one of our planets, Earth, to have higher intelegance life on it. 3) What is the Big Bang and what does it say about the age of the universe? a) Scientist says that the Big Bang is what created our universe. Edwin Hubble was the first, in 1929, to discover that the Universe was expanding an great speeds. Now Hubble discovered that planets and galaxies that were outside our own are moving away...
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...The earth and space Did you ever wonder what was outside our atmosphere? Well I’m going to tell you the many things that are in our solar system and maybe beyond it. We will start with our moon, its shape resembles an egg, and has been around for 4.5 billion years. Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the moon. The year was 1969 and the mission was called Apollo 11. After all the excitement from their landing Armstrong made a statement when he stepped out of his aircraft. “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” The moon has little to no atmosphere, and has a weak gravitation. The surface of the moon has not changed in 3 billion years, so a foot print on the moon from a million years ago would still be there today. Because the moon has little to no atmosphere there isn’t any water to create erosion and there is no wind. The temperatures of the moon vary from day to night. During the day the temperature is approximately +300°F and night time is -270°F. The temperature is this way due to the fact there is no atmosphere to protect against the sun and keep it warm at night (MoonPhases.Info, 2010-2011). The coolest cosmic entity in the sky is the moon. At night when the moon is out, it’s the first thing that lights up the night sky. It takes 27.3 days for the moon to turn on its axis and to orbit the earth. Due to this it makes the moons phases and orbit a mystery (Charles Q. Choi, 2013). Below is a photo of the moon. Some...
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...) Our subscribers' grade-level estimate for this page: 4th - 5th | Table of Contents | Enchanted Learning All About Astronomy | Site Index | Our Solar System | Stars | Glossary | Printables, Worksheets, and Activities | The Sun | The Planets | The Moon | Asteroids | Kuiper Belt | Comets | Meteors | | Astronomers | | The Stars | Lifecycle | Nuclear Fusion | Brightest Stars | Galaxies | Other Solar Systems | Constellations | Why Stars Twinkle | Birth | Death | Star Types | Closest Stars | Nebulae | Major Stars | The Zodiac | Activities, Links | STARS Each star in the sky is an enormous glowing ball of gas. Our sun is a medium-sized star. Stars can live for billions of years. A star is born when an enormous cloud of hydrogen gas collapses until it is hot enough to burn nuclear fuel (producing tremendous amounts heat and radiation). As the nuclear fuel runs out (in about 5 billion years), the star expands and the core contracts, becoming a giant star which eventually explodes and turns into a dim, cool object (a black dwarf, neutron star, or black hole, depending on its initial mass). The largest stars have the shortest life span (still billions of years); more massive stars burn hotter and faster than their smaller counterparts (like the Sun). The composition of stars is studied using spectroscopy in which their visible light (the spectrum) is studied. GROUPS OF STARS In the universe, most stars occur in groups of at least two stars. Two...
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...Section One, Part One Molecular clouds(Very large clouds of gas and dust tens of times larger than our solar system) run amuck in space. Inside, larger particles of dust attract smaller ones, because they have a stronger gravitational pull. These larger particles continued to gain mass. As one solid mass, now known as a protostar, is around 10 to 20 Kelvins. To become a star, the protostar must reach 15,000,000°. Until the mass reaches 15,000,000°, it will remain a protostar. Section One, Part Two Most of the stars life is controlled by nuclear fusion. When a star reaches the perfect temperature of 15,000,000° Kelvin, it forms hydrogen. The star continues to heat up. Hydrogen molecules bash and form together to create helium with an atomic...
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...If nuclear fusion of hydrogen in the core of the Sun were to stop now, what would we see on the surface of the Sun tomorrow? Why? Will we be able to tell that hydrogen burning in the core has stopped? How? (20pt) (Hint: What particles that are generated by the fusion of hydrogen can escape from the interior of the Sun immediately?) You won’t be able to see any changes on the surface of the Sun…probably you won’t see anything from helioseismology data either. This is because photons generated in the core of the Sun takes about one million years to get to the surface. This means that the thermal energy generated in the last minute of the fusion will last for about a million years, and the Sun will just very slowly contract. So, we will not see changes on the surface until a million years later. However, we should be able to tell that the hydrogen fusion in the core has stopped by observing the solar neutrinos. The neutrinos do not interact with the solar plasma, and can escape the Sun and reach Earth in about 8 minutes. So, we would find that the neutrino flux is decreased. 2. Chapter 11, Review Question 7. What is the defining characteristic of a main-sequence star? How is surface temperature related to luminosity for main-sequence stars? (20pt) 3. Is this statement sensible? Why, or why not? (20pt) If the Sun had been born as a high-mass star some 4.6 billion years ago, rather than as a low mass star, the planet Jupiter would probably have Earth-like...
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...“SUN” The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields. The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star comprising about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. The Sun consists of plasma and is not solid. It rotates faster at its equator than at its poles. This behavior is known as differential rotation, and is caused by convection in the Sun and the movement of mass. The Sun is a Population I or heavy element-rich star. The formation of the Sun may have been triggered by shockwaves from one or more supernovas. The Sun does not have a definite boundary as rocky planets do. Through most of the Sun's life, energy is produced by nuclear fusion through a series of steps called the proton–proton chain. This process converts hydrogen into helium. The Sun is a magnetically active star that supports a strong, changing magnetic field that varies year to year and reverses direction about every eleven years around solar maximum. The Sun's magnetic field leads to many effects that are called solar activity which carries material through the Solar System. Solar activity changes the structure of Earth's outer atmosphere. All matter in the Sun is in the form of gas and plasma because of its high temperatures. This makes it possible for the Sun to rotate faster at its equator than it does at higher latitudes. The Sun was formed about 4.57 billion years ago from the collapse...
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...The Science of Stars Rochell Clark August 13, 2012 SCI 151 Robert Austin Stars are the majority and most widely acknowledged astronomical components that symbolize the most essential development of blocks of galaxies. The age, disbursement, and framework of the night sky in a galaxy maintain a record of the heritage, characteristics, and evolvement of the galaxy. More important, stars are integral to the fabrication and allocation of heavy elements. Notably corresponding to carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, their functionality is intimately associated with the capabilities of the planetary models, which in turn associate about them. Subsequently, the analysis of the conception, longevity, and perishing of stars is dominant to the subject of astronomy. Astronomers depend on electromagnetic emissions observed by unique variations of telescopes to calculate the position, structure, conditions, activity, and magnetism of celestial objects. The conduct of the majority of stars indicates they generate a certain measure of energy at each wavelength however additionally carry a pinnacle wavelength and range in which they discharge a significant amount of their remaining stamina. Electromagnetic radiation is transmitted by means of waves at the speed of light (299 792 km/sec) through space. Electromagnetic waves consist of marginal frequency radio waves with the aid of infrared energy and observable luminosity to ultraviolet radiation x-rays as well as high frequency gamma radiation...
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...Chapter 10 : The Sun THE SUNS ATMOSPHERE * the sun is so hot that it neither has a liquid or solid matter anywhere inside of it * moving down into the sun there is denser and hotter masses Photosphere (“sphere of light”) * The photosphere is the innermost of layer of the three layers that comprise the suns atmosphere * A gas layer of the sun that has the most visible light * It is about 400 km thick * Density of the photosphere is low by the earth standards about 0.01% as the air we breathe * Photosphere has a blackbody spectrum that corresponds to an average temp of 5800K * The photosphere appears darkest toward the edge or limb of the solar disk , a phenomenon called limb darkening, * This occurs b/c we see regions of different temp at different depths of the photosphere Granules * lightly colored convection features about 100 km in diameter seen constantly in the solar photosphere * time lapse photography shows that granules form, disappear then reform in cylces that last several minutes Chromosphere (“sphere of color”) * is a dim layer of less dense stellar gas that is above the photosphere * It is the layer we normally see * Astronomers can also study the chromosphere through filters that pass light with specific wavelengths strongly emitted by it – but not by the photosphere – or through telescope sensitive to nonvisble wavelengths that the chromosphere emits intensely Spicules - Are...
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...Chapter 1: Our Place in the Universe 1.1 Our Modern View of the Universe * Geocentric universe: Earth-centered * Solar system: the Sun and all the objects that orbits it * Our solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago * Galaxy: great island of stars in space, having from a few hundred million to a trillion or more stars * Milky Way Galaxy contains more than 100 billion stars; our Milky Way is in the Local Group * Galaxy cluster: collection of galaxies bound together by gravity. Small collections (up to a few dozen) are generally called groups, while larger collections are called clusters * Supercluster: gigantic region of space where many individual galaxies and many groups and clusters of galaxies are packed more closely together than elsewhere in the universe * Universe (cosmos): the sum total of all mater and energy * Observable Universe: the portion of the entire universe that can be seen from Earth * Universe is expanding, Big Bang occurred 14 billion years ago * Planet: moderately sized object that orbits a star and shines primarily by reflecting light from its star; an object is a planet if it (1) orbits a star, (2) is large enough for its own gravity to make it round, and (3) has cleared most other objects from its orbital path * Dwarf planet: object that meets the first two criteria but not the third, like Pluto * Moon (or satellite): an object that orbits a planet * Asteroid: a relatively small and rocky...
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