CONSTELLATIONS

CHARACTERISTICS OF
STARS

Are the stars same in size? Are the

stars same in color? Are the stars
equally bright?

When we look at the night sky, we

see thousands of stars. In reality, there
are approximatey 400 billion stars in
our galaxy, and there are 170 billion
galaxies. A person can see only about
3,000 stars on the average.

These stars differ in many ways. We

see stars of different sizes, brightness,
and color.

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 the other nearby
stars. Also, Sirius, which appear bigger
than Rigel, is actually very small
compared to the Rigel. It appears
larger only because it is closer to us.

Activity #1: Characteristics

of Stars
Materials:
*2 flashlights(small and big)
*incandescent light
*light dimmer

Procedure:

Part A. Color
1. Plug the incandescent light to a
light dimmer switch.
2. Darken the room and turn on the
lamp.
3. Adjust the dimmer switch slowly
until the bulb becomes dim.
4. Observe and note the color of the
glowing filament.

5. Adjust the dimmer switch slowly until

the bulbs becomes brighter and brighter.
6. Observe and note the color of the
glowing filament.
Q1. What is the color of the filament as
you dim the bulb?
Q2. What is the color of the filament as
you turn the switch at full power.
Q3. What happens to the temperature
of the filament as the bulb becomes
brighter and brighter?

Star color ranges from red to blue. The

color of the star indicates its surface
temperature.

The brightness of a star as seen from

the earth depends on two factorsdistance and the actual brightness (or
absolute brightness) of the star. The
stars brightness as seen from Earth is
its apparent brightness. Apparent
brightness depends on how far away a
star is from the Earth.

Lets take Sirius and Rigel (refer to

Figure 1) to illustrate the effect of
distance to apparent brightness.
Compared to the Sun, Sirius is about
27 times as powerful as the Sun, but
Rigel has the power of many thousand
Suns. In terms of distance from the
Earth, Rigel is almost 100 times farther
away that Sirius. In terms of apparent
brightness, Sirius is about twice as
bright as Rigel. Sirius looks very bright
when viewed from Earth because it is

Astronomers consider the stars

absolute brightness when comparing
stars. A stars abslute brightness is the
brightness the star would have if all
stars were the same standard distance
from Earth.

What is a Constellation?
When do you look at the sky, what
do you see? Do you see images of
animals or objects?
Observers in ancient times also
imagined group of stars that form
pictures of animals, objects and
people. These imaginary group of stars
are called constellations.

Activity #2: Patterns in the

Sky
Objective:
After performing this activity, you
should be able to:
*Group stars together in a
recognizable
pattern.
Materials Needed:
*markers

Many of these constellations have

names that can be traced back to early
Babylonians and Greek civilizations.
For example, the Greeks called the
large constellation Orion, which means
hunter and is prominent in the night
sky all over the world during winter.
Early Filipinos visualized the same
group of stars as Balatik, a trap used in
hunting wild pigs. Christian Filipinos
named the three stars (Orions belt)
Tatlong Maria or Tres Marias.

Activity #3: apparent movement of

the stars through the night
Objectives:
After performing this activity, you
should be able to:
. Describe the apparent motion of
the stars at night.
Procedure:
1. on a clear night sky, look at the
stars form 7 pm to 11 pm.

2.fucus on one or two constellations like the

Auriga and orion which are best seen in month of
December.
3. Look at the stars clearly every hour of the
night, from 7 pm to 11 pm.
Q1.compare the position of the stars in the sky.
What do you notice?
Q2.are stars visible at 7 pm still visible at 11
pm in their original position why is this so?
Q3.How do stars move? Describe the
movement of the stars in the night sky.
Q4. How is the motion of stars similar to the
Motion of the sun?