A Field Guide to the Stars

What properties can we measure?

distance
velocity
Temperature
Size
luminosity
chemical composition (elements have unique electron orbitals..)
distinct levels
Mass challenging- systems in a binary --alberio (gold and blue star that
orbit eachother)
How Stars Got Their Names
Some have names that go back to ancient times (e.g. Castor and Pollux, Greek
mythology)
Some were named by Arab astronomers (e.g. Aldebaran, Algol, etc.)
Since the 17th century we use a scheme that lists stars by constellation
in order of their apparent brightness
labeled alphabetically in Greek alphabet
Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in constellation Centaurus
Some dim stars have names according to their place in a catalogue (e.g. Ross
154)
Distances to the Stars
Parallax can be used out to about 100 light years
The parsec:
Distance in parsecs = 1/parallax (in arc seconds)
Thus a star with a measured parallax of 1 is 1 parsec away
1 pc is about 3.3 light years
The nearest star (Proxima Centauri) is about 1.3 pc or 4.3 lyr away
Solar system is less than 1/1000 lyr
Our Stellar Neighborhood
Most of the brightest stars in the sky are
a) relatively hot main-sequence stars that are relatively close to the Sun.
b) relatively cool giant stars that are relatively close to the Sun.
c) relatively cool main-sequence stars that are relatively close to the Sun.
d) giant stars and relatively hot main sequence stars.
Scale Model
If the Sun = a golf ball, then
Earth = a grain of sand
The Earth orbits the Sun at a distance of one meter
Proxima Centauri lies 270 kilometers (170 miles) away
Barnards Star lies 370 kilometers (230 miles) away
Less than 100 stars lie within 1000 kilometers (600 miles)
The Universe is almost empty!
Hipparcos satellite measured distances to nearly 1 million stars in the range of
100 pc

almost all of the stars in our Galaxy are more distant

Measuring Velocities
Can use the Doppler shift to determine the radial velocity of distant objects
The transverse (perpendicular) velocity can be measured from the motion of
stars with respect to their background over a period of years
Barnards Star
Velocity is 88 km/s (55 miles/sec)
Moved 227 in 22 years relative to background
Three Things Light Tells Us
Temperature
from black body spectrum
Chemical composition
from spectral lines
Radial velocity
from Doppler shift
Review: The Electromagnetic Spectrum
Black Body Spectrum
(gives away the temperature)
All objects - even you - emit radiation of all frequencies, but with different
intensities
Measuring Temperatures
Find maximal intensity
Temperature (Wiens law)
Wiens Law
The peak of the intensity curve will move with temperature, this is Wiens law:
T = const. = 0.0029 m K
So: the higher the temperature T, the smaller the wavelength , i.e. the higher the
energy of the electromagnetic wave
Spectral Lines Fingerprints of the Elements
Can use spectra to identify elements on distant objects!
Different elements yield different emission spectra
The energy of the electron depends on orbit
When an electron jumps from one orbital to another, it emits (emission line) or
absorbs (absorption line) a photon of a certain energy
The frequency of emitted or absorbed photon is related to its energy
E=hf

(h is called Plancks constant, f is frequency)

Luminosity and Brightness
Luminosity L is the total power (energy per unit time) radiated by the star
Apparent brightness B is how bright it appears from Earth
Determined by the amount of light per unit area reaching Earth
B L / d2
Just by looking, we cannot tell if a star is close and dim or far away and bright

 The Magnitude Scale

A measure of the apparent brightness
Logarithmic scale
Notation: 1m.4 (smaller brighter)
Originally six groupings
1st magnitude the brightest
6th magnitude the dimmest
The modern scale is more complex
The absolute magnitude is the apparent magnitude a star would have at a
distance of 10 pc: 2M.8
Which of the following magnitudes is the brightest?
-1.4 m
0.0m
1.3m
14m
Measuring the Sizes of Stars
Direct measurement is possible for a few dozen relatively close, large stars
Angular size of the disk and known distance can be used to deduce
diameter
Indirect Measurement of Sizes
Distance and brightness can be used to find the luminosity:
L d2 B
(1)
The laws of black body radiation also tell us that amount of energy given off
depends on star size and temperature:
L R2 T4 (2)
We can compare two values of absolute luminosity L to get size
Sizes of Stars
Dwarfs
Comparable in size, or smaller than, the Sun
Giants
Up to 100 times the size of the Sun
Supergiants
Up to 1000 times the size of the Sun
Note: Temperature changes!
Two stars have the same chemical composition, spectral type, and luminosity
class, but one is 10 light years from the Earth and the other is 1000 light years
from the Earth. The farther star appears to be
a) 100 times fainter.
b) 10,000 times fainter.
c) 100,000,000 times fainter.
d) the same brightness since the stars are identical.
Homework: Luminosity and Distance
Distance and brightness can be used to find the luminosity:
L d2 B

So luminosity and brightness can be used to find Distance of two stars 1 and
2:
d21 / d22 = L1 / L2
(since B1 = B2 )
Classification of the Stars: Temperature
Class
Temperature Color
Examples
O
30,000 K
blue
B
20,000 K
bluish
Rigel
A
10,000 K
white
Vega, Sirius
F
8,000 K
white
Canopus
G
6,000 K
yellow
Sun, Centauri
K
4,000 K
orange
Arcturus
M
3,000 K
red
Betelgeuse
Hertzsprung-Russell-Diagram
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram is luminosity vs. spectral type (or temperature)
To obtain a HR diagram:
get the luminosity. This is your y-coordinate.
Then take the spectral type as your x-coordinate. This may look
strange, e.g. K5III for Aldebaran. Ignore the roman numbers ( III means a
giant star, V means dwarf star, etc). First letter is the spectral type: K
(one of OBAFGKM), the arab number (5) is like a second digit to the
spectral type, so K0 is very close to G, K9 is very close to M.
Constructing a HR-Diagram
Example: Aldebaran, spectral type K5III, luminosity = 160 times that of the
Sun
The Hertzprung-Russell Diagram
A plot of absolute luminosity (vertical scale) against spectral type or
temperature (horizontal scale)
Most stars (90%) lie in a band known as the Main Sequence
A very hot, but dim star shows up where in a Hertzsprung-Russel diagram?
Left upper corner
Middle
Lower left corner
Upper right corner
Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams
of the closest stars
of the brightest stars
Mass and the Main Sequence
The position of a star in the main sequence is determined by its mass
All we need to know to predict luminosity and temperature!
Both radius and luminosity increase with mass
Stellar Lifetimes
From the luminosity, we can determine the rate of energy release, and thus
rate of fuel consumption
Given the mass (amount of fuel to burn) we can obtain the lifetime
Large hot blue stars: ~ 20 million years
The Sun: 10 billion years


The

Small cool red dwarfs: trillions of years

hotter, the shorter the life!
Most complete Hertzsprung-Russel diagram to date; over 20,000 stars shown
Binary Stars
Some stars form binary systems stars that orbit one another
visual binaries
spectroscopic binaries
eclipsing binaries
Beware of optical doubles
stars that happen to lie along the same line of sight from Earth
We cant determine the mass of an isolated star, but of a binary star
Visual Binaries
Spectroscopic Binaries
Too distant to resolve the individual stars
Can be viewed indirectly by observing the back-and-forth Doppler shifts of
their spectral lines
Eclipsing Binaries (Rare!)
The orbital plane of the pair almost edge-on to our line of sight
We observe periodic changes in the starlight as one member of the binary
passes in front of the other
Spectroscopic Parallax
Assuming distant stars are like those nearby,
from the spectrum of a main sequence star we can determine its
absolute luminosity
Then, from the apparent brightness compared to absolute luminosity,
we can determine the distance (B L / d2 again!)
Good out to 1000 pc or so; accuracy of 25%

reviewparallax- june and july to see shift (6months apart and orbit)- as you move. Objectsmove- EYE THUMB analogy
Theta = 1 ( pc/d)
pc- parsec=3.3 lyrs