STR - Stars OVERVIEW

Stars

Introduction

This training module will allow you as an astronaut to learn about a star's life cycle. Knowing how stars form, what allows them to burn, characteristics of their energy, and why they eventually "die" are all important to the research of astronomy.

Essential Questions

  • What is the life cycle of a star?
  • How is fusion related to the energy of a star?
  • What determines the brightness of a star?

Key Terms

Absolute Magnitude - a measurement of how bright a star would be at a distance of one parsec

Apparent Magnitude - a measurement of how bright a star appears in the night sky

Black Dwarf - the remains of a white dwarf that has cooled down to the background temperature of the universe

Black Hole - a region of space-time from which gravity prevents anything, even light, from escaping

Brightness - the amount of light reaching us from a star; it depends on the luminosity and the distance

Brown Dwarf - a body formed by the collapse of a nebula that does not have enough mass to trigger fusion

Deuterium - an atom of hydrogen with a neutron, so with an atomic mass of 2

Fusion - the combining of two small nuclei to form one larger heavier nucleus

Gamma Ray - a high energy, high frequency photon of electromagnetic radiation

Isotope - atoms of the same element that have different masses due to having a different number of neutrons

Luminosity - a measurement of the rate of energy being released by a star

Main Sequence - the band of stars that stretch from hot, luminous stars to cool stars with a low luminosity on an HR diagram

Nebula - a cloud of gas and dust in outer space

Neutrino - a neutral subatomic particle with a very small mass that rarely reacts with matter

Neutron Star - a small very dense object in space composed of neutrons

Positron - the antiparticle of an electron; it has the same mass as an electron, but a positive charge

Protostar - the stage in a star life cycle where the nebula has collapsed, but fusion has not yet begun

Red Giant - a large star with high luminosity and low surface temperature that forms as the hydrogen in the core is used up

Standard Candles - a reference star that is used to calculate the distance to other stars

White Dwarf - the final end stage for small stars after most of the nuclear fuel has been spent

[CC BY 4.0] UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED | IMAGES: LICENSED AND USED ACCORDING TO TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION