Stars & Stellar Evolution - Study Guide
Intro
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How do stars shine?
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What is the defining characteristic of stars?
Sun
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How does the Sun hold itself up against self-gravity?
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How is the Sun structured?
What are its atmospheric layers?
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What is the chemical composition of the Sun and how does
it compare to those of the planets?
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What fusion reaction is the Sun using (primarily) and where?
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What was the solar neutrino "problem"?
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What are sunspots and why are they relatively dark?
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What drives the solar activity cycle?
Stellar Properties
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How do we determine basic stellar properties such as
surface temperature, chemical composition, luminosity, mass,
size, and velocity?
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How do we measure distances to stars?
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What is a stellar parallax?
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Are the brightest stars in the night sky just closer to us
or are they relatively far away & unusually luminous?
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How does the Sun's luminosity compare to other stars?
Evolution
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What does E=mc2 mean and
how is it particularly relevant to the fusion process?
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Why does fusion require extremely high temperatures and densities?
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What kinds of particles fuse in fusion reactions?
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How do fusion reactions produce energy?
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Where do fusion reactions occur in a star?
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How do stars fuse hydrogen, helium, carbon, etc?
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How do stars form?
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Which stars are most numerous, which provide the most mass, which generate the most light?
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How old is the Sun and when will it start to die?
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What stellar property determines how quickly a star evolves (and dies)?
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How does the temperature for helium fusion compare to that for hydrogen fusion?
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Where are heavy elements like oxygen, calcium & iron made?
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How do stars die? What are the three kinds of stellar corpses?
What stellar property determines which way a star dies?
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What happens to a star if it tries to fuse iron in its core?
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What will the Sun become when it dies? What will most stars end up as?
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How do the lifetimes of stars compare to the current age of the Universe?
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How can a star's evolution be affected by being in a close stellar binary system?
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What kinds of stars blow up in supernovae? What do these explosions leave behind?
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How does the structure of a star change when it dies?
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What is a planetary nebula?
H-R Diagrams
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What do Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams plot? Why are they useful?
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What is the physical significance of the "main sequence" of a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram?
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What other stellar properties (apart from those explicitly plotted)
can be deduced from Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams?
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How are the mass and luminosity of main sequence stars related?
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What is the relative size of a star which is cooler than the Sun
but is more luminous?
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What is the physical significance of the "main sequence turnoff"?
White Dwarfs
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What is a white dwarf? How does a white dwarf form?
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How does a white dwarf holds itself up against its self-gravity?
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How big in size is a white dwarf? What is its maximum mass?
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What is the ultimate fate of an isolated white dwarf?
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What happens to a white dwarf if its mass is pushed over its mass limit?
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Will our Sun ever undergo a white dwarf supernova?
Neutron Stars
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What is a neutron star? How do neutron stars form?
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What kind of pressure holds up a neutron star?
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What is the maximum mass of a neutron star?
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What happens if you add mass to a neutron star near its mass limit?
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How big in size is a neutron star?
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How do we detect neutron stars?
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What is a pulsar?
Black Holes
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What are black holes? What are their basic properties?
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How do black holes form?
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What holds up a black hole against self-gravity?
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What is the event horizon of a black hole? How is its size related to the mass of a black hole?
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When a star becomes a black hole, where does the star's mass go?
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How do we detect black holes?
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What is the maximum mass of a black hole?
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What happens to the appearance of an object as it falls into a black hole?
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Can you see out of a black hole?