Year 10 Science (2015)

Note making sheet for Star trekking assessment task.

Use this note making sheet to help you gather your research information and then put it into your own words. The note making sheet must be
submitted with your assignment so that it can be easily seen where you got your information from.
Question or Keywords

Website address
What is the url of the website?

Example:
First phase of the life cycle of a star Nebula

http://www.telescope.org/pparc/res8.ht
ml

Original information.

Copy and paste just the bit from the

webpage that answers your
question.
Highlight the main points that
answer your question.

Anebulaisacloudofgas(hydrogen)and
dustinspace.Nebulaearethebirthplaces
ofstars.Therearedifferenttypesof
nebula.AnEmissionNebulae.g.suchas
Orionnebula,glowsbrightlybecausethe
gasinitisenergisedbythestarsthathave
alreadyformedwithinit.InaReflection
Nebula,starlightreflectsonthegrainsof
dustinanebula.Thenebulasurrounding
thePleiadesClusteristypicalofa
reflectionnebula.DarkNebulaalsoexist.
Thesearedensecloudsofmolecular
hydrogenwhichpartiallyorcompletely
absorbthelightfromstarsbehindthem
e.g.theHorseheadNebulainOrion.
PlanetaryNebulaaretheouterlayersofa
starthatarelostwhenthestarchanges
fromaredgianttoawhitedwarf.

295737832

My interpretation.
Use the text your highlighted t
write a paragraph in your own
words

A nebula is depicted as being the

real first birthplace for stars. In a
short description a nebula is a
cloud of hydrogen gas and dust
out in space.
The different types of nebula
include:
- Emission Nebula
- Reflection Nebula
- Dark Nebula
A dark nebula is a dense clouds
of hydrogen which then fully or
only partially absorb the energy
from the surrounding stars. Lastly
a planetary nebula is the outer
layers of a star that are lost when
they become red giants or white
dwarfs.
An emission nebula is recognised

by its extremely bright glow. This

is because of the stars that have
already formed within the gas,
shining out. An reflection nebula
is identified by starlight reflecting
on the particles of dust.

Second phase of the life cycle for a

star- the star

http://www.telescope.org/pparc/res8.ht
ml

Astarisaluminousglobeofgas
producingitsownheatandlightbynuclear
reactions(nuclearfusion).Theyareborn
fromnebulaeandconsistmostlyof
hydrogenandheliumgas.Surface
temperaturesrangefrom2000Cto
above30,000C,andthecorresponding
coloursfromredtobluewhite.The
brighteststarshavemasses100timesthat
oftheSunandemitasmuchlightas
millionsofSuns.Theyliveforlessthana
millionyearsbeforeexploding
assupernovae.Thefainteststarsarethe
reddwarfs,lessthanonethousandththe
brightnessoftheSun.
Thesmallestmasspossibleforastaris
about8%thatoftheSun(80timesthe
massoftheplanetJupiter),otherwise
nuclearreactionsdonottakeplace.
Objectswithlessthancriticalmassshine
onlydimlyandaretermedbrowndwarfs
oralargeplanet.Towardstheendofits
life,astarliketheSunswellsupintoared
giant,beforelosingitsouterlayersasa
PlanetaryNebulaandfinallyshrinkingto
becomeawhitedwarf.

A star is a bright sphere of gas

that produces its own light and
heat by nuclear fusion.
Stars are formed from nebulas
and are made completely up of
helium and hydrogen gas. The
heat ranges from 2000 degrees
Celsius and 30,000 degrees
celsius and they are either blue,
white or red.
The one with the highest mass
are brighter, and these brighter
stars have 100 times the mass of
the Sun and give off as much light
as one million suns. They live for
less than a million years before
they explode into supernovas.
The stars that are the dimmest
are known as red dwarfs. The
lightest mass of a star is 8% of
the Sun.

Page 2 of 6

Third Phase of the life cycle for a

star Red Giant

http://www.telescope.org/pparc/res8.ht
ml

Thisisalargebrightstarwitha
coolsurface.Itisformed
duringthelaterstagesofthe
evolutionofastarliketheSun,
asitrunsoutofhydrogenfuel
atitscentre.Redgiantshave
diameter'sbetween10and100
timesthatoftheSun.Theyare
verybrightbecausetheyareso
large,althoughtheirsurface
temperatureislowerthanthat
oftheSun,about2000
3000C.
Verylargestars(redgiants)are
oftencalledSuperGiants.
Thesestarshavediametersup
to1000timesthatoftheSun
andhaveluminositiesoften
1,000,000timesgreaterthan
theSun.

A red giant is a large bright star

with a cold surface. These stars
are formed in the later stages of
evolution of a star just like the
Sun as it runs out of hydrogen
gas at its centre.
Red giants have a diameter
between 10 and 100 times more
than the Sun. The reason why
they give of so much light is
because of how large they are,
even though their surface
temperature is lower than the
Sun's.

Fourth phase of the life cycle of a

star Red Dwarf

http://www.telescope.org/pparc/res8.ht
ml

Theseareverycool,faintand
smallstars,approximatelyone
tenththemassanddiameterof
theSun.Theyburnveryslowly
andhaveestimatedlifetimesof
100billionyears.Proxima
CentauriandBarnard'sStarare
reddwarfs.

Red Dwarf's are very cold and

faint/dim stars. Red Dwarfs are
approximately one tenth of the
mass of the diameter of the Sun.
These star burn extremely
slowly and are estimated to live
for 100 billion years. Some
different types of red dwarfs are
called Proxima Centauri and
also Barnard's star.
Page 3 of 6

Fifth Phase of the life cycle of a

star - White Dwarf

http://www.telescope.org/pparc/res8.ht
ml

Thisisverysmall,hotstar,the
laststageinthelifecycleofa
starliketheSun.Whitedwarfs
haveamasssimilartothatof
theSun,butonly1%ofthe
Sun'sdiameter;approximately
thediameteroftheEarth.The
surfacetemperatureofawhite
dwarfis8000Cormore,but
beingsmallerthantheSuntheir
overallluminosity'sare1%of
theSunorless.
Whitedwarfsaretheshrunken
remainsofnormalstars,whose
nuclearenergysupplieshave
beenusedup.Whitedwarf
consistofdegeneratematter
withaveryhighdensitydueto
gravitationaleffects,i.e.one
spoonfulhasamassofseveral
tonnes.Whitedwarfscooland
fadeoverseveralbillionyears.

Sixth Phase of the life cycle of a

star - Supernova

http://www.telescope.org/pparc/res8.ht
ml

Thisistheexplosivedeathofa
star,andoftenresultsinthestar
obtainingthebrightnessof100
millionsunsforashorttime.

A white dwarf star is very small

and hot star. This is the very last
stage in the cycle of a star like the
sun. White Dwarfs has a mass
similar to that of the sun although
it is only around 1% of the sun's
diameter. Which is roughly the
diameter of the Earth.
White dwarfs are shrunken
remains of normal stars. This is
because the nuclear energy
supplies remains have been
completely used up. White Dwarfs
are made up of corrupted matter
with a gravitational force.

A supernova is the death of a star,

when it bursts that is when a
supernova is created.
Type I supernova's occur only in
Page 4 of 6

Therearetwogeneraltypesof
Supernova:
TypeITheseoccurinbinary
starsystemsinwhichgasfrom
onestarfallsontoawhite
dwarf,causingittoexplode.
TypeIITheseoccurinstars
tentimesormoreasmassiveas
theSun,whichsufferrunaway
internalnuclearreactionsatthe
endsoftheirlives,leadingtoan
explosion.Theyleavebehind
neutronstarsandblack
holes.Supernovaearethought
tobemainsourceofelements
heavierthanhydrogenand
helium.

Seventh phase in the life cycle of a

star Neutron Stars

http://www.telescope.org/pparc/res8.ht
ml

Thesestarsarecomposed
mainlyofneutronsandare
producedwhenasupernova
explodes,forcingtheprotons
andelectronstocombineto
produceaneutronstar.Neutron
starsareverydense.Typical
starshavingamassofthree
timestheSunbutadiameterof

binary star systems. It is when

one a gas from a star falls upon a
white dwarf causing an explosion,
therefore creating a type I
supernova.
Type II Supernova's occur when a
star that is ten times or more, the
size of the sun, which go through
a runaway internal nuclear
reactions within them that happen
at the end of their life span. This
process eventually leads into an
explosion. This is a Type II
Supernova.
Supernova's generally has a star
that at one given point can be 100
times the brightness of the Sun.
Although they can go to 100 times
the brightness of the Sun it can
only be held for very low periods
of time.
Neutron stars are mostly made up
of neutrons and they are created
when supernova's explode into
being. From this happening it
forces electrons and protons out
and they bind together and they
form neutron stars. Neutron stars
are known for their really dense
surface. Most neutron stars have
Page 5 of 6

Eighth phase of the life cycle of a

star Black Hole

http://www.telescope.org/pparc/res8.ht
ml

only20km.Ifitsmassisany
greater,itsgravitywillbeso
strongthatitwillshrinkfurther
tobecomeablackhole.Pulsars
arebelievedtobeneutronstars
thatarespinningveryrapidly.

a mass that is three times denser

than that of the Sun even though
they only have a diameter of 20
km. Pulsars are known as neutron
stars that are just spinning
extremely rapidly.

Blackholesarebelievedto
formfrommassivestarsatthe
endoftheirlifetimes.The
gravitationalpullinablack
holeissogreatthatnothingcan
escapefromit,notevenlight.
Thedensityofmatterinablack
holecannotbemeasured.Black
holesdistortthespacearound
them,andcanoftensuck
neighbouringmatterintothem
includingstars.

Black holes are the last sequence

in the life style of a star. It is
believed that black holes form
from gigantic stars during the time
when stars die off. Black holes
created a gravitational pull,
causing anything around it to be
pulled in, it is know for nothing
being able to escape its forces,
even light can't. The matter within
the black hole can not be
measure at all in regards of
density. Black holes are able to
distort all of the space around it,
they can quite often suck other
stars around them into it.

Acknowledgement to J. Wilkes & C. Lawton. Modified by l. Brush (2006).

Page 6 of 6