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Running Head: SCIENCE OF STARS

Science of Stars University of Phoenix

A large celestial body that is made up of gravitationally contained hot gases that give off electromagnetic radiation, mainly light from nuclear reactions is called a star.

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The sun is also a star and the source of the earths light. Stars are something that are beautiful for humans to gaze at and some humans even wish upon stars in hopes that their wishes will come true (Cartage, 2011). Astronomers use the pictures that traveled from the sun to the earth to determine the composition of the stars. There are different steps that astronomers take to determine this. Astronomers use something called a spectrograph: this takes light from a source and separates it by wavelength. When a light is passed from a source through a spectrograph it will show three types of spectrum depending on the source. The three types of spectrums are the continuous spectrum, emission or bright line spectrum, and absorption or dark line spectrum. These spectrums show patterns that astronomers use like a fingerprint to determine the material that is emitting or absorbing light (Richmond, 2006). The stars have light because they are hot just as an electric stove. The stove brightens up into a glowing light when it is hot. Objects are all made of atoms. When the atoms collide a light is emitted. To determine the temperature of a star you need to find the wave length where you have the most radiation. After this is determined you would then use the Wiens law. This law will show the color temperature relationship but also gives the temperatures for objects with planck-like spectra. Low surface temperature stars will have fewer energetic collisions between atoms. High surface temperature stars have many energetic collisions and stars with just the right surface temperature have atoms continuously colliding. The brighter the star the hotter it is (Ucolick, 2011). Spectroscopy is the study of spectra, including the position and intensity of emission and absorption lines (Science Lives, 2011). Astronomers can study the

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speed and rotation of a star by reviewing and analyzing the spectrum. The rotation of a star causes the atoms that are on the stars surface to advance, retreat, or stay at a constant distance. When this happens there will be smudges on the spectrum that are in the blue end or the red end. Astronomers will measure the width of the smudges and be able to determine the speed of rotation of the star (Science Lives, 2011). The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram is a diagram used to study the stars. It shows the stars surface temperature or spectral type along the horizontal axis and the stars luminosity along vertical axis. Many of the brightest stars in the sky are plotted in this diagram. The diagonal lines labeled in solar radii indicate how large the stars are compared to the size of the sun. The horizontal axis shows stellar surface temperature that goes with the spectral type. The temperature will decrease from left to right because Hertzsprung-Russell based the diagram on the spectral sequence OBAFGKM. The vertical axis shows stellar luminosity in units of the suns luminosity. The sun starts with a very large cloud of gas and dust that is mainly made of hydrogen. Electrons then attach to it and it becomes charged making it plasma. The positive charged hydrogen in the center then collide with each other with tremendous force and this lets them fuse. This is called nuclear fusion and the end result is the formation of helium. The energy that is given off by nuclear fusion stops the sun from collapsing and then becomes a sun. The sun continuously burns through nuclear fusion. The nuclear reactions make high energy electromagnetic waves that travel for tens of thousands of years. They will then reach the surface and get released into space and then form lower energy infrared light. Right now the sun in the lower energy infrared light but later on when all the hydrogen is consumed into helium there will be no more energy to push outward and stop the sun from collapsing so it

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will collapse. This will cause pressure on the helium core and cause the helium nuclei to fuse into heavier elements (Villanueva, 2010). There really is no way to determine where the sun is currently in its lifecycle because it is still burning. The sun currently has helium that pushes outward keeping the sun from collapsing. The sun is a star that will eventually burn out just as all the other stars will do. We will all know when the sun burns out because we will have no daylight just darkness all the time. Will the process start all over again and get a new sun like we get new stars? This is a question that I find very interesting and continue to study. I think that the end of the world will come when the sun has burned out completely.

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Reference Cartage (2011). Stars: Definition and Physical Description. Retrieved on March 13th, 2011 from http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/sciences/astronomy/thestars/starsphysde scrip/starsphysdescriphtml Richmond Michael (2006). How do we know the composition of stars? Retrieved March 13th, 2011 from http://spiff.rit.edu/richmond/asras/chemcomp_i/chemcomp_i.html Science Lives (2011). Spectroscopy. Retrieved on March 13th, 2011 from http://www.sciencelives.com/spectroscopy.html Ucolick (2011). Stellar Surface Temperatures. Retrieved in March 13th, 2011 from http://www.ucolick.org/~bolte/AY4_00/week4/star_temp.html Villanueva C. John (2010). Life cycle of the sun. Retrieved on March 13th, 2011 from http://www.universetoday.com/56522/life-cycle-of-the-sun/