Solar Nebula Theory
The process that causes the solar system to flatten as it contracts.
What is conservation of angular momentum?
The energy production mechanism that causes stars give off light.
What is nuclear fusion?
These main-sequence stars live anywhere from 10 million years to 10 billion years.
What are low-to-intermediate mass stars?
For low-to-intermediate mass stars, this stage of evolution is characterized by an inert helium core and hydrogen shell burning.
What is the red giant phase?
Albireo is a binary star system in the constellation Cygnus. If Alberio Aa has apparent magnitude 3.21 and Albireo B has apparent magnitude 5.11 and both stars are at the same distance from Earth, how many times brighter is Albireo Aa to Albireo B?
5.75 times
These planets are known as the "ice giants."
What are Neptune and Uranus?
These two elements dominate the elemental composition of the Sun.
What are hydrogen and helium?
What is the main sequence lifetime for a star 1.2 times the mass of the Sun?
tau_MS = 6.34 billion years
For massive stars, this stage of evolution is characterized by a carbon-burning core with helium and hydrogen shell burning.
What is the blue supergiant phase?
Sirius has apparent magnitude m =-1.5 mag. If its brightness were to increase 10,000 times during a supernova explosion, what would its new apparent magnitude be?
m = -11.5
These extrasolar planets are known to be very large gas planets orbiting close to their stars.
What are "hot Jupiters?"
Why does the proton-proton chain release energy?
Helium has less mass than four hydrogen atoms. The extra mass is released as light energy.
These main-sequence stars ionize the material surrounding them, forming what's known as HII regions.
What are massive stars?
VY Canis Majoris is a red supergiant stars with radius 1,420 R_Sun and temperature 60 % of the Sun. What is its luminosity?
260,000 L_Sun
A star's distance modulus is 5 mags. Find its distance.
d = 100 pc
This stage of the Solar System's history that brought volatiles from the outer solar system to the inner planets.
What is the Late Heavy Bombardment?
The process in which spectral absorption features "split" in the presence of an external magnetic field.
What is the Zeeman Effect?
Pollux, the second brightest star in the constellation Gemini, has temperature 4800 K. What is the peak wavelength of thermal emission?
lambda = 604 nm
This process powers stars on the Horizontal Branch.
What is the triple alpha process?
The Sun has apparent magnitude m= -26.83 from Earth (d = 1AU). What is the apparent magnitude of the Sun when viewed 1 pc away? There are 206265 AU in 1 pc.
m_2 = -0.258 mag
If the solar nebula started with a diameter of 10,000 AU and rotational period 1 million years, what is the rotational period when the nebula collapses to the orbit of Saturn (~10 AU)
P_2 = 1 year
The Sun is approximately 0.02 % Carbon by number. What is the mass fraction of Carbon? Assume the Sun is 92 % hydrogen, 7.98 % helium, and 0.02 % carbon by number and the helium nucleus is approximately 4 times the mass of hydrogen and the carbon nucleus is approximately 12 times the mass of hydrogen.
M_C = 0.193 %
Which mass star will have a main-sequence lifetime of approximately 1.2 million years?
M = 37 M_Sun
How long will a 2.6 solar mass star spend burning helium into carbon?
tau_HB = 91.7 million years
The Sun has apparent magnitude m-= -26.83 when viewed from Earth (d = 1 AU). What is the Sun's absolute magnitude? There are 206265 AU in 1 pc.
M = 4.74 mag