Stellar Evolution

Stellar Evolution

The PDF version

Chandrasekhar Limits

One last thought

There is a ton of information on the three sites above, and you will need to use it to show me your individual creativity.   

Option 1:   Write two specific obituaries for a star the mass of the sun and a star of another mass.   Make the obituaries entertaining, but informative.  Connect the ideas of the life cycle to the HR diagram as appropriate.

Option 2:  Create a children's book that tells the life cycle of the Sun and the time involved, as well as sharing things that the sun WON'T become.   Use example photos from the photo gallery found at http://chandra.harvard.edu

Option 3:  Create a 1 minute digital video that explains to me your understanding of two different stellar life cycles.

Grading:

Content accuracy:  10 points
Creativity:  5 points

Unit 4

Understanding the Life of Stars

Stellar Life Cycle

Questions to Consider
*what is the life cycle of our star?
*what is the HR diagram?
*what are characteristics of each of the stellar stages?
*how do gravity and pressure affect one another through the life cycle of a star? How does the balance change through each stage?
* What is the main sequence?
* How does the brightness of our star change over its lifetime?
* How does the temperature of our star change over its lifetime?

Stellar Spectra

Lab 1

Lab 2

Nuclear Fusion and the Proton-Proton Chain

These are your materials for study for the first 45 minutes. Take notes as you proceed, using an outline, mind map, or poster/whiteboard. You will hand these in.



John Bahcall
Ray Davis
What's a Neutrino?
Neutrino detectors
How Long Would We Have if the sun went out?
After 45 minutes, we'll begin our synthesis of the big ideas in group discussion.

Should we Build and Deploy the James Webb Telescope?

This is due on 2/23/2012.   The paper (or digital artifact) must be shared individually.   Because of the number of people gone to, well....everything, I have made Friday a workday.


The James Webb Telescope is slated to be deployed in 2018, but......budget cuts may get in the way.

Your ASSESSMENT for this unit is to find out this telescope, compare it to one specific telescope located in space, a specific reflecting or refracting telescope and a specific radio telescope. Your goal is to decide if we need this telescope or not, based on what we already have.

This chart will be worth 20 points.

You will develop an opinion paper that is 5-7 paragraphs and supported with details, including whether or not the James Webb telescope should be built, how this will affect Sun research, how this affect our knowledge of neutrinos, and what we can potentially discover. This essay will be worth 20 points and will be graded as follows:

Thesis statement: 3 points
Supporting details: up to 10 points
Defined conclusion: 4 points
Grammar and Mechanics: 3 points

Atomic spectra

Click to Run

Stars have a stellar fingerprint that is composed of the elements which makei it up. Stars generally have a unique spectra that defines them into a family.

Today we will look at a simulation to investigate what happens. You will need to print it off and hand it in for grading at the end of the period.

Next, go to one of the tutorials on stellar spectra and read through the information.

When you get done, you should be ready to ask at least 3 questions about the process of stellar classification. Write these on the back of your previous assignment and hand in.

Finally, take a look at Annie Cannon's life story by skimming this link or this link

Unit 3 notes

Telescope Types

Comparison of Major Telescopes...include WHERE it is at, WHAT it studies, WHAT type of radiation, WHO manages it, WHAT it has found out, WHAT COSTS are associated with it. Organize your information in a table or Linoit. In addition to videos, you may find Wikipedia and NASA helpful in your study.
HELIOPHYSICS


SPITZER


HUBBLE


CHANDRA


NRAO WILSON

Quiz

Throughout this unit, we have talked about the perils of the solar system (alien travel, technology limits, the composition of the planets), the uniqueness of planet earth (magnetic zone, water, plate tectonics, weathering), as well as the possibilities for life (the habitable zone, what life is), and its scale (how big is honking big?) Your job is to decide whether space study is worth it or not, based on the budget of NASA and space exploration costs found at Nine Planet Specific questions to be answered: a) what benefits has space study had to humanity, based on your research (include specific evidence)? b) should future missions be manned or unmanned? c) what should happen to the budget of government space agencies like NASA? d) what happens if we decide we've learned enough? e) how has history been changed by the study of space? Your answers to these questions are important, but I am looking for an artifact that details the information as well as a multimedia explanation that is 30 to 60 seconds long that shows me your point of view using pictures, video, or music. Textual answers: 30 points Visual presentation: 20 points

Solar Systems and Coordinate systems

http://skyserver.sdss.org/solarsystem/

We will be working on the activity found above in groups of 3.   Each question and activity must be completed and handed in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99942_Apophis

Galileo and the Moons of Jupiter

Galileo became a heliocentrist largely due to his observations about Jupiter's 4 biggest moons:  Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.  Using his telescope, he observed these moons and their patterns around the planet.  He marked the motion of the moons in terms of Jupiter Diameters as viewed through his telescope.

Set up a Open Office Calc table with the names of the 4 moons at the top and the dates on the left side.

Gather data for at least 30 days using the Jupiter moon position applet a

Create a x-y scatter graph for each moon.

Hand in with you and your partners' names by the end of the period 

Tunguska, Meteors, and Meteorites

Watch out for asteroids


Take a look at the reading behind Sagan's Tunguska video


Death By Giant Meteor?

Apophis reality