0
Want this question answered?
Be notified when an answer is posted
Add your answer:
Earn +20 pts
What can a star's spectrum tell us?
scientists can tell the stars composition and temperature from its spectrum. Hope tht helps :]
What is an HR diagram and what does it mean to the stars?
A HR diagram(abbreviation of Hertzsprung Russel diagram) is a graph of stars' surface temperatures(x axis) versus their luminosities(y axis). Basically, what we do is observe a lot of stars, find each star's temperature and luminosity and put them all there on the graph. This graph is important in understanding stellar evolution due to a theorem called ergodic theorem. Let us see how. When a star is born, it has a particular luminosity and temperature. As it lives its life, it's luminosity and temperature keeps changing, and finally it finishes it life. Basically, what I mean is that you take a star when it's born, find its temperature and luminosity, put that on a graph that reads luminosity versus temperature for y and x axis respectively, wait a few million years, see the star again, find it's then temperature and luminosity, put that on that graph, and keep doing it till the star dies. What you get then is a graph that tells you how the star's luminosity and temperature changed as it lived it's life. With luminosity and temperature, you can calculate all other stuff about the star and write down it's biography! Do that with all stars, and you get loads of biographies of different stars, and you become a master of stellar evolution! But wait, there is an issue here...a star typically lives it's life in the order of a billion years. We humans evolved one million years back, we discovered telescopes four hundred years back, and a typical human lives a hundred years, how will we understand stars with such little time?! The answer is HR diagram!! Now back to ergodic theorem, it says that seeing a thousand stars as they appear to us now and finding their temperature and luminosity and then putting it on HR graph is same as following a star all it's life! Essentially a shortcut to understanding stars! That's the big advantage of HR diagram in studying stars... of course, the focus of my answer was the importance of ergodicity in studying stars but not explaining in detail the concept of ergodicity. That you can find in any statistical mechanics text book or maybe I can explain that somewhere in answers.com soon! Cheers, hope my answer helped!:)
How do you measure the distance to a cepheid?
Cepheids have a certain relationship between their period, and their absolute luminosity. Thus, their absolute luminosity can be determined. Comparing this with their apparent luminosity allows us to calculate their distance.Cepheids have a certain relationship between their period, and their absolute luminosity. Thus, their absolute luminosity can be determined. Comparing this with their apparent luminosity allows us to calculate their distance.Cepheids have a certain relationship between their period, and their absolute luminosity. Thus, their absolute luminosity can be determined. Comparing this with their apparent luminosity allows us to calculate their distance.Cepheids have a certain relationship between their period, and their absolute luminosity. Thus, their absolute luminosity can be determined. Comparing this with their apparent luminosity allows us to calculate their distance.
What can electromagnetic spectrum tell us about a star?
Information that you can find about the star by looking at its spectra is its luminosity, surface temperature, its type(common/rare), color, how/if a star is moving, the density, the size, and future of the star. 2. And looking for spectral lines informs as to what elements are present.
Why can certain stars sometimes be identified as eclipsing bininary stars?
A binary star consists of two stars gravitationally locked together in a mutual orbit. If the plane of that orbit is in line with us, as observers, then occasionally, one star will eclipse the other, producing a change in luminosity as one star is briefly blocked from view.
What does size tell us about the luminosity of stars?
Generally, the larger the star, the more luminous it is.However, luminosity is measured as the visible light of a star as seen at the interstellar distance of 10 parsecs.So a massive star could have a lower luminosity than a bright blue supergiant.
How does the color of a star indicates the chemical?
Different colors of stars can tells us the temperature of that star. It can also tell us the luminosity and mass of a star and where it is in its life cycle, whether it is a proto-star (new) or red super giant (dying high mass stars), or white dwarf (dying low mass stars). For more info, visit the link below in the related links.
What can a star's spectrum tell us?
scientists can tell the stars composition and temperature from its spectrum. Hope tht helps :]
What does HR diagrams tell us about a star?
Luminosity, heat, and location.
Are nebulas brighter then stars?
Brightness is defined as a correlation between luminosity and distance. So it will depend on what is brighter and what is nearer to us.
What is an HR diagram and what does it mean to the stars?
A HR diagram(abbreviation of Hertzsprung Russel diagram) is a graph of stars' surface temperatures(x axis) versus their luminosities(y axis). Basically, what we do is observe a lot of stars, find each star's temperature and luminosity and put them all there on the graph. This graph is important in understanding stellar evolution due to a theorem called ergodic theorem. Let us see how. When a star is born, it has a particular luminosity and temperature. As it lives its life, it's luminosity and temperature keeps changing, and finally it finishes it life. Basically, what I mean is that you take a star when it's born, find its temperature and luminosity, put that on a graph that reads luminosity versus temperature for y and x axis respectively, wait a few million years, see the star again, find it's then temperature and luminosity, put that on that graph, and keep doing it till the star dies. What you get then is a graph that tells you how the star's luminosity and temperature changed as it lived it's life. With luminosity and temperature, you can calculate all other stuff about the star and write down it's biography! Do that with all stars, and you get loads of biographies of different stars, and you become a master of stellar evolution! But wait, there is an issue here...a star typically lives it's life in the order of a billion years. We humans evolved one million years back, we discovered telescopes four hundred years back, and a typical human lives a hundred years, how will we understand stars with such little time?! The answer is HR diagram!! Now back to ergodic theorem, it says that seeing a thousand stars as they appear to us now and finding their temperature and luminosity and then putting it on HR graph is same as following a star all it's life! Essentially a shortcut to understanding stars! That's the big advantage of HR diagram in studying stars... of course, the focus of my answer was the importance of ergodicity in studying stars but not explaining in detail the concept of ergodicity. That you can find in any statistical mechanics text book or maybe I can explain that somewhere in answers.com soon! Cheers, hope my answer helped!:)
How do you measure the distance to a cepheid?
Cepheids have a certain relationship between their period, and their absolute luminosity. Thus, their absolute luminosity can be determined. Comparing this with their apparent luminosity allows us to calculate their distance.Cepheids have a certain relationship between their period, and their absolute luminosity. Thus, their absolute luminosity can be determined. Comparing this with their apparent luminosity allows us to calculate their distance.Cepheids have a certain relationship between their period, and their absolute luminosity. Thus, their absolute luminosity can be determined. Comparing this with their apparent luminosity allows us to calculate their distance.Cepheids have a certain relationship between their period, and their absolute luminosity. Thus, their absolute luminosity can be determined. Comparing this with their apparent luminosity allows us to calculate their distance.
What is the luminosity of the night sky. How much light do the stars produce relative to us compared to the sun?
The luminosity of stars varies quite a bit. Most stars (about 85-90% of them) emit less light than our Sun, while a few very massive stars emit, in extreme cases, over a million times as much light (or more precisely: total radiation) than our Sun.
The light from stars are used to determine what?
The light from stars can tell us what type of star it is (our Sun is a G type), the stars spectrum can tell us what elements are in the star, and its intristic brightness can help us determine how far away it is. Also, if there is a wobble in the star, or a change it the stars brightness can tell us if it has a planet.
What can electromagnetic spectrum tell us about a star?
Information that you can find about the star by looking at its spectra is its luminosity, surface temperature, its type(common/rare), color, how/if a star is moving, the density, the size, and future of the star. 2. And looking for spectral lines informs as to what elements are present.
Is the star Betelgeuse luminous?
Yes, it is. Despite being 640 or so light years away from us, it is still one of the brightest stars in our sky, because of its huge size and luminosity.
Does apparent magnitude refer to real luminosity?
No. Apparent magnitude (or luminosity) means how bright a star (or other object) looks to us; absolute magnitude (or luminosity) refers to how bright it really is.
