M O D U L A R S Y S T E M

ASTRONOMY

Teoman SAÐLAM

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A good understanding of astronomy is only possible with an advanced knowledge of physics. This
makes it harder for a high school student to understand astronomy. On the other hand an astron-
omy book with no physics is merely a set of statements of facts, which do not explain the under-
lying nature of reality; and thus cannot be a well-prepared course book.

It is not possible to explain everything with high school level physics. However, a high level under-
standing of the natural laws of the universe can also be achieved through a process of 'induction'
rather than the common 'deduction' approach, where a high-level physics knowledge is neces-
sary. This inductive approach is fulfilled through a reason-result approach, additionally using sim-
ple physics as a tool to explore the universe. This book is prepared for high school level, and high
school students will follow the explanations with ease.

‘Astronomy’ begins with the most basic unit of the universe; our solar system. It then takes the stu-
dent through star clusters, galaxies and groups of galaxies to the widest expanse of space we can
ever hope to discern; our Universe. Once this goal is reached, 'Astronomy' then stops in its tracks
and turns round to look back in time and detail the history of our universe from the very beginning,
and how it began..

This book employs an inductive approach, so simplicity is used in explaining scientific phenome-
na. Also each sentence is made clear with the use of the language of daily life and simple vocab-
ulary, rather than relying on heavy technical language and mathematical detail.

Human beings have a natural ability to understand graphics and pictures much more thoroughly
and quickly than text. This fact is taken advantage of in this book as illustrations and photographs
are chosen carefully in order to transfer information most efficiently.

The introduction sections provide a general idea about the subject of each chapter, to prepare the
student beforehand.

The outline of the book is also prepared carefully to ensure that prerequisite subjects are explained
earlier. Summaries included in each chapter focus the attention of the student on the most impres-
sive and exciting sections of the chapter. The questions force the student to think again and build
an eagerness to learn more about nature and physics.

I think ‘astronomy’ provides an excellent grounding in the nature of reality and the universe for high
school students.

Teoman SAÐLAM
Chapter 1 b. Emission Spectrum -
Absorption Spectrum .............................. 29
Basic Concepts of Astronomy c. Fraunhofer Lines ..................................... 29
1.1 The Small Revolves Around the Large ..... 7 3.2 Derivation of Stellar Properties .............. 29
1.2 Observing the Sky with a. Spectral Lines ......................................... 32
the Unaided Eye .......................................... 8 b. Radial Velocity ......................................... 33
1.3 The Celestial Sphere ................................. 10 c. Brightness ............................................... 34
d. Spectral Type .......................................... 35
1.4 Astronomical Coordinate Systems ......... 11
e. Hertzsprung - Russell (H-R) Diagram ..... 36
1.5 Vernal Equinox, Autumnal Equinox ....... 11
f. Distance .................................................. 36
1.6 Summer Solstice, Winter Solstice ........... 12
g. Some Other Properties ........................... 39
1.7 The Moon ................................................... 12
Summary ..........................................................41
a. The Phases of the Moon ........................ 14
Questions .........................................................41
b. Solar and Lunar Eclipses ....................... 15
Summary ..........................................................16
Chapter 4
Questions .........................................................17
Telescopes
Chapter 2 4.1 Why We Need Telescopes ........................ 42
4.2 Types of Telescopes ................................... 43
The History of Astronomy
a. Visible Light Telescopes .......................... 44
2.1 Ancient Astronomy ................................... 18 b. Infrared Telescopes ................................. 45
2.2 Astronomy After the 15th Century ........ 19 c. Ultraviolet Telescopes ............................. 46
a. Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion .......... 20 d. X-Ray Telescopes .................................... 46
b. Newton’s Corrections of e. Radio Telescopes .................................... 46
Kepler’s Laws ........................................... 21 Summary ..........................................................47

2.3 Astronomy After the 20th Century ........ 23 Questions .........................................................47

Summary ..........................................................24
Questions .........................................................25 Chapter 5
The Solar System
Chapter 3 5.1 The Solar System in General ................... 48
Light 5.2 Members of the Solar System ................. 50
a. Planets ..................................................... 50
3.1 The Electromagnetic Spectrum ............... 27 b. Asteroids and the Bode Sequence ........ 50
a. Continuous Spectrum - c. Comets .................................................... 51
Discrete Spectrum .................................. 28 d. Satellites .................................................. 53
5.3 Extraordinary Situations in the Chapter 8
Solar System .............................................. 54
The Milky Way and Galaxies
Summary.......................................................... 57
Questions ........................................................ 57 8.1 What is a Galaxy? ..................................... 74
8.2 The Milky Way ........................................... 75
8.3 Galaxies in General ................................... 77
Chapter 6
Summary ............................................................ 79
The Sun Questions ........................................................... 79
6.1 General Properties of the Sun ................ 58
6.2 Where Does This Much Energy Chapter 9
Come From? ............................................... 59
6.3 Solar Atmosphere......................................... 61 The Big Bang and Universal
6.4 Solar Wind ................................................... 63 Expansion
6.5 Sun Spots .................................................... 63
9.1Not Nebulae But Galaxies ........................ 80
Summary ......................................................... 64
9.2Hubble's Constant ..................................... 81
Questions ........................................................ 65
9.3Cosmic Microwave Background ............. 83
9.4The Big Bang, the History of
Chapter 7 the Universe ............................................... 84
The Stars Summary ............................................................ 85
Questions ........................................................... 85
7.1 Classifications of Stars ............................. 66
7.2 Lives of Stars ............................................. 66
Answer Key ......................................................86
a. Sun-Like Stars ......................................... 67
Index .................................................................. 90
b. Massive Stars .......................................... 68
c. Nuclear Reactions ................................... 70
7.3 Remnants of Stars .................................... 70
a. Chandrasekhar Limit ............................... 70
b. White Dwarfs ........................................... 70
c. Neutron Stars .......................................... 71
d. Black Holes ............................................. 71
Summary ............................................................ 73
Questions ........................................................... 73
 The universe is designed in such a perfect way that
celestial objects obey a set of operating laws.
Astronomers are supposed to explore and define these laws.
An astronomer makes observations and
performs calculations in order to find answers to such questions as:
What is the universe composed of?
What is the relationship between the billions of objects in the universe?
What happens inside these objects?
How was the universe created?
What will happen to the universe in the future?

6 ASTRONOMY
1.1 THE SMALL REVOLVES AROUND
THE LARGE
Each of us know that our small satellite (the Moon) revolves about
the Earth. But this is not the only object which revolves in the uni-
verse. Most of the planets in our solar system have satellites. These
satellites revolve around their planets, while they also revolve their
own axes. The planets also revolve around the Sun while at the same
time rotating about their own axes. This order extends throughout
the entire universe. Our Sun is a star which moves within the Milky
Way galaxy. A galaxy is a massive cluster of stars which contains
about 100 billion stars on average. Galaxies also form into groups
called clusters and clusters are members of larger groups called
super-clusters.
Briefly, the planet and its satellite are the smallest unit in the uni-
verse, and from smallest to largest the groups are called; star sys-
tems (the solar system for example), galaxies, clusters, and super-
clusters (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Each member is so small that it is impossible to

recognise it in a picture of the group. For example the size
of the Sun is so small compared to the size of the Milky
Way that we cannot see the Sun individually in a
picture of the Milky Way galaxy.

Basic Concepts of Astronomy 7

 1.2 OBSERVING THE SKY WITH THE
UNAIDED EYE
Astronomers carry out observations and perform calculations. Observations are
carried out either with telescopes or with the unaided eye. Everybody is an
astronomer in fact, since everybody looks at the sky. Looking at the sky with an
unaided eye reveals several objects.
Since the sunlight covers the entire sky, it is impossible to make clear observations
in the sky during the day-time. Observations must be carried out night time in
order to see celestial objects. The most obvious one of these objects is the Moon
with its dimensions apparently the same as the Sun (Figure 1.2).
Now get ready for the show of light in the night sky. The twinkling, point-like light
sources are stars, many of which are just like our Sun, but appearing very small
Figure 1.2 The Moon and faint due to the very large distances over which their light travels to reach us.
Some stars are even more gigantic than the Sun and there are stars so colossal
that they are a million times brighter than the Sun (Figure 1.3).

Figure 1.3 Each bright point in the

photograph is a star or it may be a
galaxy, which contains billions of stars.

There are also a few other objects that have the appearance of a star, but they do
not twinkle. These objects are the planets of our solar system. It is not possible to
see all the planets with the unaided eye. A careful observer can make out five plan-
ets of our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn (Figure 1.4).

Figure 1.4 The five planets, which are

visible to the unaided eye.

8 ASTRONOMY
An observer may see a broad, diffuse band of light through the sky on a clear
moonless night. This band is the Milky Way galaxy (Figure 1.5) which consists
of about 400 billion stars, and clouds of interstellar gas and dust. There are
billions of galaxies in the universe, but not all are visible with the naked eye.
Meteors are occasional visitors which may be observed with the naked eye.
They are seen as brief, falling flashes of light. The other occasional mem-
bers of our sky are comets. Comets revolve around the Sun with constant
periods. The most famous comet is the Halley’s Comet which passed very
close to the Earth in 1986.
‘The entire universe is rotating around the Earth!’ This is a debate which per-
sisted during the ancient times based on the idea that the Earth was at the
centre of the universe. Now it is known that the Earth is not at the centre of
the universe. But only the universe appears to be rotating around the Earth.
The motion is actually that of the Earth around its axis, so the universe is Figure 1.5 Two different photographs of the
rotating relative to the Earth. Since we are making our observations in the Milky Way galaxy. It is not possible to see all
reference frame of the Earth, we perceive the universe to be in motion. the stars in the galaxy with the naked eye.

Each revolution of the Earth around its rotational axis, corresponds to one
revolution of the objects in the sky around the Earth. A long exposure pho-
tograph clarifies this motion. We can conclude that the entire universe
appears to be in circular motion around the Earth. During the Earth’s rota-
Figure 1.6 Depending on the relative revolutions
tion, we observe that the Sun is also in circular motion around us. of Earth and Jupiter, Jupiter is seen to move in
But it is not as simple as it appears to be. There are too many objects which one direction, then turn back for a while, and
have their own motion through the sky, and the objects also have relative then again continue in its initial direction.
motions with respect to each other. One of the most famous of these rela- Earth and Jupiter occupy positions 1, 2, 3 and
tive motions is the retrograde motion of Jupiter (Figure 1.6). 4 in the figure. Jupiter appears to be at A, B, C
then D respectively when viewed from Earth.

Basic Concepts of Astronomy 9

 1.3 THE CELESTIAL SPHERE
The sky appears to be a sphere (Figure 1.7). An
observer sees the sky as a large sphere; he cannot
determine how far the objects are, which one is
further or, even their positions relative to each
other, all celestial objects appear to be on the
celestial sphere (Figure 1.8).
The directions and the separations between the
objects are measured in angular units, because
there is no easy way to determine the real distances
between the objects. We cannot say that one star
for example is some kilometres away from another.
Instead we specify its position by using astronomi-
cal coordinate systems. We need more complex
measurements -analysing the light spectrum of the
star for example- to determine its actual distance.

Figure 1.7 Celestial sphere

Figure 1.8 The actual positions of the stars are A and B,

but they both appear to be on the celestial sphere, at A
and Brespectively.

Unfortunately an astronomer must make observations

from both hemispheres in order to study the entire sky,
but we are unable to see all the celestial sphere at any one
time. The visible portion of the sky depends on where we
are on the Earth, i.e. from which latitude we are making
our observation (Figure 1.9). An observation from the
northern hemisphere cannot provide information about
the southern portion of the sky.

Figure 1.9 The visible portion of the sky depends on the

position of the observer on Earth.

10 ASTRONOMY
1.4 ASTRONOMIC AL The reason that we use hours, minutes and seconds instead
of angular units is that the Earth makes one complete turn
COORDINATE SYSTEMS about its axis in 24 hours.
Different coordinate systems are used depending upon
which reference frame is being used. The most common
one is the Earth based coordinate system called the equa- 1.5 VERNAL EQUINOX,
torial coordinate system. AUTUMNAL EQUINOX
We observe the universe in two dimensions since our eyes The rotational axis of the Earth is declined at 23.5°. So this is
cannot determine the relative positions and dimensions of also the angle between the celestial equator and the obser-
distant objects. This makes our sky appear as a two dimen- vational orbit of the Sun around the Earth (Figure 1.10). This
sional spherical surface, which we call the celestial sphere. is because the orbit of the Sun intersects the celestial equa-
Now we need to specify the positions of the objects. We tor two times a year. One is the vernal equinox and the other
need two coordinates to determine a point on a surface. is the autumnal equinox. At the times of the vernal equinox
The reference point of the first coordinate is the celestial and the autumnal equinox, the lengths of day and night at
equator. The angular distance of the star from the celestial both north and south hemispheres are equal. The vernal
equator is called the declination of the star. North declina- equinox occurs on March 21
tions are assigned positive values, while south declinations and the autumnal equi-
are assigned negative values. nox occurs on
September 23.
For example: The declination of a star which is
45°12' north of the celestial sphere is 45°12'
and the declination of a star which is 22°35'
south of the celestial sphere is –22°35'.
The second coordinate is called the
right ascension. Right ascension is
the angular distance of the object to
the east of a fixed point. This point
is the direction towards the Sun at
the time of the vernal equinox.
One more concept is that the
right ascension is measured in
units of hours, minutes, and sec-
onds. One circle -i.e. 360
degrees- corresponds to 24
hours 0 minutes 0 seconds, and
shown as 24h0m0s. For example:
A star one-half of the way around
the sky to the east of the vernal
equinox point has a right ascension
of 12h0m0s. Thus the right ascension
of the Sun is exactly 0h0m0s at the
time of the vernal equinox.
To clarify this; 360 degrees corresponds to
24 hours, 1 hour corresponds to 60 minutes
and each minute is equal to 60 seconds. This
means 1 hour corresponds to 15 degrees to the Figure 1.10 The motion of the Sun
across the celestial sphere, equino-
east of the vernal equinox, whereas 1 minute corre-
xes and solstices are indicated in the
sponds to 0.25 degrees to the east of the vernal equinox. figure.

Basic Concepts of Astronomy 11

 1.6 SUMMER SOLSTICE, WINTER SOLSTICE
The Sun rises in the horizon, reaches its maximum declination value and again dis-
appears from the horizon in one day. However, the maximum declination value is
not the same every day of the year. The rotation axis of the Earth is tilted 23.5o
from the perpendicular to the orbital plane. This causes the Earth to turn different
latitudes directly towards the Sun everyday in a year. From the time when the North
Pole is nearest to the Sun, to the time when the South Pole is nearest to the Sun;
the Earth has tilted 23.5°  23.5o = 47o.
At summer solstice the North Pole is tilted most towards the Sun, and at winter
solstice the South Pole is tilted most towards the Sun (Figure 1.11).

Figure 1.11 A schematic diagram of

the Summer and Winter solstices.

1.7 THE MOON

The Moon is the brightest object in the night-time sky. Thus, it is one of the first
observation targets of amateur astronomers. Its motion through the sky is not sim-
ple; however, it is easily observed due to its rapid motion and close proximity to
the Earth. Apart from daily rotation together with the entire universe, the Moon
moves about 1° across the sky (with respect to the stars) every 2 hours; it moves
nearly 12° every day. Taking its angular diameter, to be 0.5° we can conclude that
it moves a distance (with respect to the stars) of about equal to its own diame-
ter every hour.
The angle between the plane of the orbit of the Moon around the Earth and the
plane of the orbit of the Sun around the Earth (the ecliptic) is 5°. Since the angle
is small, it causes the Moon to stay near the ecliptic as observed from the Earth.
The ecliptic is the plane of the virtual orbit of the Sun around the Earth (recall that
the Sun appears to revolve around the Earth when it is observed from the Earth).
It takes the Moon a little more than 27 days to revolve around the Earth once, in

12 ASTRONOMY
the reference frame of the distant stars (fixed stars). This period is called the side-
real period. Observing from the Earth, we will measure about 29.5 days for the
Moon to complete its full cycle of phases. For example: The time needed from one
full Moon phase to the next is about 29.5 days (Figure 1.12). This period is called
the synodic period or the lunar month. The phase of the Moon depends on the
relative alignment of the Moon, Earth and Sun. After one complete circle around
the Earth (one lunar month) is completed, the Moon requires extra time to reach
the initial Moon - Earth - Sun alignment because of the motion of the Earth
around the Sun.

(a) Full moon

Sun Earth

Full moon

(b) One sidereal period later

Full moon

Earth
Earth

Moon

Sun Sun

(c) The next full moon, one lunar (or synodic) period
after the previous full moon

Figure 1.12 a) The initial positions of the Sun, Earth and Moon b) The Moon completes one cycle with respect to the stars in a sidereal
period c) One cycle with respect to the line connecting the Earth and Sun is completed in a synodic period

Basic Concepts of Astronomy 13

 From Earth's surface we can only observe the same side of the
Moon; the other side of the moon is not visible from Earth. Since the
rotation period of the Moon about its own axis is equal to its period
of revolution around the Earth. This type of motion is common in
the universe and is called synchronous rotation (Figure 1.13).

a. The Phases of the Moon

One more difference between the Moon and the stars in the sky is
that the Moon does not emit its own light, instead it reflects the
sunlight. Thus we can only see the portion of the Moon that is able
to reflect sunlight. This makes the Moon appear to take on differ-
ent shapes which are called the phases of the Moon. We have a
moonless night when the Moon is between the Sun and the Earth,
because the Moon is unable to reflect the sunlight. This phase of
the Moon is called the new moon. If you want to observe the true
shape of the Moon, you have to wait until the Moon is directly
opposite the Sun. This phase, in which the full shape of the Moon
is observed is called the full moon.
The position of the moon relative to Earth and the Sun is called
Figure 1.13 We always observe the same side of the Moon
from Earth.
its configuration. When the moon is opposite the Sun it is said to
be in opposition, when the Moon is between the Earth and the
Sun, the configuration is called the conjunction. The configura-
tion in which the Moon is in a position 90° from the Earth-Sun line
a) is said to be in quadrature (Figure 1.14). In one complete cycle
there is one opposition, one conjunction and two quadratures.
Exactly half of the Moon is observable in quadrature.
If the observable portion of the Moon is less than half, it is called
a crescent, and if more than half is observable it is called gib-
bous. If the Moon is observed to be exactly one half of a circle, it
will either be the first quarter or third quarter.
From the new moon phase to the full moon phase, the thickness
of the observed portion of the moon increases, and starts to
decrease from the full moon until the new moon.

Figure 1.14 a) Opposition b) Conjunction c) Two possible quadratures

b)
c)

14 ASTRONOMY
Starting from the new moon; the phases of the
Moon are: new moon, waxing crescent, first
quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gib-
bous, third quarter, waning crescent, and finally,
new moon (Figure 1.15).

b. Solar and Lunar Eclipses

A Solar eclipse is the phenomenon where the
Sun disappears under the shadow of the Moon,
and occurs when the Moon is exactly between
the Sun and the Earth. Since the apparent
diameter of the Moon is the same as that of the
Sun, the Moon prevents the sunlight reaching
Earth (Figure 1.16). A Lunar eclipse is the dis-
appearance of the Moon behind the shadow of
the Earth, it occurs when the Earth is exactly
between the Moon and the Sun. The Earth does
not let the sunlight illuminate the lunar surface,
thus, the Moon is unobservable (Figures 1.17
and 1.18).

Figure 1.16 The Sun completely disappears at the Figure 1.15 The phases of the moon depend on the position of the Moon with
umbral region. Thus a total solar eclipse is respect to the Earth and the Sun.
observed in this region. The penumbral region is
the region of partial solar eclipse.

Figure 1.17 Sunlight cannot reach the Moon, thus the Moon cannot reflect light. This causes a lunar eclipse since the Moon disap-
pears inside the shadow of the Earth.

Basic Concepts of Astronomy 15

a) One may think that as the Moon revolves around Earth each month solar
and lunar eclipses should occur once a month. But this does not occur
because the orbit of the Moon is tilted by about 5°. Therefore the Moon gen-
erally escapes the Earth's shadow at opposition and passes just above or
below the Sun at conjunction. But the orbital planes of the Moon and Sun
intersect two times in each revolution. That is, the Moon passes through the
Earth's orbital plane twice a month (Figure 1.19). If opposition or conjunc-
tion occurs at these times, lunar and solar eclipses will occur, respectively.

b) Moon

5° to Sun

Plane of
Earth
Earth’s Orbit
(Ecliptic)
Plane of
Moon’s Orbit

Figure 1.18 a) Several time lapse photographs are Figure 1.19 The tilt of orbital plane of the Moon prevents eclipses occurring every
taken to clarify how solar eclipses occur. b) The month. The Moon is in opposition, however, some light can still reach it, thus a
instant of the solar eclipse lunar eclipse does not occur.

The universe consists of clusters, which includes billions of galaxies, whereas there are billions of
stars in an ordinary galaxy. Some stars have planets revolving around them, satellites revolve around
the planets.
Even without a telescope, an observer with his naked eye can see the Sun, the Moon, some stars, five
of the planets, comets and meteors.
We need the concept of the celestial sphere in order to define the positions of the objects in the sky. We
use astronomical coordinate systems to define these positions in the celestial sphere.
The first target of observers using their naked eye is the Moon. We can determine many properties of
the Moon during such an observation. We can define two periods for the Moon: the sidereal period for
a complete cycle with respect to the stars and the synodic period for a complete cycle with respect to
the Earth-Sun line.
The type of motion the Moon undergoes is called synchronous motion, that is, the Moon revolves
around the Earth always displaying it's same side to the Earth.
The apparent shape of the Moon changes in phases, which have various shapes.
The apparent dimensions of the Sun and the Moon are the same, thus either one of them can pre-
vent light reaching Earth from each other. These phenomena are called a solar eclipse and a lunar
eclipse.

16 ASTRONOMY
 1. What is an astronomer supposed to do? 6. What is the main property of the equinoxes?

2. On which celestial objects can an observer carry out 7. Define the motions of the Moon and the Sun with
observations with a naked eye? respect to the entire sky?

3. How can an observer, with a naked eye, differentiate 8. What is the difference between the sidereal period and
between a star and a planet?
the synodic period of the moon?

4. Define the celestial sphere?

9. What are the phases of the Moon?

5. Why do we use hours, minutes and seconds instead

of degrees in right ascension? 10. Why don't we see eclipses every month?

Basic Concepts of Astronomy 17

 Astronomy is 2.1 ANCIENT ASTRONOMY
one of the oldest sciences.
Human beings have been Babylonians first recorded astronomical data upon thousands of stone tablets.
They recognised the motion of the Sun, and they divided the path of the sun eclip-
interested in the unique beauty tic into twelve parts. The length of the year was determined to within 4 minutes
of the universe and have accuracy. However they thought the sky was a dome supported by mountains.
wondered about the heavens The early Greeks also thought that the sky was a dome of the heavens and that the
since time immemorial. Earth was a disc-like structure floating on water.
However, lack of sophisticated Pythagoras was the first person to realise
instruments prevented accurate that the Earth was round and that the
studies on the nature of paths of the heavens were circular.
the universe. Anaxagoras discovered that the
This led to many Moon did not emit its own light,
instead it reflects the sunlight.
misunderstandings about the
nature of the cosmos and Plato claimed that all objects
were spherical and that they all
solar system. had perfect spherical motions.
Due to the intense interest in Aristotle claimed that the Earth
the nature of the universe, was composed of four ele-
however, many discoveries ments; Earth, wind, fire and
were made even with these water. He also said that the
objects in the sky were made
unsophisticated instruments. of a fifth element which he
In this chapter called aether. He thought that
we will examine the most both the Earth and the uni-
verse were spherical and that
prolific ideas from early the Earth was at the centre of
astronomers about the the universe.
nature of the universe.

18
18 ASTRONOMY
The Earth was thought to be at the centre of the universe until about the 3rd centu- Earth
ry B.C. After this the Sun was thought to be at the centre of the universe. This was 7°
first noted by Aristarchus, who tried to calculate the relative sizes and distances of Alexandria to the Sun
the Moon and the Sun, however, his measurements were not accurate enough. 7°
Syene
However, he was correct in his assumption that the Sun was much larger than either
the Earth or the Moon. Aristarchus was unsuccessful in measuring the relative dis-
tances and sizes of the Sun and the Moon but Eratosthenes managed to determine
the size of the Earth, using the scheme shown in Figure 2.1, assuming that the Sun
was far enough; he measured the angles of incidence of sunlight from two different
locations called Alexandria and Syene. Their difference of 7° helped Eratosthenes to Figure 2.1 Since the angular distance
calculate the size of the Earth to more than 98% accuracy. between Alexandria and Syene is
By the third century B.C. the idea of epicycle was developed to explain planetary measured to be 7º, the distance
motion. Sometimes planets make retrograde motion as discussed earlier. Theories between these two places is 7/360 of
about the motions of the heavens could not explain retrograde motion, but the idea the circumference of the Earth
of an epicycle model helped to explain some planetary motions.
Hipparchus, who had an observatory on the island of Rhodes, laid down many of the
foundations of astronomy. One of his most important inventions was the stellar
magnitude system used to estimate star brightnesses. Hipparchus advocated the
idea of a geo-centric universe i.e. Earth centred Universe.
Ptolemy tried to summarise all knowledge of astronomy up until that time in his
'Almagest' consisting of 13 published books.
Chinese astronomical thought was not as complex as Greek astronomy. They sim-
ply thought that the universe was the sphere of the sky (celestial sphere), which
rotates daily.
The Mayas in America developed a very accurate calendar which was based on the
idea of a universe which consisted of layers both above and below the Earth.
In the 13th century new tables (Alfonsine tables) of planetary motion were developed
and used for 3 centuries.

2.2 ASTRONOMY AFTER THE 15 th CENTURY Mars

New ideas concerning planetary motion were declared by Mikolaj Copernicus and
Tycho Brahe in the fifteenth century and by Johannes Kepler at the beginning of
the sixteenth century. Venus

Copernicus thought that the Sun was at the centre of planetary orbits. He deduced
Mercury
the relative distances of planets from the Sun, using a Sun-centred model. The Sun
relative distances of the planets from the Sun will be studied in chapter 5. Moon

Tycho Brahe claimed that the Earth was stationary; the Sun revolving around the Earth
Earth, but the other planets revolving around the Sun (Figure 2.2). Brahe sup-
ported this idea with observations: He observed the stars and recognised no par-
allax angle, reasoning that if the Earth were in motion there would be stellar par-
allax. His reasoning was faulty, since he didn't consider the fact that the stars were Figure 2.2 An exaggerated illustration
very distant, which resulted in them having an unrecognisably small parallax. of the orbits of the Sun and the planets,
Although the parallax angle is large for close objects it gets smaller with increas- according to Brahe’s theory.
ing distance from a given observation point.

The History of Astronomy 19

 Planet

Dt2 a2 Dt1
a1
focus II
Sun at focus I Sun

Figure 2.3 The orbits of the planets are Figure 2.4 The shaded area swept out by the
elliptical. The Sun is at one of the foci line between the Sun and the planet in a given
of the elliptical orbits time interval is constant independent of the ini-
tial position of the planet

In 1572 the common belief that the heavens were eternal, suddenly changed with
the observation, by Tycho Brahe, of a supernova explosion. This, revealed that all
the heavenly bodies have a life story (life stories of stars are discussed in chapter 7).
Planetary motion was advanced significantly by Johannes Kepler, who carried out
observations on the planet Mars. The extraordinary Motion of Mars directed Kepler
to get involved with the relationship between the motion of the Sun and the other
planets. Thus, Kepler recognised that the Sun was not exactly at the centre of the
planetary orbits, furthermore he recognised that the orbit of Mars was not circular.
Further study on the motion of Mars innovated Kepler's ideas about planetary
motion.
The modern view of planetary motion was first declared by Johannes Kepler. His
three Laws of planetary motion are still valid today, with small modifications made
by Isaac Newton.

a. Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion

Johannes Kepler defined planetary motion in three laws:
1. All the planets revolve around the Sun. The orbits of the planets are elliptical (not
circular). The Sun is at one of the foci of the elliptical orbit (Figure 2.3).
2. The speed of the planets is not the same during a full cycle. A planet is faster
when it is closer to the Sun, its speed decreasing when it gets farther from the
Sun. The increase and decrease in the speed of planets is random. The shaded
area swept out by the line joining the Sun and the planet in a given time interval
is constant independent of the initial position of the planet (Figure 2.4).
3. The Square of the period of revolution of the planet around the Sun is propor-
tional to the cube of the semi-major axis (half of the long axis of an ellipse). If
we use the correct units, we can state the relationship as an equality:

P2 = a3

Where the unit of period P is one year and the period of the semi-major axis a is

20 ASTRONOMY
an astronomical unit (AU). AU is the semi-major axis of the Earth.
Substituting in the values for Earth: The period is 1 year, the semi-major axis is 1
thus,
P2Earth = a3Earth
12 = 13
1=1

Example 2.1 S t e f a n - B o l t z m a n n La w

The semi-major axis of Pluto is about 39.5 AU (39.5 times that of the Earth). Find the period of Pluto by using a modified
form of Kepler's third law of planetary motion.
Solution
The equation between the period and the semi-major axis is: Solving the equation,
P2= a3 P2 = 61 630
Substituting the values for Pluto into the equation, P = 248.3 years
2
PPluto = a3Pluto The period of Pluto is found to be slightly more than 248
P2 = 39.53 years.

b. Newton's Corrections of Kepler's Laws

Kepler was very successful in determining the laws of planetary motion, however,
there were still some errors in Kepler's laws. In addition to this, Kepler could not
understand or explain his laws using physics. Newton managed to understand and
explain Kepler's laws using physics and, thus, he was able to modify Kepler's laws
by developing his law of universal gravitation, stating that: Any two masses in the
Universe attract each other with a force which can be expressed as,
m2
F = G m1
d2
Where, F is the force of attraction between two objects. Centre of
mass
G is a constant called the universal constant of gravitation, with a value 6.6710–11 M1 M2
N m2/kg2.
m1 and m2 are the masses of two objects.

d is the distance between the two masses.

The law of universal gravitation helped Newton to modify Kepler's laws as follows: a
1. The orbits of planets are elliptical and planets do not revolve around the Sun,
instead, they both revolve around their common centre of mass. Thus, the cen- Figure 2.5 The motions of two different
tre of mass, not the Sun, is at the focus (Figure 2.5).
masses around a centre of mass. The
The reason that Kepler could not recognise the motion of the Sun was that the mass of M1 is greater than the mass of
centre of mass is very close to the centre of the Sun, since the mass of the Sun is M2. M1 and M2 are always at opposite
so large compared to that of any planet (the mass of the Sun is more then 99% sides of the centre of mass.

The History of Astronomy 21

 of the entire solar system).
2. The angular momentum of the planet and the Sun are constant during the re-
volution.
Angular momentum is given as m · v · r. Mass is always constant, so change in dis-
tance between the revolving object and the centre of mass results in a change in
velocity of the object in order to keep the product constant. When the planet is
close to the centre of mass (not to the Sun) it speeds up and when it is far from
the centre of mass, it slows down.
3. The square of the period is proportional to the cube of the semi major axis but
they are actually not equal. The equation can be expressed as follows:

(M  m) P2 = a3

The term (M  m) was added by Newton. M and m are the mass of the Sun and the
mass of the planet, respectively. The mass of the Sun should be taken as the unit for
this term. The unit of the period is one year, the unit of the semi-major axis is AU.
As already mentioned, Kepler's mistake was that he didn't take into account that the
mass of the Sun is very large compared to that of a planet so (M  m) is slightly diffe-
rent to M. Remember that if we express (M  m) in terms of the mass of the Sun, it
will be very close to unity.

Example 2.2 S t e f a n - B o l t z m a n n La w

The semi-major axis of Pluto is about 39.5 AU (39.5 times that of the Earth). Find the period of Pluto using the modified
form of Kepler's third law of planetary motion.
Solution
The modified form of the equation between period and the Then, (M  mPluto) = 1  6.8  10–9  1
semi-major axis is:
(M  m) P2 = a3 1  P2 = 39.53
Substituting in the values for Pluto, Solving this equation,
2
(M  mPluto) PPluto = a3Pluto P2 = 61 630

The mass of the Sun (M) is 1.99  1030 kg, which equals P = 248.3 years
1 in terms of the mass of the Sun.
The period of Pluto is slightly more than 248 years.
The mass of Pluto (m) is 1.3  1022 kg, which equals:
1.3  10 22 kg
= 6.8  10 –9
1.99  10 30 kg

As we see from the example, the result is not affected by Newton's modification of
Kepler's law. This is why Kepler didn't recognise the mass term in his expression.
The advantage of Newton's expression is that it is useful for any system of two
masses revolving around each other.

22 ASTRONOMY
2.3 ASTRONOMY AFTER THE 20 th CENTURY
Like any other science, the fastest development in astronomy occurred in the 20th
century. This was due to developments in atomic physics which lead to the con-
struction of sophisticated devices and a better understanding of events in the uni-
verse. Thus, astronomers began studying the Universe as a whole and the proper-
ties of individual celestial bodies. The history of the Universe was clarified in the 20th
century. The most important developments in astronomy in the 20th century were:
German scientist Bunsen discovered that flames of each element emit light only at
specific wavelengths. Bunsen noticed that the Sun's spectral lines, which were
determined by Fraunhofer, coincide exactly with the spectral lines of particular ele-
ments on Earth. Bunsen concluded that some elements on Earth also existed in
the Sun. This was a very important clue to the origin of the Universe. More infor-
mation of this phenomenon will be given in the next chapter.
Edwin Hubble (Figure 2.6) made one of the most important discoveries in science
in 1924. Hubble carried out observations on the fuzzy light source in the constella-
tion of Andromeda and discovered that the light source was not a nebula, but a
galaxy, containing billions of stars, which was receding us. In 1929, Hubble discov-
ered the universal fact that the receding speed of a galaxy is proportional to the dis-
tance away of the galaxy. Edwin Hubble's discovery lead to much scientific activity Figure 2.6 Edwin Hubble while making
and research into this fact, with the result that, today, much information about the his observations
history of the Universe has been revealed. The Big Bang Theory has been refined
since the 20th century. More detailed information about this is given in chapter 9.
The first space probe was sent on October 4, 1957. It didn't manage to get into
orbit, although it was very close. Just one month later another probe carrying a
dog, whose name was Layka, was set into orbit.
The dark side of the moon was first photographed on October 7, 1959.
The first visit into outer space by mankind took place in 1961; Russian astronaut
Yuri Gagarin was the first man to go in to space.
Mariner 4 probe first managed to take photographs from the surface of Mars in
1965, whereas the Venera 3 probe succeeded in entering the atmosphere of Venus
and took photographs of its surface.
With the Apollo missions, mankind landed on the surface of the Moon six times.
The first Apollo mission (Apollo 11) was on July 20, 1969. Neil Armstrong was the
first man to land on the surface of the Moon (Figure 2.7). Five more Apollo mis-
sions took place, the last of which occurred in 1972.
In 1977 the Voyager missions began to explore the planets of our solar system
more closely. Voyager probes managed to take close photographs from surfaces
of planets.
Today we know much about all the members of solar system and about any other
object in the sky. But still some calculations are within a 30% margin of error. This
means we need more sophisticated instruments to make more accurate observa-
tions and calculations. We need more specific research to learn more about the Figure 2.7 Neil Armstrong, the first
universe. man on the surface of the moon.

In conclusion, the history of astronomy is not over, but being pursued faster than
ever.

The History of Astronomy 23

 Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences. Human beings have been interested in the unique beauty
of the universe and have wondered about the heavens since time immemorial.
Babylonians recognised the motion of the Sun, and they divided the path of the Sun into twelve
parts, which are still useful for some purposes in astronomy.
Ideas in Greek astronomy were affected by philosophy and religion more than observation and cal-
culation, that is why fantastic ideas, like the sky being a dome supported by mountains, were sup-
ported by Greek astronomers.
The Earth and the Sun was thought to play a key role in the universe. The Earth was thought to
be at the centre of the universe and it was thought that the entire universe was revolving around
the Earth.
Planets did not obey the rule that everything revolved around the Earth; this lead to the idea of
epicycle. However,the idea of epicycle was inadequate in explaining the motions of all the planets.
Kepler managed to explain planetary motion with three laws. These laws were deduced by obser-
vation and calculation, however physical laws were not introduced.
Newton's law of universal gravitation and the laws of motion succeeded in explaining and modify-
ing Kepler's laws of planetary motion.
According to Kepler
1. All the planets revolve around the Sun. The orbits of the planets were elliptical (not circular).
The Sun is was at one of the foci of the elliptical orbit.
2. The speed of planets is not the same in a full cycle. A planet’s speed increases when it gets
closer to the Sun, and decreases when it gets farther from the Sun. The shaded area swept
out by a line joining the Sun and the planet in a given time interval is constant independent
of the initial position of the planet.
3. The square of the period of revolution of a planet around the Sun is proportional to the cube
of the semi-major axis (half of the long axis of an ellipse). If we use the appropriate units, we
can state the relationship as an equality:
P2 = a3
According to Newton
1. The orbits of planets are elliptical, but planets do not revolve around the Sun, they revolve
around a centre of mass. So the centre of mass, not the Sun, is at the focus.
2. The angular momentum of the planet and the Sun are kept constant during a revolution.
Angular momentum is equal to m v r. Mass is always constant, so a change in distance
between a revolving object and the centre of mass causes a change in velocity of the object,
in order to keep the product constant. When the planet is close to the centre of mass (not to
the Sun) it speeds up, in contrast, it slows down when it travels far from the centre of mass.

24 ASTRONOMY
3. The square of the period is proportional to the cube of the semi major axis but they are not
equal. The equation can be expressed as follows:
(M  m) P2 = a3
Impressive discoveries have been made in the 20th century. The big bang theory concerning the
origin and history of the universe was developed.
The first visits into space took place in the 20th century.
Sophisticated probes were sent to planets in order to collect information.

1. What is the reason ancient astronomers made 4. What are Kepler's laws of planetary motion?
incredible mistakes concerning the nature of the
universe?
5. What are Newton's laws of planetary motion?
2. The entire universe seems to revolve around us, but
the planets don't. What was the first idea that
explained planetary motion? 6. What are Hubble's discoveries?

3. What is Tycho Brahe's most striking discovery? What

is the important result of this discovery?

The History of Astronomy 25

 We know a lot about the universe, and we also want
to learn much more. The universe is so vast that we
must travel across immense distances to the stars to
collect information. The most sophisticated probes of
today can just make their way to the planets of our
solar system, but not any further. The distance from
our sun to the nearest star -alpha centauri- is about
700.000 times farther than the farthest planet, It is
impossible to even dream about going to -alpha- cen-
tauri- with today's technology. Thus, we must think of
another way of obtaining the information we need.
We can make the information come to us by means
of an information carrier. This vital information carri-
er is light. Astronomers collect light using different
types of telescopes and make conclusions about
celestial objects by analysing this light. So the more
light that is gathered, the more information we can
retrieve. We can obtain the following properties of
stars by analysing light gathered from them: distance,
temperature, luminosity, diameter, mass, chemical
composition, properties and effects of magnetic field,
lifetimes (age and remaining lifetime), nuclear reac-
tions, and much more information about the stars. In
this chapter we will learn how light reveals this infor-
mation about the stars.

26 ASTRONOMY
3.1 THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
What we call light is actually the electromagnetic radiation. We need to learn about
electromagnetic radiation in order to understand why light is the source of such a
mass of information about the stars.
Light is a form of energy which displays both particle and wave properties. Let's
look at the wave properties of light first. Each wave has a wavelength, which is the l wavelength
length of one complete wave, i.e. the distance between one wave crest and the fol-
lowing wave crest; it is denoted by  (Figure 3.1). The wavelength is inversely pro-
portional to the energy that the light carries i.e. the larger the wavelength, the
lower the energy of the wave.
l wavelength
hc
E=
 Figure 3.1 Wavelength of a wave
where E is the energy in joules,
h is the Planck constant with the value: 6,62  10–34 joule second.
 is the wavelength in meters.
c is the speed of light with the value: 3 m/s.
Electromagnetic radiation is categorised according to its wavelength on a chart
which is called the electromagnetic spectrum (Figure 3.2). Figure 3.2 The electromagnetic spect-
rum

White blood cell

Pin head size dimensions
A child’s height Diameter Diameter
of a football ENERGY of a virus Figure 3.2
VIS
IBL
INFRA-RE E
S D L
AVE RAYS I
R OW G ULT
MIC H RA
-V
Size of a stadium T RA IOLE
YS T

UENCY (second -1
FREQ )
X-
RA
YS
S
AVE

NGTH (me
VELE tre)
WA
IO -W
RAD

The distance between two cities

c=3.108 m/s
Nuclear
radius

ELECTROMAGNETIC
GAM

SPECTRUM
Proton
MA

radius
AYS -R

Earth’s diameter

Light 27
 The electromagnetic spectrum consists of the regions: Gamma Rays (<1 Aº), X-Rays
(1-200 Aº), Ultraviolet (200-4000 Aº), Visible (4000-7000 Aº), Infrared (7000-
1000000 Aº), Micro Waves (10–3-1 m), and Radio Waves (1-106 m).
There are 7 main visible colours corresponding to 7 different wavelengths: Violet
(4 000-4 300 Aº), Indigo (4 300-4 500 Aº), Blue (4 500-4 800 Aº), Green (4 800-
5 600 Aº), Yellow (5 600-5 900 Aº), Orange (5 900-6 300 Aº), Red (6 300-7 000 Aº)
(Figure 3.3).

Figure 3.3 The colours of the visible The visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum is between about 4000 Aº and
portion of the electromagnetic spect- 7000 Aº where one Angstrom (Aº) equals 10-10 meters. However the radiation may
rum take any wavelength value without maximum or minimum limits. In comparison
with the entire spectrum, the visible portion takes very little space on the spectrum.
An important concept in electromagnetic waves is frequency. Frequency is the
number of waves produced in one second. The unit of frequency is Hertz (Hz),
which is 1/second (s-1); and denoted with f. The frequency is inversely proportion-
al to the wavelength:
c
=

So the energy of a wave is proportional to its frequency:

E = hf

a. Continuous Spectrum - Discrete Spectrum

A spectrum is a chart upon which the electromagnetic waves are arranged
according to their wavelengths. This means that each position on the screen cor-
responds to a specific wavelength. Light of a certain wavelength can only repre-
Figure 3.4 Light of all wavelengths are sent a single line on the screen. If light at all wavelengths is spread out upon a
emitted in a continuous spectrum. The screen the entire screen will be bright. This kind of spectrum is called a continu-
entire spectrum is bright. ous spectrum (Figure 3.4).

Figure 3.5 Only some portions of the

e-m spectrum are bright in a discrete
If only some lines are bright and the rest of the chart dark in a spectrum, the spec-
spectrum. The remaining portions are trum is called a discrete spectrum (Figure 3.5).
dark

28 ASTRONOMY
b. Emission Spectrum - Absorption Spectrum
An emission spectrum is a spectrum which has bright lines on a dark background
(Figure 3.6). On the other hand if there are dark lines on a continuous, bright Figure 3.6 An emission spectrum. Bright
background; the spectrum is said to be an absorption spectrum (Figure 3.7). lines correspond to the emitted wave-
lengths.

Figure 3.7 An absorption spectrum.

Dark lines correspond to the absorbed
c. Fraunhofer Lines wavelength.

Newton obtained the spectrum of sunlight by passing sunlight through a prism.

Fraunhofer observed dark lines across the sun's spectrum, each of which corre-
sponded to a wavelength (Figure 3.8). The dark lines meant that the Sun emits
less light at these wavelengths than at other wavelengths.
The lines on the spectrum of a star provide information about the star; likewise the
spectrum as a whole may include some other information. To obtain all the pos-
sible information from a spectrum, astronomers must consider the lines and the
whole spectrum separately.

Figure 3.8 The spectrum of the Sun.

The thin black lines on this spectrum
3.2 DERIVATION OF STELLAR PROPERTIES are Fraunhofer lines.

All objects at temperatures above absolute zero (–273 ºC or 0 ºK) emit radiation
called thermal radiation. By analysing this radiation on a screen, one can obtain a
continuous spectrum. Thermal radiation is emitted over a broad range of wave-
lengths with maximum (peak) intensity at some particular wavelength (Figure 3.9).
Stars have continuous spectra because they radiate thermal energy due to their
very high temperatures.
Following the 19th century, scientists discovered relationships between the prop-
erties of spectra and the properties of stars. They described these relationships
with a number of laws.

Light 29
 peak

(l:wavelength of
maximum radiation)

Intensity
0 2000
l 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000

Wavelength (Å)

Figure 3.9 Stars emit light of all wavelengths, but the intensity of the emitted light is not
the same at each wavelength.

One of these laws was Wien's law which stated that: The absolute temperature
is inversely proportional to the wavelength of maximum emission.
Stars appear to have different colours because they have different temperatures.
Some stars appear blue, whereas others appear yellow and others are red. It does-
n't mean that the star only emits light at only this wavelength, it just means that
its maximum emission appears at that wavelength and less at other wavelengths.
The observed colour indicates the maximum emission value (the peak point of the
spectrum of the star).
By comparing these colours we are comparing the temperatures of the stars.
Since the wavelength of blue light is shorter than that of red, we can conclude that
blue stars are hotter than red stars. Yellow stars are cooler than blue stars and hot-
ter than red stars (Figure 3.10).

a) Blue star (10 000 K) b) Yellow - white star (6 000 K) c) Red star (3 000 K)

Visible light Visible light Visible light

Intensity

Intensity

Intensity

0 5 000 10 000 15 000 20 000 0 5 000 10 000 15 000 20 000 0 5 000 10 000 15 000 20 000
Wavelength (nm) Wavelength (nm) Wavelength (nm)

Figure 3.10 a) Blue stars are hotter, thus the wavelength of maximum intensity is lower than that of yellow-white stars. b) The wave-
length of maximum emission reveals that the temperature of yellow-white stars is higher than red stars, but lower than blue stars. c)
The wavelength of maximum emission increases with decrease in temperature.

30 ASTRONOMY
The mathematical expression of Wien's law is:
T = 2.9  10–3 m K
Another law concerning the spectra of stars is the Stefan-Boltzmann law, which
describes the relationship between the total energy emitted per second (luminosity)
and the temperature of an object. The Stefan-Boltzmann law states that: The
total energy emitted per centimetre square is proportional to the fourth power
of the temperature. For example if a star is 3 times hotter than another (be sure
that the temperatures are measured in Kelvin) the first one will emit 34 = 81 times
more energy per centimetre square.
This is energy per centimetre square, not luminosity. So we have to consider the
total surface area of the star which is proportional to R2 (Surface area of a sphere
A = 4R2) for luminosity.

Example 3.1 S t e f a n - B o l t z m a n n La w

Compare the luminosities of two stars which have equal temperatures if the radius of the first star is r1=2r and the radius
of the second star is r2=r.
Solution
Since the temperatures are equal, they both emit the same the luminosity of the first star is 4 times the second.
energy per centimetre square. But the first star has a sur- A1 16 r 2
face area which is 4 times greater than the second one.   4
A2 4 r 2
A1 = 4(2r)2 = 16r2 A1
4
A2 = 4r2 = 4r2 A2
So the first star will emit 4 times more energy in total, i.e.

Example 3.2 S t e f a n - B o l t z m a n n La w

The radius of the star X is rX=r and the radius of the star Y is rY=2r. But star X is 4 times hotter than star Y. Compare the
luminosities of the stars X and Y.
Solution
First we compare the ratio of the areas: So, star X emits 256 times more energy than star Y.
AX = 4r2 and AY = 4(2r)2 = 16r2 Combining these two ratios: L

AX 4 r 2 1 L X E X A X  E X  A X  1
       256  
A Y 16 r 2 4 L Y E Y A Y  E Y  A Y  4
1
So, the area of star X isof star Y. LX
4  64
Then compare the energies per centimetre square (cm2): LY
4
E X  TX  4
   4 256
E Y  TY 

Light 31
 The third law is the inverse square law which states that, the observed bright-
ness of an object is inversely proportional to the distance of the object from
the point of observation. For example an object appears 4 times fainter when we
observe it at twice the distant away from the first point of observation.
Combining the Stefan-Boltzmann law and the inverse square law; the energy
received from a star depends upon its temperature, radius and distance away
from the point of observation. That is why the Sun appears much brighter than
all other stars in the universe even though many of them are millions of times
brighter than the Sun. The distances of stars are to be studied later in this chapter.
These are laws deduced from spectra when considered as a whole.

a. Spectral Lines
Spectral lines also carry lots of information about stars. German scientist Bunsen
discovered a very important property of matter. Flames of each element emit light
only at specific wavelengths (Figure 3.11). He then noticed that the Fraunhofer
lines coincide exactly with the spectral lines of specific elements. Kirchoff then
used this information to show that elements on Earth are also present in the Sun
Figure 3.11 Spectra of various ele- since the wavelengths of emission spectral lines of these elements are exactly the
ments. Each element has its own spec- same as the wavelengths of the Fraunhofer lines.
trum.

Molecular Hydrogen

Atomic Hydrogen

Sodyum Lamp

Helium

Neon

Lithium

32 ASTRONOMY
In order to understand this concept we need to study the behaviour of the energy
True velocity
levels of atoms. An electron is excited to an upper energy level from a lower one.
Velocity
After a short time, it spontaneously returns to the lower energy level and emits a measured
photon. This emitted photon has an energy exactly equal to the energy difference using the
between the two levels. As the dark lines of the sun's spectrum correspond to spe- Doppler
shift
cific wavelengths, and as each wavelength corresponds to a specific energy value

 hc 
E  
  
Bunsen clarified the fact that these energies are equal to the energies of the excit-
ed electrons of specific elements. Thus, it can be concluded that these elements Star
exist in the chemical composition of the Sun. This property is very useful because
the chemical compositions of stars can be determined by matching the energy
values to the excited levels of specific elements.

Kirchoff's Laws of Spectral Lines

We have noted that the spectrum of the Sun is a continuous spectrum but there
are dark lines on this spectrum. We call these lines Fraunhofer lines. How does the
Sun produce a continuous spectrum? How are the dark lines produced? Can we
come across other types of lines in the spectra of the billions of other stars?
The answers were found by Kirchoff. He developed rules in order to define how
the spectra are created. Earth

 A gas should be hot and dense in order to produce a continuous spectrum. Figure 3.12 The direction of motion of
No lines are observed, light is emitted at all wavelengths. the star is the direction of the true veloc-
 A hot but rarefied (low density) gas produces an emission spectrum. Bright ity, but the Doppler shift can only measu-
lines are produced on a dark background. re the receding velocity or approaching
velocity of the star.
 A cool gas absorbs light at specific wavelengths and produces an absorption
spectrum when it is placed in front of a continuous spectrum source. Dark
lines are produced on a bright background.
We can conclude that, in the Sun, there is a cool outer layer of gas around a hot
interior core. More detailed information will be given in chapter 6.

b. Radial Velocity
The radial velocity of a star with respect to the Earth is another property which can
be determined by analysing the spectral lines. Radial velocity is the rotational
velocity towards or away from the Earth (Figure 3.12). The wavelength of a reced-
ing source is observed to be longer than its real wavelength and the wavelength of
an approaching source is observed to be shorter than it really is. This phenome-
non of light is called the Doppler Effect (Figures 3.13 and 3.14). We cannot meas-
ure the exact value of the velocity but we can measure the radial velocity using the
Doppler Effect. Now remember that each line on the spectrum corresponds to a Wavelength
specific wavelength. If the wavelength is shorter it means there has been a shift of
the spectral lines to the blue side of the spectrum; and If the wavelength is longer Figure 3.13 The observed wavelength
it means there has been a shift in wavelength to the red side of the spectrum. This will not change; if the source is not
is also valid for stars. The spectrum of a receding star is observed to be 'red shift- moving.
ed' and the spectrum of an approaching star is observed to be 'blue shifted'.

Light 33
 Wavelength of a As a result; if the spectrum of a star is observed to be redshifted it is concluded
receding object that the star is receding; and if the spectrum of a star is observed to be blueshift-
measured by
an observer ed, it is understood that the star is approaching the point of observation.
The amount of change in the wavelength indicates the velocity. So we can deter-
mine not only the type of motion (receding or approaching) but also the magni-
tude of the velocity. The formula is given by:

  
  c
  
where  is the radial velocity,
Wavelength of an
approaching  is the difference between the observed and actual wavelengths
object measured  is the expected wavelength (assuming that the object has no radial velocity)
by an observer
c is the speed of light.
Figure 3.14 A next wave will be pro-
duced farther to the receded observer, SI units are m  m  m  respectively.
=   
and closer to the approached obser- s  m  s 
ver.
If the observed wavelength is smaller than the expected value (blueshifted)  will
be negative; thus, the velocity will be negative which means a motion towards the
observer.

Example 3.3 Doppler Effect

Find the velocity of a star, the spectral line of which is observed to have a wavelength of 6520 Aº, if the line is expected to
be a 6563 Aº hydrogen line. (Take c=300 000 km/s)
Solution
We have a blueshift here because the observed wavelength   1965 km / s
is smaller than the expected value.
The result is: the star is approaching Earth at a velocity of
   1965 km/s.
  c
  
 6520  6563 
  3  10 km / s 
5
 
 6563 

c. Brightness
Hipparchus, an early astronomer, classified the stars according to their brightness.
He gave them numbers from 1 to 6 which are called the magnitude of the stars. The
brightest stars were of magnitude 1, whereas the faintest are of magnitude 6. His
classification was made according to the brightness observed by eye. However, some
stars caused confusion since they were between two consecutive magnitudes.
In the mid 19th century, the system was adopted so that a decrease of 5 in mag-
nitude corresponded to an increase in brightness of 100 fold. That is, if a star's
magnitude is 5 less than a second one, the star is 100 times brighter than the sec-
ond one. Each magnitude difference means that the ratio of the brightness's is
1001/5 = 2,512. We have to keep in mind that the lower magnitude corresponds
to greater brightness, however.

34 ASTRONOMY
 Example 3.4 Brightness of Stars

There are two stars  and  having magnitudes 5 and 3 respectively (m=5, m=3).
a) Which star is brighter?
b) What is the ratio between the brightness of the two stars?
Solution
a) The magnitude of  is greater than the magnitude of , B
= 6.31
so the brightness of  is lower than . Thus,  is B
brighter than .
B We can conclude that  is 6.31 times brighter than .
= 2.512 
(m m ) 5 3 
b) = 2.512 = 2.512 2
B

Hipparchus could see up to only a magnitude of 6. However, astronomers today can

take photographs of stars whose magnitudes are 32. That is, 32 – 6 = 26 magni-
tudes lower. This means that today's telescopes can detect stars over 2.5  1010
times fainter than those observed with the naked eye.

Example 3.5 Brightness of Stars

Two astronomers make observations in the sky. The amateur astronomer makes his observations with the naked eye where-
as the professional astronomer makes his observations with a sophisticated telescope. The faintest star that the amateur
astronomer can observe has a magnitude of 6, but the professional astronomer can detect a star of magnitude 32. How
much fainter is the second star (observed by the professional astronomer) compared to the first star (observed by the ama-
teur astronomer).
Solution
Let the stars observed by amateur and professional Ba
= 2.51226 = (2.5125)5  2.512 = 1005  2.512
astronomers be called 'a' and 'p', respectively. The ratio of Bp
brightnesses is:
Ba
Ba = 2.512  1010
= 2.512 p a = 2.512  
(m m ) 26 Bp
Bp

Some stars are brighter than magnitude 1 stars. These stars may have a magni-
tude of 0 (like, -centauri) or they may have minus magnitude values; the magni-
tude of Sirius is -1.5 for example.

d. Spectral Type
Following the re-definition of the magnitudes, the stars were classified according
to the maximum emitted wavelength in their spectra. Wien's law shows that max-
imum emission wavelength is directly related to the surface temperature. The
hottest group belongs to O-type stars. The other groups are O, B, A, F, G, K, M in
order from the hottest to the coolest. O-type stars have a surface temperature of

Light 35
 about 50 000 K whereas the surface temperatures of M type stars are about 2 000
to 3000 K. This classification is detailed further and each group has 10 sub-types
A0, A1, A2 etc.

The Sun is a G2 star with a surface temperature of 6 000 K.

e. Hertzsprung - Russell (H-R) Diagram

Two astronomers Ejnar Hertzsprung and Henry Norris Russell simultaneously
found the relationship between the luminosity and spectral type. They were not
aware of each other's parallel studies but they came to the same conclusion. They
plotted the graph of luminosity versus. spectral class and observed that, most
of the stars lie on a line from upper left to lower right (Figure 3.17).
The stars on the main line are called main sequence stars.
Some stars are present in the upper right corner of the H-R diagram. They have
high luminosity but low surface temperature compared with main sequence stars.
Stars of the same surface temperatures will have the same luminosity if their
dimensions are equal. We can conclude that the reason for the high luminosity is
the large surface area. These stars are called Red giants and Super giants. They
have larger surface areas compared to main sequence stars.
Other exceptions to main sequence stars are White dwarfs. They appear in the
lower right of the H-R diagram. White dwarfs are smaller than main sequence stars
and their luminosity is lower in comparison with main sequence stars of the same
spectral type (Figure 3.15).

f. Distance
All objects are seen on the same spherical surface. This surface is called the celes-
tial sphere, as was mentioned in chapter one. The depth of an object cannot be
determined (Figure 3.16). However there are some methods available to calculate
the distances of the stars.

Figure 3.15 A main sequence star is

bigger than a White-Dwarf and smaller
than a Red-Giant.

Figure 3.16 Let A and B be the actual

positions of two stars. The stars are
observed to be at position A and B,
respectively

36 ASTRONOMY
 Surface Temprature (K)
40 000 10 000 7 000 6 000 5 000 3 000

Supergiants

–5

Giants

0
Visual Absolute Magnitude

Ma
in s Sun
equ
enc
e
+5

+10

White
Dwarts

+15
O5 B0 B5 A0 A5 F0 F5 G0 G5 K0 K5 M0 M5
Spectral Class

Figure 3.17 Modern Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.

Light 37
 Parallax Angle
The sky revolves around the Earth once a day as mentioned before. In addition to
this motion, each object in the sky has its own random motion (Figure 3.18). One
of the distance measuring methods uses these relative changes in positions of a
star with respect to the fixed stars. Fixed stars are very distant stars; they do not
change their relative positions. Nearby stars change their position with respect to
distant stars (Figure 3.19).
This effect can be examined with a simple experiment. Keep a small object one
metre away from your eyes, using a background about 5 or 10 metres away. Look
at the object with one of your eyes closed. Mark the point on the background where
you observe your object. Repeat the same process with your other eye and again
mark the point where you observe your object. On examining both marks you will
notice that you have marked two different points.
The distant stars are our background and the closer stars our objects to be meas-
Figure 3.18 Each star moves randomly
ured. Astronomers measure the angle between two observation points, half of this
in the sky; but the overall frame moves
angle is the parallax angle. The closer the star, the larger the parallax angle. The clos-
around the Earth.
est star, alpha centauri, is about 4.3 ly away, its parallax angle is impossible to meas-
ure if astronomers use their eyes to determine two observation points. The distance
between two observation points should be as great as possible. Even the distance
between the two farthest places on Earth is too short to measure a significant paral-
lax angle. However- there is one other possibility on Earth. The Earth revolves around
the Sun and an observer at a fixed point on Earth changes his/her position about
2AU in half a year, since the distance between the aphelion and perihelion is 2AU.
Distant Star The measurement of parallax angle is carried out by taking two observations with-
in 6 months (Figure 3.19).
As a result his/her distance is inversely proportional to parallax angle:

1
Nearby Star d
p

d is the distance of the star. Unit of distance is parsec (pc).

One parsec equals 3.08  1013 km or 206 265 AU or 3.26 light years.
p is the parallax angle having a unit of arcseconds.
One arcsecond is 1/60 arcminutes or 1/3600º of a complete cycle.
The parallax angle of the closest star -centauri will be the largest parallax angle of
any of the stars and even this is smaller than 1 arcsecond. The parallax angle for
Sun -centauri is 0.76. Thus the distance away from Earth of -centauri is 1 / 0.76 =
Position of Earth 6 Months Apart 1.31 pc corresponding to 1.31  206 265 = 270 000 AU or 3.26  1.31 = 4.3 light
years.
Figure 3.19 The angular change in the
position of a nearby star with respect Spectroscopic Parallax
to distant stars is required to calculate The brightness of stars (magnitude) that we measure on Earth depends on how
the distance away of this star from far away from us the star is. This may lead to an equation on how far away the star
Earth. is if we know its luminosity.

38 ASTRONOMY
Up until now we have considered only apparent magnitude. Apparent magnitude ALdebaran
is the magnitude that we measure on Earth. Now we introduce another concept: +0.9
(21 pc)
absolute magnitude. Absolute magnitude is the magnitude measured 10 parsecs
away from the star (Figure 3.20). Apparent magnitude is denoted by m whereas
the absolute magnitude is denoted by M. Note that absolute magnitudes and
apparent magnitudes do not have to be the same because the brightness (magni-
tude) of a star depends strictly on its distance away (recall the inverse square law). +1.4
– 0.7
Remember, the inverse square law states: The brightness of a star is inversely pro-
portional to the square of its distance away. The logic of this is that photons emit- Sirius +4.4
ted spread spherically into the universe. An observer collecting light in a unit area – 1.5
+1.3 (2.7 pc)
a can only collect a fraction a/A of the total photons emitted. Where, A is the total µ Centauri
ecs
surface area over which the photons are spread. If an observer makes an observa- Castor p ars 0.0
10 Earth (1.3 pc)
tion from a distance R the total surface area over which the photons spread is 4R2 +2
(14 pc)
and if the distance away is 2R then the total surface area will be 4(2R)2 = 4 x
(4R2). The number of photons reaching a unit area decreases as the second
power of the distance between the observer and the source.
Figure 3.20 Stars are imagined to be
If we know the magnitude of a star at 10 pc away we can calculate the magnitude moved to a distance 10 pc away from
of the star at any distance. Or we can calculate the distance corresponding to any us. Absolute magnitude would be the
magnitude at this distance.
observed magnitude.

Example 3.6 Spectral type of stars

Take absolute magnitude of a star as 2 whereas the apparent magnitude is 7. What is the distance of the star?
Solution
The apparent magnitude is greater than the absolute mag- 2.5125 = 100 times fainter.
nitude. Thus, apparent brightness is less than absolute According to the inverse square law: the star should be 10
brightness. If this observer was 10 pc away from the star he (1001/2) times farther than 10 parsecs.
would observe the star brighter, but how much brighter?
10 times 10 pc equals 100 pc.
m–M=apparent magnitude–absolute magnitude=7–2=5 The distance of the star is 100 pc.
So the star is seen 5 magnitudes fainter than its absolute
value. 5 magnitudes correspond to:

g. Some Other Properties

 Another property of a star is its dimensions. Again the spectrum of a star is
used for the determination of the diameter of a star. The luminosity of a star
depends upon both its temperature and its surface area as we mentioned
previously (recall the Stefan-Boltzmann law). If somehow we know the lumi-
nosity and the temperature of a star, we can calculate its surface area, and
so its diameter.
Referring to the H-R diagram we can conclude that the upper right members of
the diagram are giant stars. They have the same temperatures as main sequence
stars but they have higher luminosity, this reveals that they are larger than main
sequence stars, so they are giant stars.

Light 39
  The mass of binary stars can be calculated by determining their gravitational
effects on one another. By using Kepler's 3rd law of planetary motion
(m1 + m2) P2 = a3
we can calculate their masses:
m1 and m2 are the masses of the two binary stars.
P is the period of revolution.
a is the semi-major axis.
The period and the semi-major axis are measured directly, and the total mass is
derived from Kepler's equation. To calculate the masses separately, an astronomer
needs the ratio of their masses. The ratio of the distance of each star to the centre
of mass provides enough clues to determine the ratio of the masses. The larger a
mass the closer it is to the centre of mass of the binary star system.
Binary Stars: About half of the stars in the universe are observed in pairs. Pairs of stars
revolve around a centre of mass (Figure 3.21).
 One more parameter that we will discuss is the magnetic field produced by
the Sun. We will examine how the magnetic field of the Sun is created and
the effects of this magnetic field. For now we are just concerned with how
the strength of this magnetic field is determined.
If a light source is placed within a magnetic field, the spectral lines of the source will
split into two. The two lines split further with increasing magnetic field. This splitting
effect is called Zeeman Splitting or the Zeeman Effect (Figure 3.22). The strength
of the magnetic field can be calculated by measuring the amount of splitting.

a)

Orbit of M2
No magnetic field

Orbit of M1

M1 d1 d2 M2 l1 l2
Centre
of Mass b)
M1 d1 = M2 d2

a Magnetic field
present

l1A l1B l2A l2B

Figure 3.21 The motions of two different masses around a centre of Figure 3.22 a) The spectrum of a light source. b) The
mass. The mass of M1 is greater than the mass of M2. M1 and M2 are spectrum of the same light source inside a magnetic field.
always at opposite sides of the centre of mass. Magnetic fields cause the spectral lines to split.

40 ASTRONOMY
 Light is a vital information carrier from space to astronomers. Light is analysed and turned into infor-
mation by the use of sophisticated devices.
An electromagnetic wave may have a wavelength of less than 1 Angstrom (gamma rays), whereas the
wavelength of another wave may be thousands of kilometres (radio waves).
The energy and frequency of electromagnetic waves are inversely proportional to their wavelength. Energy
and frequency are directly proportional to each other.
We can classify the electromagnetic spectrum as a continuous spectrum and a discrete spectrum. A sec-
ond classification is emission spectrum and absorption spectrum.
Newton obtained a continuous spectrum of the Sun, but Fraunhofer observed dark lines on the spectrum
of the Sun, called Fraunhofer lines (named after Fraunhofer). These lines revealed much information about
the Sun.
These lines and a star's spectrum, also provide much information about any star. The temperature, lumi-
nosity, size, distance, life story, age, chemical compound, density, atmospheric properties, velocity with
respect to us, brightness, mass, magnetic field of a star are some of the properties which can be deduced
with the help of the spectrum of a star.
If we know the wavelength of maximum emission, the temperature of a star can be determined by apply-
ing Wien's law (  T = 2.9  10–3 m K). The Stefan-Boltzmann law can be used to determine the lumi-
nosity or size of a star. The inverse-square law helps us to determine the distance of a star from Earth.
The Doppler shift of a spectrum reveals the radial velocity of a star.
The Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram is used to determine the main properties of a star. Unknown
properties can be deduced using the H-R diagram.
There are many ways to determine the distance of an object from Earth. Some of them are used
for short distances whereas others are used for large distances.

1. What is the importance of light in astronomy? discovery and Fraunhofer lines for astronomers?
2. Which properties of stars can be ascertained by 8. Which laws help astronomers analyse whole spectra
analysing the spectrum? and derive stellar properties?
3. What is wavelength? What is the relationship between 9. What information do we obtain from the spectrum of
the wavelength and the energy of light? the Sun according to Kirchoff's rules of spectral lines?
4. What are the minimum and the maximum wave- 10. Why can't the Doppler shift tell us the true velocity of
lengths of the electromagnetic spectrum? a star?
5. Write down the electromagnetic waves from the 11. Which is brighter: a star of magnitude 2 or a star of
smallest wavelength to the largest wavelength. magnitude 5?
6. What are the regions of the electromagnetic spectrum? 12. What is the spectral type of the Sun?
7. What is the use of the relationship between Bunsen's 13. Where in a H-R diagram is the Sun located?

Light 41
 We have learned that light reveals a vast amount
of information about stars. But we need
instruments in order to form and analyse
spectra. Telescopes are the devices
which astronomers use to collect light.
Telescopes offer multifold advantages for
making observations compared
with the naked eye.

4.1 WHY WE NEED TELESCOPES

Astronomers need to collect as much light as possible
from objects in order to extract all the information avail-
able. The more light collected, the better the informa-
tion received. Many celestial objects are not even
observable with the unaided eye, but can be detected
by telescopes. The radius of the eye is several mil-
limetres but modern telescopes have radii of many
metres. This means that telescopes have the capacity
to collect much more light than the eye. Since the light
collected is proportional to the area of the receiver sur-
face and since the receiver area is circular, the light col-
lected is proportional to the square of the radius of a circle
(4R2), a telescope can receive some ten thousand times
more light than the eye. By bringing much more light to a
focus, telescopes open the doors to a dark universe.

42 ASTRONOMY
The collected light is analysed by instruments which are connected to telescopes.
The light focused is converted to data and transferred to sophisticated computers a)
so that astronomers can study this data. Equipment is also available to increase the a
intensity of collected light. Long exposure photographs for example can be taken
through a telescope, this means photographs are exposed to light for a longer time
period. A photograph taken in one hour for example collects thousands times
more light than an ordinary photograph taken in a fraction of a second. b) a
Combining these two (much larger areas of a telescope and the option of longer
exposure times) properties of telescopes; an astronomer can detect an object
which is more than a billion times fainter than that observed with the naked or Figure 4.1 a) If resolution power is
unaided eye. greater then  then an observer sees
Eyes collect only a very small portion of light reflected off objects. However, this is two objects. b) If the resolution power
not the only disadvantage, eyes cannot differentiate objects which have small is less than  (i.e. the minimum angle
angular separations, . (Actual distances are not important for large distance detected by the telescope is smaller
than ) the observer sees a single
measurements since angular separations are measured as an indication of dis-
object.
tance. Angular separations are measured in angular units in the celestial sphere).
Stars which are close to each other in the celestial sphere appear to be a single
object. The ability to differentiate two objects is called resolution. The higher the
resolution, the smaller the angle between two recognised objects (Figure 4.1).
Take two pens for example, and separate them by a few millimetres and then press
them into somebody's back. They will feel that they were touched with a single
object, now ask them to close their eyes and press both pens against their tongue,
they will recognise that there are two different objects. Similarly the human eye can
resolve an angular separation of 1,5 arcminutes. However, a telescope may reach
a resolution of 0.05 arcseconds for visible light. This means that for a person to
differentiate two objects their angular separation must be at least 90 arcseconds,
if the angle is smaller than this the objects will appear as a single object. Using tel-
escopes, however, a distance of 0.05 arcseconds may be enough to differentiate
these two objects. One observes a ship on the horizon as a single object for exam-
ple, but its masts, flag, and sails cannot be resolved separately, unless you use
binoculars. Additionally, the resolution is proportional to the observed wavelength.
One important advantage of telescopes, binoculars and other optical instruments is
that, not only do they magnify objects but they increase the resolution of our eyes.
In addition to improving resolution by using telescopes with large surface areas
and long exposure times to collect more light, telescopes can also be used in
groups (like the very large array in New Mexico) to improve resolution. The radia-
tion collected by each telescope is overlapped to produce an interference pattern,
which is analysed. This technique vastly improves the resolution and is called inter-
ferometry.

4.2 TYPES OF TELESCOPES

Only the 4000 Aº-7000 Aº portion of the electromagnetic spectrum is visible to the
human eye. However, in space radiation is present over a broad range of wave-
lengths from x-rays to radio waves. The human eye can only detect a very small
portion of this radiation in the visible region. However, by using telescopes,
astronomers can collect radiation and analyse it in order to extract information
about celestial objects. There are several types of telescopes which are capable of
detection at specific wavelength ranges.

Telescopes 43
 a. Visible Light Telescopes
The oldest type of telescope is the visible light telescope (Figure 4.2). There are
two types of visible telescopes: Refracting Telescopes and Reflecting Telescopes.
In refracting telescopes; lenses are used to focus light at a point by refraction. The
light first reaches a large lens called the objective -the primary lens- and is then
brought to a focus by it. The objective is a large lens at the input end of the tele-
scope (Figure 4.3). At the output end of the telescope there is a smaller lens which
magnifies the image for observation by the human eye. The larger the objective
is, the more light that is gathered by the telescope, the greater the light gathered,
the more powerful the telescope becomes. Powerful telescopes are needed to
observe very faint objects.

Objective Focus

Figure 4.2 A modern telescope Ýncident light

Figure 4.3 Incident light is focused by the objective lens.

Mirrors are used instead of lenses in reflecting telescopes. The light is focused by
reflection on a spherical mirror. Some reflecting telescopes may have only one
mirror but, in some telescopes one or more plane mirrors may be used in order
1 mirror is used
to direct the focused light to a point outside the telescope (Figure 4.4).
The focused light is sorted according to wavelength and the spectrum is then
recorded by devices called cameras. These take photographs at different wave-
lengths using filters. Another procedure is to record the light intensities using elec-
tronic detectors. Astronomers make calculations and reach conclusions by using
this stored, recorded information.
2 mirrors are used Both the reflecting telescopes and the refracting telescopes are used by
astronomers in different situations by comparing their advantages and disadvan-
tages with respect to each other. The advantages of reflecting telescope with
respect to refracting telescopes are:

 Reflecting telescopes can be constructed of much larger dimensions than

refracting telescopes. This property makes reflecting telescopes more po-
3 mirrors are used werful than refracting telescopes.

 Lenses refract each wavelength at different angles of refraction (dispersion).

Figure 4.4 Different methods of focus- This makes the incident light spread and makes it harder to focus the light to
ing provide advantages for each a single point. There is no dispersion in reflection, the wavelengths are reflect-
method. ed at the same angle, so it is much easier to focus the light by reflection.

44 ASTRONOMY
Reflecting telescopes also have disadvantages:
 The incident light is reflected back, so the focus coincides with the light inci-
dent on the main mirror. To make focused light observable, either the light
should be directed outside the telescope with auxiliary mirrors or the
astronomer should be located inside the telescope to observe the focused
light in person. This means the incident light has to be blocked with an instru-
ment at the focal point (Figure 4.5). However, blocking a portion of light
decreases the power of the telescope.
The geographical location of telescopes is very important. If the telescope is built
on a high mountain, the effect of the atmosphere will be minimised. The atmos-
phere absorbs incoming light, so the thickness of the atmospheric layer should be
reduced as much as possible.
Telescopes should be located far away from cities, because the lights of a city may
interfere with the incoming light and distort the information. The purity of the
atmosphere should also be taken into consideration.
Light (reaching the
eye piece)
Ýncident light

Blocked light Astronomer Astronomer

(cannot reach eye piece) cabin

Figure 4.5 The portion of light blocked should be kept as low as possible in order to
reduce the disadvantage of losing light.

b. Infrared Telescopes
The working principle of infrared (IR) telescopes is the same as that of visible tel-
escopes. The radiation is focused to a point and then recorded and analysed for
information about the source.
It is difficult to detect the radiation. The Earth's atmosphere does not allow IR radi-
ation to penetrate 100 percent. Some IR wavelengths are absorbed by Earth's
atmosphere, thus, telescopes must be placed above the atmosphere. High altitude
telescopes or satellites can be used as IR telescopes in order to cover the IR por-
tion of the electromagnetic spectrum (Figure 4.6).
However, some IR wavelengths can penetrate the Earth's atmosphere, and this has Figure 4.6 High altitude telescopes are
led to some observatories making observations on Earth (Figure 4.7). fitted to suitable aeroplanes.

Telescopes 45
 X-ray UV Visible Infrared Radio

Fraction of energy transmitted

Figure 4.7 The graph displays wave-
length versus fraction of wavelength’s 1
1Å 10 Å 1000 Å 0,01 mm 1 mm 1 cm 1m 100 m
energy that can penetrate Earth’s at- Wavelength
mosphere.

c. Ultraviolet Telescopes
All ultraviolet (UV) radiation is absorbed by Earth's atmosphere. This means that it
is impossible to make UV observations on Earth. Telescopes must be placed above
the Earth's atmosphere. Ultraviolet astronomy is a new area which has a history of
only 60 years. Today the Hubble Space Telescope -one of the most famous tele-
scopes- carries out observations in the visible and UV range of the electromag-
netic spectrum from space, above the Earth's atmosphere (Figure 4.8).

d. X-Ray Telescopes
X-rays have short wavelengths, and thus high energies (E = h.c/). According to
Wien's law, objects at high temperatures emit electromagnetic radiation at short
wavelengths. This means that x-ray sources have extremely high temperatures and
vice versa. In order to observe the very energetic and hot regions of the universe
Figure 4.8 UV Telescopes, above the x-ray telescopes are needed, since these regions emit most strongly in the x-ray
Earth’s atmosphere region.
It is hard to reflect x-ray radiation to a focus without it being absorbed. This makes
x-ray telescopes hard to construct, however, x-ray rockets and satellites are sent
into space to observe explosions and very energetic phenomena.

e. Radio Telescopes
Radio waves have very long wavelengths. The working principles of radio tele-
scopes are similar to visible telescopes. The radiation is reflected onto a receiver
at the focal point (just like your television antenna) (Figure 4.9).

A Dutch astronomer Van De Hulst claimed that hydrogen atoms in space should
emit radiation at a wavelength of 21cm. The discovery of this radiation using radio
antennas, has opened new doors into the universe.
Radio antennas need to be very large, since resolution is inversely proportional to
Figure 4.9 One of the largest radio wavelength this has made progress difficult and slow. Radio telescopes must be
telescopes in the world. The antenna is much larger than visible telescopes, even the largest radio telescopes are not suf-
so large that it must be fixed to the ficient for some observations. Interferometry techniques must be used to provide
ground. greater resolution of radio wave observations where necessary.

46 ASTRONOMY
 Telescopes are used for collecting the vital information carrier, light. The more light collected, the
more knowledge that can be obtained.
The purpose of using a telescope is not to magnify the observed object but to collect more light and
to increase resolution.
Many types of telescopes are used. Each type is used to analyse a specific portion of the electromag-
netic spectrum. IR telescopes are used to analyse infrared waves, which are received from a star for
example.
There are two types of visible-light telescopes: reflecting telescopes and refracting telescopes. The aim
of both telescopes is to focus all light at a point. Reflecting telescopes use mirrors; refracting telescopes
use lenses in order to focus the light.
The ability of a telescope to differentiate between two objects is called resolution. The higher the res-
olution, the clearer the observed object. Higher resolution provides more careful and more correct
observations. The quality of a telescope is measured by its resolution .
Interferometry, overlapping radiation patterns collected by different telescopes, is used to increase
the resolution of telescopes.

1. What are the main advantages of using a telescope 4. What is interferometry?

compared with observation by the naked eye?

5. What types of wavelength-dependent telescopes are

2. How can we collect more intense light? there?

3. What is the relationship between the resolving power 6. What types of visible light telescopes are there? Why
and the smallest detectable angle? do astronomers use each type?

Telescopes 47
 Our Earth is a very small object 5.1 THE SOLAR SYSTEM IN GENERAL
in our galaxy. The Milky Way Our solar system is a small family of celestial objects in the universe. It con-
(our galaxy) is one of billions of sists of a star (the Sun), 8 planets (From the nearest to the farthest one from
galaxies in the universe; the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune), aster-
oids, comets, satellites and interplanetary dust (spread out over the entire Solar
there are about 400 000 000 000 system).
stars in the Milky Way. About 5 billion years ago, our solar system was a gas and dust cloud. As it
The Sun is one of these became smaller its temperature increased simultaneously. The force of gravi-
billions of stars. It is the source of tation caused all the nearby matter to gather together, increasing the pressure
inside this cloud. Due to symmetry, the gas and dust cloud took on a spheri-
life on Earth. It radiates warmth cal shape. As very high temperatures and pressures existed nuclear reactions
and light from a very great began. These made the Sun capable of radiating the energy resulting from
these reactions. Any material which did not gather to form the Sun formed the
distance. Light from our Sun is planets of our solar system.
used by plants to manufacture
More than 99 % of the mass of the solar system belongs to the Sun, this makes
their food. Plants are the food it the largest object in the solar system. The planets, asteroids, and comets
source for all creatures that live
on Earth, including humans via
the food chain. The Earth's
atmosphere only transmits the
portion of the Sun's radiation
which is required by our planet.
For example, ultraviolet radiation
light (which is hazardous for life)
is absorbed by the ozone (O3)
layer of the Earth's atmosphere.

48 ASTRONOMY
revolve about the Sun. They all have adjacent orbits on the same plane as the
ecliptic; with some exceptions of course. We will consider these exceptions later in
this chapter. The satellites do not revolve around the Sun directly; they revolve
around the planets.
The dimensions of Earth are very small compared to the dimensions of the solar
system, and the dimensions of the solar system are miniscule compared to the
dimensions of the universe. So we cannot use the same units that we use on
Earth; for measuring the distances in the solar system and universe astronomers
use astronomical units (AU), or light years (Ly) or parsecs (pc) in order to repre-
sent actual distances.
The astronomical unit (AU) is the average distance of Earth from the Sun. One AU
is about 149 600 000 km. The orbit of the Earth is elliptic (Recall Kirchoff's second
law concerning planetary motion) but the Sun is not exactly at its centre. That is,
the distance between Earth and the Sun along the semi-major axes is not constant,
but varies a little between a minimum value of some 147 million km and a maxi-
mum value of some 151 million km. The point at which a planet is closest to the
Sun is called the perihelion, and the point at which it is farthest is called the aphe-
lion (Figure 5.1). The nearest planet to the Sun, Mercury, is about 0.4 AU from the
sun, Neptune the farthest planet, is about 30 AU from the Sun.

You may think that 149.6 million km is a very great distance. However, this is only Figure 5.1 An exaggerated illustration
true in comparison with the dimensions we, on Earth, are used to. It is actually a of the Aphelion and Perihelion.
very small distance in comparison with the dimensions of the universe. Even the
closest star is some 270 000 AU away from us. This is the reason we need other
more suitable units to measure distances in the universe; the units usually used
are the light year and the parsec.
A Light year is the distance that light can travel in one year if it only travels through
a vacuum. The speed of light in a vacuum is 300 000 km/s. One light year is
9 500 000 000 000 km. 1 parsec is about 3.26 Ly.

The Solar System 49

 5.2 MEMBERS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
a. Planets
There are eight planets in the solar system. The nearest one to the Sun is Mercury.
Then comes Venus and Earth, Mars, Jupiter Saturn, Uranus and Neptune (Figure
5.2). The first four planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) are called terrestrial
planets, and the next four (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) are called Jovian
planets. Planets in the same group have common or similar properties.

Figure 5.2 The Sun and the eight plan-

ets of the Solar System. The planets are Terrestrial planets are closer to the Sun and smaller than the Jovian planets. The
ordered according to their distances density of terrestrial planets (about 3-4 g/cm3) is larger than Jovian planets (1-1,5
from the Sun. The distances are not
g/cm3). They have rocky surfaces but their cores are (or were) molten. This means
illustrated in proportional to their exact
values.
that denser materials have sunken to the centres of these planets. Venus, Earth
and Mars have atmospheres over their rocky surfaces. Their atmospheres contain
nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon. Hydrogen and helium is also present, but only in
very small quantities, since they can easily escape the low gravity of the terrestrial
planets. Mercury does not have an atmosphere because its surface gravity is not
great enough to hold atmospheric gases over its surface.
Jovian planets are larger than terrestrial planets, also as they are gaseous they
don't have rocky surfaces, and are of lower density. Jovian planets do have a small
solid core and are composed of liquid under their gaseous surface. They have
atmospheres consisting of the same elements as the terrestrial planets; since,
hydrogen and helium cannot escape the high gravity of these giant planets.
The dwarf planet Pluto was discovered in 1930 and considered to be the ninth
planet; this fact changed in 2006 with the adoption of a formal definition of plan-
et.

b. Asteroids and the Bode Sequence

The distances of the planets from the Sun are not random, instead they seem to
follow a mathematical sequence called the Bode Sequence which begins at 0, fol-
lowed by 3 and then each consecutive number is twice the previous one. The first
eight elements of the Bode sequence are: 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, 192…
The distances of the closest 6 planets are: 0.4, 0.7, 1, 1.5, 5.2, 9.6 that is 4, 7,
10, 15, 52, 96 units (AU / 10) relatively. If you look closely at these distances you
will notice that these numbers are very similar to those obtained by adding 4 to

50 ASTRONOMY
each of the numbers in the Bode sequence. 04; 34; 64; 124; 244; 484;
96  4 = 4; 7; 10; 16; 28; 52; 10. Comparing this sequence with the planet dis-
tance sequence, it becomes clear that there is a missing 28 in the sequence of
planet distances! The distance of Mars from the Sun is 15 units and the distance
of the next planet (Jupiter) is 52. One more planet was supposed to be between
Mars and Jupiter, but no such planet has been found.
However the area between Mars and Jupiter is not empty. It is inhabited by thou-
sands of small, metallic rocky objects called asteroids. These are also members of
the solar system. Most of the asteroids in our solar system revolve around the Sun
in an orbit between Mars and Jupiter. Other asteroids follow the same orbits as
some of the other planets but are located either ahead or behind the planet

a) b)

The largest asteroid is Ceres. The mass of Ceres is 30% of the total mass of all the Figure 5.3 a) Most asteroids revolve in
rest of the asteroids. The total mass of all the asteroids is only about 0.0004 of the an orbit between the orbits of Jupiter
mass of the Earth. and Mars. b) There are also some
asteroids within Jupiter’s orbit.
Most of the asteroids consist of mainly carbon. The others are made of silicate and
a few of them are metallic.

c. Comets
In 1986 an object passed very close to Earth but fortunately, no collision occurred.
If a collision had occurred, it would have wiped out life on Earth. The object which
nearly collided with Earth is actually a very well known comet called Halley's
Comet. It is named after Edmund Halley who recognised that the comet had been
observed and recorded many times in history; notably in 1456, 1531, and 1607.
He realised that it was the same comet as one which had been observed in the 3rd
century B.C. and also the same as one observed in the 5th century B.C. He
deduced that Halley's Comet orbits the Sun. He then calculated the comet's orbit
and period. The period is 76 years.

The Solar System 51

Figure 5.4 Photographs of two different It is not only Halley's Comet which orbits the Sun, other comets also orbit the Sun
comets in elliptical orbits having fixed periods of revolution. The orbits of the comets are
more elongated, so they appear more elliptical than that of the planets. Planetary
orbits, although also elliptic are much closer to circles.
Just like the planets (recall Kepler's Laws of planetary motion) comets reach their
maximum speed at the perihelion and slow down to a minimum speed at the
aphelion.
The most exciting characteristic of comets is their tails (Figure 5.4). A comet does
not have a tail when it is far from the Sun, however, when it approaches the Sun,
its temperature increases. Heated gas and dust from the comet forms a cloud
called a halo. This gas and dust is blown away from the Sun because of the solar
wind (solar wind will be explained later). This motion causes long tails of hot gas
and dust to protrude from the comet. Comet's tails always point away from the
Sun (Figure 5.5).
There are two types of comets which are categorised according to their periods
and the elongation of their orbits.
Some comets orbit the Sun close to the ecliptic plane. These comets have short-
er periods of revolution. It is thought that there is a cloud of comets, called the
Kuiper Belt, just outside the planetary orbits. The short period comets are thought
to have originated from this belt.

52 ASTRONOMY
a) b) c)

Figure 5.5 The solar wind causes the

The other group of comets have much longer periods, approaching millions of tail of a comet to always point away
years. This second type of comet have very elongated orbits. Which make large from the Sun.
angles with the ecliptic (Earth's plane of orbit). The boundary of the solar system
is thought to be a spherical shell, called the Oort cloud, from which the long peri-
od comets are thought to have originated.
d. Satellites
Satellites are objects which revolve around the planets, not the Sun. They are
generally much smaller than the planet they are revolving around. Each satellite
has its own composition of materials.
Earth has only one satellite, the Moon.
Mars has two satellites named Phobos and Deimos.
The largest four satellites of Jupiter were discovered by Galileo at the beginning of
the 17th century they are termed ‘Galilean satellites’ after him. These four satellites
can be seen with the naked eye. The largest of them is Ganymede, and the oth-
ers are Callisto, Io, and Europa in order from the largest to the smallest. Jupiter
has 12 more known satellites which are smaller and unobservable with the naked
eye.
Titan is the largest satellite of Saturn. It is even larger than the planet Mercury, it
is large enough to hold onto an atmosphere like a planet. The following 7 satel-
lites are smaller than Titan but larger than the other 10 small satellites: These 7
satellites are Rhea, Iapetus, Dione, Tethys, Enceladus, Mimas, and Hyperion in
order from the largest to the smallest.
Five of the fifteen satellites of Uranus are observable from Earth. The other 10 sa-
tellites were discovered by Voyager. The largest five satellites are called Titania,
Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel, and Miranda in order from the largest to the smallest.
Neptune has two major satellites, Triton and Nereid and 6 smaller satellites which
were discovered by Voyager. The direction of revolution of Triton is opposite that
of Neptune.

The Solar System 53

 5.3 EXTRAORDINARY SITUATIONS IN THE
SOLAR SYSTEM
 The orbital planes of the planets around the Sun nearly coincide. There is
an exception to this. The orbit of Mercury makes an angle of about 7º with
that of the other planets (Figures 5.6 and 5.7).

rcury
it of Me
Orbit of other planets 7° Orb

Figure 5.6 Cross-sectional view of the planetary orbits.

Figure 5.7 The orbit of Mercury is tilt-

ed, compared to the other planets. The
orbits of the rest of the planets are
nearly on the same plane.

Figure 5.8 Solar energy easily reaches the surface of Venus, however its radiation can-
not easily escape once inside the atmosphere.

54 ASTRONOMY
  Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, however, Venus' average surface
temperature is greater than that of Mercury. The reason for this is the
'Greenhouse Effect.' The dense atmosphere of Venus allows solar energy to
be transmitted and then traps it inside. This solar energy trapped in Venus'
atmosphere heats it, thus Venus is the hottest planet of the solar system. On
the other hand Mercury's atmosphere (very thin layer) is not able to trap solar
energy (Figure 5.8).
 Ganymede (the satellite of Jupiter) and Titan (the satellite of Saturn) are the Figure 5.9 The planet, Mercury, is
two largest satellites in the solar system. They are even larger than Mercury smaller than the satellites, Ganymede
(Figure 5.9). and Titan of Jupiter and Saturn,
respectively. The diameters are shown
under each object.

 All the planets revolve around

the Sun in the same direc-
tion. The direction of rotation
of the planets (around their
rotation axes) are also the
same, except for Venus which
rotates in the opposite direc-
tion.
 We have learned that the
Jovian planets are gaseous,
that is, they have no solid sur-
face. Moreover Saturn has a
very low density, less than 1,
which is even less dense than
water. This means that if there
were a sea large enough,
Saturn would float on it easily
without sinking (Figure 5.10).

Figure 5.10 An imaginary illustration of Saturn floating in a very large sea.

The Solar System 55

 The relationship between the Sun and the Earth is so convenient that life on Earth thrives.
The Solar System consists of the Sun, eight planets, asteroids, comets, satellites, and interplanetary dust.
The raw material of the solar system was a huge cloud of gas and dust. This cloud compressed and
turned into the members of our solar system.
The largest object in the solar system is the sun with more than 99% of the total mass. The planets,
asteroids and comets revolve around the Sun.
The semi-major axis of Earth is used as a unit of length called the astronomical unit (AU) for measure-
ments in the solar system. One AU is about 150 million kilometres. The distances involved in our solar
system are very small compared to those of the entire Universe. The AU is not a useful unit of length for
distances out of our solar system; larger units of distances (light-year, parsec) are needed.
The egiht planets of our solar system can be classified into two groups; terrestrial planets (the inner
four planets), Jovian planets (next four from inner to outer). Planets in the same group have similar
properties.
Asteroids are small, metallic, rocky objects, which revolve around the Sun in an orbit between that of
Mars and Jupiter.
Comets have highly elongated orbits. The most popular comet is the one named after its discover-
er, Edmund Halley. Halley's comet revolves around the Sun with a period of about 76 years.
Satellites are objects that revolve around the planets, not the Sun. Mercury and Venus do not have
satellites, whereas other planets have at least one satellite.

1. What does the solar system consist of? 6. Where are the asteroids located?

2. Which is the dominant body in the solar system and 7. What is the name, of the most famous comet?
why?

3. What is the age of the solar system? 8. Which planets do not have satellites?

4. Explain the Astronomical Unit (AU) of distance. 9. Which planet is the hottest on average? Why?

5. What are the planets of the solar system from the

innermost to the outermost? 10. Which planetary satellites are larger than mercury?

56 ASTRONOMY
 The largest member of the solar system is the Sun which contains
more than 99% of the total mass of the solar system. It is the only
star, and by far the largest member of the solar system.Thus, it dom-
inates all the other members of the solar system. Since it dominates
the rest of the solar system, we cannot consider the Sun as an ordi-
nary member of the solar system, we must study it separately.

6.1 GENERAL PROPERTIES OF

THE SUN
The Sun is unique in our solar system, since it is a star.
However there are billions of stars in our galaxy, the
Milky Way, and billions of galaxies each containing bil-
lions of stars. Its properties, which include mass, tem-
perature and luminosity make the Sun an ordinary
star. If we study the Sun we will gain a basic knowl-
edge about the general properties of other stars.
More than 73% of the mass of the Sun is hydrogen,
the remaining mass is composed of 25% helium and
the remaining 2% of the mass is composed of carbon,
iron, oxygen, nitrogen and many other elements. This
composition of elements is the same as that of the plan-
ets, indicating that the entire solar system was formed from
the same material.
The surface temperature of the Sun is 5600 ºK while it reaches
15.000.000 ºK at the core. The thermal pressure is also very high at
the core, giving rise to very high densities in this region of more than 100

58 ASTRONOMY
g/cm3 while the Sun itself only has an average density of 1.4. Despite the high
pressure, the Sun is not solid; it remains gaseous, since the temperature at the
core is also very high. This high pressure however, does cause the atoms (com-
pletely ionised at the core and partially ionised at the surface) to exert an outward
force upon each other. For the Sun to be held together an equal but opposite force
balances this outward force. This equal but opposite force is the gravitational force
which acts to pull the atoms towards the centre. The equilibrium between gravita-
tional force and the pressure is called hydrostatic equilibrium. Deeper into the Sun
the amount of material available increases, thus, gravitational force increases, but
the pressure also increases in the same proportion. As a result this equilibrium is
maintained everywhere inside the Sun. Hydrostatic equilibrium is vital for a star to
survive. The life of a star would end unless this equilibrium was maintained. This will
be explained more clearly in the life stories of the stars.
The brightness of the Sun makes everything in the sky clear. Nothing can shine
more brightly than the Sun in the daytime. What makes the Sun emit this much
light? Are there any other objects which are as bright as, or brighter than the Sun?
The luminosity (described in chapter 3) of the Sun is about 3.8 1026 J/s. A 100
watt light bulb emits 100 J/s. Thus, the energy emitted by the Sun in 1 second, is
enough to allow 8 000 of these light bulbs to have shone since the beginning of
the universe.

6.2 WHERE DOES THIS MUCH ENERGY

COME FROM?
The energy of the Sun is produced in its core as a result of nuclear reactions tak-
ing place there. High temperatures and pressures cause nuclear reactions to
occur simultaneously and vast amounts of energy are generated. The core is at
the centre of the Sun and has a radius of 25% of the sun's radius (Figure 6.1).

Photosphere

Radiative zone
25% of R

Core
100% of R
85% of R

convective zone
Figure 6.1 Energy, which is produced in
the Core, is transmitted to the surface by
the radiative and convective zones.

The Sun 59
 Surface Thus, a radiative zone extends from 25% of the radius of the Sun
up to 85% of its radius. A convective zone then extends from the
end of the radiative zone almost up until the surface of the Sun.
There is a very thin final layer which extends right up onto the
sun's surface called the photosphere.
Most of the energy is created by -rays which are generated in the
core. These very energetic rays can penetrate through the radia-
Core tive zone, convective zone, and then photosphere and travel out-
side the surface of the Sun itself.
The rays travel in random directions in the radiative zone. Each
photon is absorbed (recall that the density is very high so there
are an enormous number of atoms per unit volume) and then re-
emitted in a very short time (it is impossible to measure this short
Figure 6.2 Gamma rays follow a completely random path
from core to surface. a time). Fortunately the direction of reemission is also random
(Figure 6.2). Randomly directed re-emission causes the photon
to be absorbed and emitted many times (it is impossible to count
Photosphere
or to express this number, it can only be described as countless.
Cool The radius of the Sun is about 700 000 km and it takes less than
molecule
3 seconds for electromagnetic radiation to travel this distance
normally, however, the vast amount of random absorptions and
re-emissions results in gamma rays taking thousands of years to
Radiative Hot
reach the surface of the Sun. By this time the highly energetic -
Zone molecule rays, lose most of their energy, and have turned into visible rays
on the surface of the Sun. Now, since -rays are much more ener-
getic than visible light rays, the energy lost is converted into heat
Core
energy inside the Sun. This is the source of the high temperature
Convective of the Sun, which heats our solar system and our Earth.
Zone
The convective zone has this name because it transmits the
Figure 6.3 A hot molecule, which is close to the radiative gamma ray photons by convection. The deeper, hotter gas flows
zone changes place with a cool molecule, which is close to
the photosphere.
towards the outer, cooler gas (Figure 6.3). Convection currents
cause a phenomenon called granulation on the surface of the
Sun (Figure 6.4).

The Proton-Proton Chain Reaction

Energy is said to be produced in the core by nuclear reactions. In
nuclear reactions, it is the nucleus of an atom which undergoes
reactions rather than the electron clouds of atoms which react in
chemical reactions. The force holding protons and neutrons
together is much greater than the force which confines electrons
to their orbits, this is because nuclear reactions involve very high
energy inputs or outputs. There are two types of nuclear reactions:
fusion and fission reactions. In nuclear fusion reactions small
nuclei combine to form a larger nucleus and fission reactions
cause a large nucleus to be separated into two or more small
nuclei. Inside the Sun's core fusion reactions generate the energy.
Figure 6.4 Granules on the solar surface. Four hydrogen nuclei combine to form one helium nucleus.

60 ASTRONOMY
The mass of the product is 0.993 of the mass of the tants. The remaining 0.007
of the material is converted into energy according to Einstein's famous formula:

E = mc2

For example, one gram of hydrogen is converted into 0.993 grams of helium. The
remaining 0.007 grams is converted into energy. By applying E = mc2 the ener-
gy radiated by 1 gram of hydrogen is found to be:
E = (7  10-6 kg) (3  108 m/s) = 6.3  1011J
This much energy is sufficient to allow a 100 watt light bulb to shine for 200 years.

6.3 SOLAR ATMOSPHERE

The solar atmosphere consists of several layers the innermost of which is called
the photosphere. The photosphere has an average temperature of about 5 000-
6 000 K. From the core of the Sun up until the photosphere, the temperature
decreases from 15 million K to 6 000 K. Within the photosphere, however, the
temperature actually starts to increase again. As we travel outwards from the sur-
face, the temperature increases from 6 000K up to 10 000 K. The layer just over
the photosphere is called the chromosphere and within it there is a more radical
temperature increase as we travel outwards right up to the corona. Here the tem-
perature is 1 to 2 million degrees. The corona does not have a regular shape
(Figures 6.5 and 6.6), its density is very low, in general, and is even lower in some
regions called coronal holes, due to the effects of the Sun's magnetic field.
Coronal holes appear dark in photographs of corona.

Figure 6.5 In a total solar eclipse the corona can be Figure 6.6 The coronal layer of the solar atmosphere.
clearly observed.

The Sun 61
 Figure 6.7 A photograph filtered to ob- Figure 6.8 An x-ray photograph, which
serve the red emission line of hydrogen. allows the Coronal layer of the Sun to be
observed.

Using different filters allows us to observe different layers of the Sun. The chro-
mosphere, for example, strongly emits the red line of hydrogen (6 563 K). Only the
chromosphere would be seen if a filter, which only allows this wavelength to pass
through, is used (Figure 6.7). The corona emits x-rays, because of its very high
temperature; thus x-ray photos should be taken to observe the corona layer of the
solar atmosphere (Figure 6.8).

Figure 6.9 Observing the edge of the

disc of the Sun at a small angle. .

Recalling Kirchoff's 3rd rule of spectra:

 A cool gas absorbs light at specific wavelengths and forms an absorption
spectrum when it is placed in front of a continuous spectral source. Dark
lines are produced on a bright background.
The photosphere absorbs light at specific wavelengths and forms absorption spec-
tra with the Sun. The continuous radiation is created in the core (hot and dense)
and the photosphere, (which is a relatively cool gas layer) absorbs several wave-
lengths from this continuous radiation. Absorbing light at specific wavelengths
causes spectra to appear dark at those wavelengths. These dark lines are the
Fraunhofer lines which we looked at previously.
One more interesting property of the photosphere is a phenomenon called limb
darkening. Looking perpendicularly at the centre of the Sun while the angle decreas-
Figure 6.10 The edge of the disc of the
Sun appears darker due to the 'limb es at the edge (Figure 6.9). The edge of the photosphere looks darker due to the
darkening' effect. oblique angle of incidence. This phenomenon is called limb darkening (Figure

62 ASTRONOMY
 Figure 6.11 Point ‘b’ rotates faster than point ‘a’ and ‘c’.

6.4 SOLAR WIND

The Sun rotates differentially. This differential rotation of the Sun means that the
rotation period of the Sun is not the same at all latitudes. The equator rotates in
25 days while the rotation period reaches 35 days near the poles (Figure 6.11).
This differential rotation generates the solar magnetic field.
The magnetic field of the Sun causes charged particles to be accelerated away
from the surface. These charged particles spread out over the corona and pass
through coronal holes to reach the far edges of the solar system. As they acceler-
ate to far distances away from the Sun their speed increases up to 400km/s. The
speed of the solar wind has its maximum value when it passes through the Earth.
The solar wind, that is, the very fast charged particles thrown out from the Sun,
would be very hazardous to life on Earth if there were no Van Allen radiation
belts. Van Allen belts are two zones surrounding the Earth, consisting of charged Figure 6.12 An illustration of Van Allen
particles and ions (Figure 6.12). Van Allen belts keep our Earth safe from solar radiation belts.
wind and the dangerous radiation they spurn.

6.5 SUN SPOTS

Another effect of the magnetic field of the Sun are Sunspots (Figure 6.13). The
magnetic field force cancels the convection forces in some regions. These regions
are not heated by convection as well as other regions. These relatively cold regions
are called Sunspots. Sunspots appear dark and can even be observed with the
naked eye. The reason why Sunspots appear darker is that they are colder than
their surroundings. Recall that, according to the Stefan-Boltzmann law, (light
intensity is proportional to the fourth power of temperature), thus cooler regions
emit less light. Sunspots have temperatures of about 4 000 K which is quite low in
comparison with their surroundings of about 6 000 K. The ratio of these two tem-
peratures is 2/3. The intensity, which is the fourth power of this ratio is then about
1/5. This means the regions surrounding Sunspots emit light of 5 times more Figure 6.13 The dark regions observed
intensity than the Sunspots themselves. on the Sun's surface are sunspots.

The Sun 63
 The shape and number of Sunspots are not constant, they change with time.
However, huge explosions called solar flares occur (Figure 6.14) when the number
of Sunspots reaches a maximum value.

Figure 6.14 Photographs of solar flares taken from two different directions.

The Sun is the only star of our solar system. It is the closest star to Earth, which is why it is the star,
about which we have the most detailed information.
Research into the Sun provide clues about other stars as well. What we learn about the Sun soon
becomes a key to the other stars.
More than 73% of the mass of the Sun is hydrogen, 25% is helium and the remaining 2% is composed
of carbon, iron, oxygen, nitrogen and many other elements.
Equilibrium between the gravitational force and the pressure is called hydrostatic equilibrium. This equi-
librium is maintained everywhere inside the Sun. Hydrostatic equilibrium is vital for a star to survive.
The Suns energy source is obtained from a nuclear fusion reaction called the proton-proton chain reac-
tion in which hydrogen atoms combine to form helium.
The Solar atmosphere consist of several layers: the photosphere, the chromosphere, and the corona.
The Sun rotates differentially. This causes solar winds, which are extremely hazardous to life on
Earth. Fortunately, Earth has natural belts of radiation to protect its atmosphere called the Van Allen
radiation belts.

64 ASTRONOMY
 1. What are the extraordinary properties of the Sun 5. Which nuclear reaction takes place in the core of the
compared to the other stars? Sun?

2. What is the chemical composition of the Sun? 6. What are the layers of the Sun and solar atmosphere?

3. What is hydrostatic equilibrium and what is the 7. What causes the solar wind?
importance of hydrostatic equilibrium in the interior
of the Sun? 8. What causes sunspots?

4. How can the Sun emit such a massive amount of

energy, how is it produced?

The Sun 65
 What we learnt about the 7.1 CLASSIFIC ATIONS OF STARS
Sun made it clear that The properties of a star include its brightness, luminosity, temperature, size,
the Sun is not similar to the other magnetic field, density, age, and many other properties. All these properties,
members of the solar system. however, depend upon its initial mass and chemical composition (Russell-
Vogt Theorem). The chemical composition of a star changes with time
The Sun is unique because it is the depending on the nuclear reactions which occur inside it. One of these
only star in our solar system and nuclear reactions is the proton-proton chain reaction which we studied in the
it dominates the system. 6th chapter. Whether a particular type of nuclear reaction occurs inside a star
There is only one star (the Sun) depends upon its internal temperature and pressure, in turn the latter two
in our solar system, however, there parameters depend upon the initial mass. So the chemical composition of a
star depends strictly on its initial mass, assuming that all stars have the same
are billions of stars in the universe. chemical composition initially. In conclusion properties of stars depend upon
their initial mass.
There are similarities in the Thus stars are classified according to their initial masses:
properties of a group of stars
a) Stars which have masses close to the mass of the Sun (Sun-like stars),
while there may be huge
differences between the b) Stars which are at least a few times more massive than the Sun (Massive
properties of any two groups. Stars),
In this chapter we will study the
origin of these properties so that 7.2 LIVES OF STARS
we can group the stars We have grouped the stars into two categories according to their initial
according to their properties. masses. Each group has a different life cycle.
We will then discuss the life cycle We call a star 'living', if there are nuclear reactions occurring inside the star
of stars and look at and its life ends when its fuel is totally expended. We are interested in how
what happens to them the stars use these fuels. How much time it takes for a star to burn its fuel,
after they die. what happens after this, and what the properties of the remnants are.
All stars initially contain only hydrogen. At the beginning no other material in
the chemical make-up of a star can be found. The amount of matter (hydro-
gen) determines the strength of the gravitational force. The molecules

66 ASTRONOMY
attract each other inwards due to gravity thus the star is compressed and so gets REACTIONS FUEL PRODUCT
smaller. As the star contracts its temperature increases under the influence of the
Proton-Proton Hydrogen Helium
gravitational force, the gravitational force is equal to the force due to the gas pres-
sure. An increase in temperature and a decrease in volume causes a massive pres- CNO Cycle Hydrogen Helium
sure rise within the star (recall that PV=nRT). We have mentioned that an equilib-
Triple Alpha Helium Carbon
rium process occurs due to these phenomena (hydrostatic equilibrium) in chap-
ter 6. The temperature and the volume reach a value such that the gravitational Alpha Capture Carbon Oxygen
force and the force due to the thermal gas pressure are equal to each other. This Alpha Capture Nitrogen Oxygen
state corresponds to a very high temperature and pressure. Thus very suitable
Alpha Capture Oxygen Neon
conditions for nuclear reactions are provided. Nuclear reactions cause small
nuclei to combine to form a heavier nucleus. In the proton-proton chain reaction
4 hydrogen nuclei combine to form 1 helium nucleus for example. Further nuclear Table 7.1 Nuclear reactions taking pla-
ce inside stars: their fuels and their
reactions can take place under higher temperatures and pressures. These reac-
products.
tions cause heavier nuclei to combine further (Table 7.1). The required tempera-
ture increases with increasing mass of the fuel at each step of the reaction.
Now let's take a look at how each group of stars evolve, which reactions take place
and what happens after the evolution ends.
a. Sun-like Stars
All stars in this group evolve like the Sun. Suitable conditions lead to the proton-
proton chain reaction occurring and hydrogen is converted into helium. During
this process the temperature and pressure increases. It takes about 10 billion
years for hydrogen in the core to be expended. The star spends this time interval
in the main sequence (Figure 7.1).
After the hydrogen in the core is used up; the hydrogen in the shell outside the
core starts to react. The core contracts while the hydrogen shell expands due to
these nuclear reactions. The star moves to the upper-right of the H-R diagram.
That is, the star expands into a red giant (Figure 7.2).
Visual absolute magnitude

Visual absolute magnitude

Spectral type Spectral type

Figure 7.1 The star is in the main sequence. Figure 7.2 The star expands and moves to the upper-
right of the H-R diagram, following a path similar to that
in the figure.

The Stars 67
 The star gets hotter; hot enough for the triple-alpha reaction to
occur. At this point helium undergoes nuclear reactions and is
converted into carbon. After the reactions in the core begin again,
the outer shell contracts and the star moves to the left of the main
sequence in the H-R diagram (Figure 7.3).
Visual absolute magnitude

When the helium is expended in the core the shell reactions

become important. Helium undergoes reactions in a shell just out-
side the core and hydrogen undergoes reactions in a shell outside
the helium reaction shell. The outer layers start to expand and the
star moves to the upper-right once more in the H-R diagram
(Figure 7.4).
The star loses its outer layers due to external effects. The core
continues shrinking while losing its outer layers until it becomes
degenerate. Thus, the outer layers have been loosened leaving a
hot, degenerate core which is called a white dwarf (Figure 7.5).
We can conclude that the remnant of a Sun-like star is a white
Spectral type dwarf.

Figure 7.3 The star moves to the left of the H-R diagram. b. Massive Stars
Here the first stage is again hydrogen burning and the star is in
the main sequence during hydrogen burning.
These two properties are the same as Sun-like stars. However,
there are differences with the evolution of Sun-like stars. The
first difference is that reactions take place faster. More mass
causes greater gravitational forces and thus higher tempera-
Visual absolute magnitude
Visual absolute magnitude

Spectral type Spectral type

Figure 7.4 The star again expands and moves to the upper- Figure 7.5 Following the path shown in the figure, the star turns
right of the H-R diagram. into a white dwarf.

68 ASTRONOMY
tures and much faster reactions. As a result the star does not spend as much
time in the main sequence. It may take only several million years for a massive

Initial composition
star to burn all of its hydrogen. The time interval for the hydrogen burning stage
decreases with increasing mass.
H
Another difference is that hydrogen is converted into helium by a different nuclear
reaction called the CNO cycle, in massive stars (while it is converted via the proton-
proton chain in Sun-like stars). These two reactions will be explained more clearly.
In Sun-like stars only hydrogen and helium burning occurs while additional reac-
tions occur in massive stars. These additional reactions cause heavier elements
to be formed. Sun-like stars can burn hydrogen to form helium and can burn H
helium to form carbon while massive stars can burn carbon and even heavier ele-
ments like oxygen, and silicon. He

Hydrogen burning will continue in an outer shell after the hydrogen source is
expended in the core. Once the hydrogen is gone from the core it burns helium
into carbon and an outer shell burns hydrogen into helium. When helium is also
finished in the core, the core will start to burn carbon into oxygen while a shell

Composition of remnant
just outside the core burns helium and another outer shell burns hydrogen and
H
so on. Each reaction in the core will continue in an outer shell and a new shell is
produced at each step (Figure 7.6). He
Although the star stays in the main sequence for the hydrogen burning stage at
each of the following reaction stages the star moves to the left in the H-R dia-
gram, then whenever the fuel is completely burned in an outer shell the star C
moves to the upper right of the H-R diagram (Figure 7.7).
The number of steps is determined by the initial mass of the star. The more mas-
H
sive the star, the more reaction stages there are. More stages mean that heavier He
elements are formed. C

Ne
O
Ca
H
Visual absolute magnitude

He
He
C
O

Ne

Figure 7.6 A new shell is formed on

completion of each nuclear reaction in
Spectral type the core, from the set of nuclear reac-
tions possible.
Figure 7.7 A new element is formed on completion of each nuclear reaction.

The Stars 69
 c. Nuclear Reactions
The Proton-proton Chain, CNO Cycle triple reactions can be summarised as follow:

12
C (p, g) 13
N
b+ v
g
(p, a) b+ t1/2=1.6 ´ 9.97 m 1
H
10 years
9
1

1 second
15 13 1
N C 1
H 2
7 1
H 3
b+ (p, g) T > 1.6 ´ 10 K 1 He
H 1 2
T > M Solar Masses 1
H
1 106 years
14
15
C (p, g) N 1
1
H 3
H 1 3 2
He
1
2 2
He
1 H
He 8
Be H 1
1 second
4 1
1
+g H
4 12
g 1

2 He C
6 v
4 b+
2 He

7.3 REMNANTS OF STARS

a. Chandrasekhar Limit
A star doesn't have to turn into a white dwarf after its life ends. Only some stars turn
into white dwarfs while others become different celestial objects. Again mass is
what determines what the remnant of a star will become. The Chandrasekhar limit
is about 1.4 times the solar mass. Up to this mass limit, a star ends its life as a white
dwarf. Stars which have mass greater than the Chandrasekhar limit don’t turn into
white dwarfs, they turn into other celestial objects. There may be an exception if a
star, which is only a few times heavier than the Chandrasekhar limit, loses too much
mass during its life cycle. These types of stars may also end their lives as white
dwarfs. The limit for these types of stars is about 10 solar masses.
A star which has a mass roughly between 10 and 20 solar masses is susceptible
to a supernova explosion and will turn into a Neutron Star.
Stars which have initial masses of more than 20 solar masses live much faster. They
complete all their reactions in a few hundred thousand years and then turn into
neutron stars. This type of neutron star is more massive than that produced by stars
having smaller masses, and may collapse further. Gravity is so great that in these
neutron stars hydrostatic equilibrium cannot be maintained. The result is a non-
stop collapse, producing one of the great mysteries of the universe; a black hole.
Now let's take a look at white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes.

b. White Dwarfs
White dwarfs are remnants of Sun-like stars consisting of degenerate matter inside
(helium and carbon generally) and a thin and dense gas layer outside. A typical
diameter of a white dwarf is similar to that of Earth while its mass is similar to that

70 ASTRONOMY
of the Sun; 1.4 solar masses at most. That is, the density of a white dwarf is very
high (about 106 g/cm3) compared with a living star. Since there are no nuclear
reactions occurring inside white dwarfs, they are faint objects in the night sky with
a luminosity of about 1031 erg/s.
One more striking property of white dwarfs is that they cannot expand by gaining
mass, instead they contract, thus their density increases. This is a property of
degenerate stars.
The luminosity of a white dwarf is not constant, but decreases over time. It cools
and becomes invisible (emits no visible light) in several billion years. Recall Wien's
law, that the temperature of an object determines the main wavelength of the radi-
ation it emits. The star is no longer a white dwarf but is called a black dwarf.
The name dwarf is given to these types of stars because of their very small diameters.
c. Neutron Stars
Neutron stars are remnants of stars with an initial mass of 10 to 20 solar masses.
They are smaller than white dwarfs (with dimensions of about 10 km) but they are
much heavier. The mass of a neutron star is always over the Chandrasekhar limit
(1.4 solar masses) and the mass can be as great as 3 solar masses. Such small
size and enormous mass causes an extremely high density inside a neutron star,
typical values being about 1014 g/cm3.
The resulting massive gravitational force can only be supported by degenerate
neutrons. Thus, neutron stars consist of degenerate neutrons in several layers of
increasingly heavier elements each of which is formed by a nuclear reaction dur-
ing the star's life-time. The formation of layers was studied previously. The outer-
most layer is the atmosphere which is several centimetres thick. The other layers
in order from outer to inner consist of a hydrogen layer, helium layer, carbon
layer… the number of layers increase depending upon the reactions which took
place in the core of the star. These layers are some metres thick. The innermost
layer is a degenerate, dense neutron gas layer. This innermost layer is also the
thickest layer with a radius of nearly 99.9 percent of the star's radius.
One more property of neutron stars that is quite amazing are their rotation periods.
Although neutron stars are very small compared with living stars they are still giant
objects which are capable of completing a whole revolution in 100 seconds.
Compare this with the rotation period of the earth which is 24 hours i.e. 86 400 sec-
onds. A neutron star, depending on its mass, can reach incredibly high angular
speeds and some neutron stars can rotate 1000 times per second.
d. Black Holes
The most massive stars, i.e. initially more than 20 solar masses; complete their life
as a black hole. The most important characteristic of black holes is their enormous
gravitational attraction for masses surrounding them. The gravitational force of a
black hole is so great that even the natural opposing forces from degenerate neu-
trons cannot overcome it, and this leads to the collapse of the star. The gravita-
tional pull of a black hole is so great that even light (photons) cannot escape.
After nuclear reactions finish burning all the fuel in the star's core and shells, the
huge amount of mass collapses continuously since nothing can balance its gravi-
tational force. This collapse gives rise to an even greater gravitational force and

The Stars 71
 smaller volume. Soon the star reaches such a volume-mass condition that even
photons are trapped by the gravity and cannot escape. No light (no photon) can
reach an observer from a black hole. This is why a black hole is black and why it
is called a black hole. At this point the radius of the star is called the Schwarzschild
radius.
If the radius of a remnant of a star is equal to or less than the Schwarzschild
radius, it is capable of trapping photons, in other words, it can become a black
hole. The Schwarzschild radius for the Sun is 3 km. If the Sun collapses to a radius
of 3 km, it will become a black hole. The Schwarzschild radius for Earth is 0.9 cm,
for a star which ends its life at 3 solar masses (which is generally enough for a star
to become a black hole) it is 9 km. This means a giant star which is 20 solar mass-
es initially collapses after nuclear reactions so much that its radius becomes only
3 km. Collapse is continuous and the dimensions get smaller and smaller over
time, finally it becomes a point mass. The special name for this type of black hole
is a singularity.
The massive gravity of the black hole not only traps the mass inside but also sucks
in the material surrounding it. The space and time around a black hole is distort-
ed and a mass affected by it is attracted with a gravitational force similar to that
of falling from a great height (Figure 7.8).

Figure 7.8 Gravitational field of a black-hole in space and time.

72 ASTRONOMY
 There are billions of stars in a single galaxy and there are billions of such galaxies in the universe.
The Sun is a star with ordinary properties, however, there are many stars which have extreme properties
compared to the Sun.
The properties and life cycle of a star depend on its initial mass. Stars can be classified according to their
initial masses: Stars with an initial mass close to that of the Sun (sun-like stars), stars with a mass of many
times greater than the Sun (massive stars). Each of these groups has a different life cycle.
Sun-like stars spend their first 10 billion years burning hydrogen into helium via the proton-proton chain
reaction. After all the hydrogen in the core has been expended, triple-alpha reactions take place. The rem-
nant of a sun-like star is a white dwarf.
The reactions in massive stars are very rapid compared to those of sun-like stars. That is why the life cycles
of massive stars are shorter than sun-like stars.
Hydrogen burning is carried out via the CNO cycle in massive stars. Helium is burned into carbon via triple
alpha reactions, just like sun-like stars. There are more reaction stages in massive stars, but they end rap-
idly compared with sun-like stars.
A star, which has an initial mass less than the Chandrasekhar limit, ends its life as a white dwarf. A star with
an initial mass of up to 20 times the solar mass ends its life as a neutron star. A star, with an initial mass
of more than 20 times the solar mass, ends its life as a black hole.
A white dwarf is a small star of diameter roughly equal to the diameter of the Earth, while its mass is about
the same size as the mass of the Sun.
A neutron star is much smaller than a white dwarf, but has a mass of about 3 times the solar mass,
resulting in an extremely high density, of about 1014 g/cm3.
If the radius of a star remnant is equal to or less than the Schwarzschild radius, its mass may collapse
uncontrollably to leave a black hole. The density of the remnant becomes so great that the gravitation
field surrounding it sucks in all matter in its region of space. Even light cannot escape the gravita-
tional field of a black hole.

1. Which property of a star is dominant? 4. Which reactions take place on massive stars?

5. How does the initial mass of a star affect the type of

2. How does the initial mass of a star affect its life cycle?
remnant the star leaves behind?

3. Which reactions take place on a sun-like star?

The Stars 73
 The Sun, 8.1 WHAT IS A GALAXY?
is just one of trillions of stars Each star has its own properties and lives its own life while at the same time it is
in the universe. also a member of a group which has its own rules. While a star is in motion the
group of stars to which it belongs is also undergoing rotation around a central
Stars exist in groups region (Figure 8.1). Studying galaxies will allow us to examine the group rules and
called clusters or properties of stars. In doing so we will find answers to questions such as: what is a
even in larger groups galaxy and, what are the properties of galaxies?
called galaxies. a)
Star clusters contain
several million stars at most.
On the other hand
a galaxy may contain
hundreds of billions of stars.
b) Star A
Star B

Star A

Star B
Star A
Star B

Figure 8.1 a) The individual motions of stars are random. b) However, the entire galaxy
is in a cyclical motion.

We learned about the properties of our Sun before looking at the properties of
stars in general. Now, we will first learn about the properties of our galaxy, the Milky
Way, and then look at the general properties of galaxies.

74 ASTRONOMY
8.2 THE MILKY WAY
The Milky Way is our galaxy, in which our Earth is located. It is a galaxy contain-
ing roughly 4 1011 stars. It has a spherical centre, a halo (a larger spherical shell)
all around the centre, and spiral arms extending from the centre, forming a plane.
Inside the centre is a smaller spherical region called the nucleus (Figure 8.2). The
cross-sectional shape of the Milky Way is much like a disk (Figure 8.3). The cen-
tre consists of old stars while the spiral arms are formed by relatively younger
stars. The oldest stars in the galaxy are located in the halo.

Halo Nucleus
Central region

Disk Nucleus Disk

Spiral arms

Figure 8.3 a) A side view photograph

Globular
clusters of a spiral galaxy. b) A side view illus-
tration of a spiral galaxy.
Figure 8.2 a) A top view photograph of a spiral galaxy. b) A top view illustration of a
spiral galaxy.

The star density in the central region is much higher than that in the spiral arms.
That is, in a given volume, there are more stars in the central region than in the
arms. In contrast it is thought that, the density of stars between the arms is equal to
the density of stars in the arms. It is difficult to observe as many stars between the
arms as within the arms, since stars in the arms are younger and brighter therefore
they are visible at large distances. However, it is more difficult to observe old stars
because they are dimmer. The total mass of the galaxy is about 1012 solar masses.
The dimensions of the Milky Way are extremely large compared with the dimen-
sions of the solar system. Furthermore, the nearest star is about 4.3 light year (ly)
away while the diameter of the disk which is formed by our Milky Way is 100 000
ly across. The unit of light year is not even a convenient unit for such great dis-
tances. Thus, another unit is the -kpc- for galactic scales. The abbreviation kpc
stands for kiloparsecs or 1000 parsecs (pc). Remember, 1pc is approximately 3.26
ly, so that 1kpc is 3 260 ly. The radius of the disk of the Milky Way, thus, roughly
equals 15 000 pc (15 kpc).
(50 000 ly)(1/3 260 kpc/ly) 15 kpc

The Milky Way and Galaxies 75

 The Sun is located in one of the spiral arms of the galaxy at a distance of about
8 kpc from the galactic centre (Figure 8.4). The solar system is rotating around the
galaxy with an incredibly high speed. The speed of the Sun around the galaxy is over
200 kilometres per second. The period of rotation of the Sun around the galaxy is
roughly 250 million years. The other stars in the spiral arms also rotate around the
galaxy with their own rotation periods. Their motion is differential, in other words, all
the stars have their own independent velocities. In the spiral arms, the velocity of a
star decreases with increasing distance from the galactic centre (Figure 8.5). Stars
Figure 8.4 The position of the Sun in in the central region, however, do not move differentially, since this region forms an
the Milky Way galaxy. a) Side view b) almost rigid body, thus rotation periods of stars inside the central region are almost
Top-view the same (Figure 8.6). Velocity increasing with distance away from the centre.

b)

Sun

a)

d = 8 kpc
Sun

d
d = 8 kpc

a) Star B b) Star B

Orbit of star B Orbit of star B

Star A Star A
a
Orbit of star A
Orbit of star A

Figure 8.5 The velocity of star B is lower than that of star A. Thus the angular velocity
of star A is greater than that of star B.

76 ASTRONOMY
a) b)
Star B

Orbit of star B Orbit of star B Star B

Star A Star A
a
Orbit of star A
Orbit of star A

Figure 8.6 The angular velocities of Star A and Star B are equal in the central region.

Example 8.1 T h e M i l k y Wa y

Calculate the period of rotation of the Sun, given that the speed of the Sun around the central region is 200km/s and the
distance from the galactic centre is roughly 8 kpc (1 km = 3.25 10 –14 pc).
Solution
By using the relation: 50265 pc
t=
t  x 6.5  10 12 pc / s

We can derive the period of the Sun by dividing the circum- t = 245 000 000 years
ference of the orbit by its velocity.
x 28000 pc

t 
 200 km / s 3.25 10 14 pc / km 

8.3 GALAXIES IN GENERAL

We have understood the huge dimensions of our galaxy. This has meant that we
have only observed other galaxies as fuzzy patches of cloud, since their brightness
is inversely proportional to their distance away. This reduced brightness directly
affects their resolution. This problem has prevented galaxies being discovered. In
the 1920's Edwin Hubble discovered that, what was known as Andromeda Nebula
(or cloud), was actually a very distant galaxy which is now called the Andromeda
galaxy. Galaxies consist of vast numbers of stars, nebulae (or clusters of stars), and
interstellar gas and dust. Some small galaxies may contain about 100 000 stars
while larger galaxies may contain up to 3 1012 stars.
Hubble classified galaxies according to their shapes:
a) Elliptical Galaxies: Elliptically shaped cross-sections. Contain old stars.

The Milky Way and Galaxies 77

 b) Spiral Galaxies: Spiral arms around a denser and more massive central region.
Contain both young and old stars.
c) Irregular Galaxies: Do not have a similar shape to any other group.
Hubble classified each type into sub-classes so that:
Elliptic galaxies are arranged from E0 to E7 where E corresponds to the word ellip-
tic and the subscripts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 refer to the ratio between the minor axis
and the major axis of the galaxy. If the galaxy is spherical, that is, its major and
minor axes are equal, then the subclass of the galaxy will be E0. If the minor axis
is 3/10 of the major axis, then the subclass will be E7.
Figure 8.7 The shapes of various sub- Spiral galaxies belong to one of 3 groups which depend on the properties of the
types of galaxies are illustrated above. galaxies 'arms'. If the galaxy has no spiral arms only a disk, it will be called an S0
galaxy. If the galaxy is disk-like and has spiral arms then its subclass will be Sa,
Sb, Sc. The third subclass is Barred Spiral symbols SBa, SBb, SBc. The subscripts
a,b and c are determined by the size of the nucleus and whether it has 'opened' or
'closed' arms. The subclass a are galaxies with the largest nuclei and closed arms
whereas c means the galaxy has a small nucleus, and open arms (Figure 8.7).
The third group of galaxies are irregular galaxies. There are two subclasses of
irregular groups: ‘Ir I’ which are probably spiral galaxies, but have an ambivalent
shape and ‘Ir II’ which do not fit into any galaxy shape.
As mentioned above, some irregular galaxies have similar shapes to spiral galaxies.
It is thought that the reason for this is that some of these are actually two galaxies
passing through one another. Most of the volume that a spiral galaxy occupies is
actually free of stars. Thus, it is possible for any two galaxies to pass through one
another with only rare collisions between stars. Any two spiral galaxies which are
passing through one another may be observed as an irregular galaxy.
The range of luminosities of galaxies is between 106 to 1012 whereas the range of
their diameters is between 1 kpc and 100 kpc. Spiral galaxies are most generally
observed to have a luminosity between 1010 and 1012 while elliptical galaxies are
observed to have a wider range of luminosity. There are many variables that can
be used to define galaxies. In order to specify the properties of a galaxy, scientists
generally use their mass-luminosity ratio, that is, the mass of the galaxy divided by
its luminosity compared with that of the Sun. Mass-luminosity ratios of elliptical
galaxies are larger than those of spiral galaxies. That is, elliptical galaxies are dom-
inated by the mass of stars and interstellar media. The ratio is at least 10 for a spi-
ral galaxy and may be more than 100 for an elliptical galaxy.

Example 8.2 M a s s - Lu m i n o s i t y r a t i o

Calculate the mass-luminosity ratio of a galaxy, the luminosity of which is 8 1042 erg/s if the mass of the galaxy is 2 1044
g. (Solar mass, M = 2  10 33 kg; the sun's luminosity, L = 4 1033 erg/s.)
Solution
Mass ty in terms of solar units.
We are supposed to find in terms of solar
Lu min osity 2  10 44
Mass = 
units. thus we need to express units of mass and luminosi- 2  10 33

78 ASTRONOMY
 Mass =1011 M M 1011
 M /L
L 2  10 9
8  10 42
Luminosity = L M
4  10 33  50 M / L
L
Luminosity = 2 109 L

The Milky Way is the galaxy in which the Sun is located; it contains roughly 400 billion stars. The
Milky Way has a spherical centre and spiral arms extending from the centre to form a plane.
The centre consists of old stars, while the spiral arms are formed from relatively younger stars. The
radius of the disc of the Milky Way roughly equals 15 kpc. The Sun is located about 8kpc out from the
galactic centre. Apart from stars at the centre of the galaxy, all other stars in the galaxy exhibit differ-
ential motion.
Hubble classified galaxies according to their shapes: elliptical galaxies, spiral galaxies, and irregular
shaped galaxies. Each group of galaxies is also classified into sub-classes.

1. How many stars are there in the Milky Way galaxy? Is 4. Can we individually detect the stars in a galaxy other
this number of stars normal for a galaxy or is it an than the Milky Way; why or why not?
extraordinarily large number? 5. What are the types of galaxies, classified according
to their shapes?
2. What are the regions of the galaxy?

3. Compare the distance of the Sun from the nearest

star and the size of the Milky Way.

The Milky Way and Galaxies 79

 Up to now, we have considered 9.1 NOT NEBULAE BUT GALAXIES
all the members of the universe During the first decades of the 20th century, scientists made careful observa-
from the smallest units to the tions on nebulae, which are clouds of interstellar media. They found that they
largest groups. Now we will were receding from us. The most impressive discovery was made by Edwin
Hubble in 1924. He carried out observations on the fuzzy light source in the
consider the universe as a whole. constellation of Andromeda. Up until that time the light was thought to belong
The most popular and powerful to nebulae however, Hubble's observations showed that it was actually a galaxy
theory about the history of the just like the Milky Way. He also calculated its velocity of recession.

universe is the big-bang theory. Since that time, a lot of research has gone into finding galaxies. Many new
galaxies were discovered, but the discovery of the relationship between the
According to this theory the uni-
speeds of these galaxies and their distances away from Earth has been more
verse started life as a point, the important than the discovery of these new galaxies themselves. In 1929
expansion of this point caused it Hubble made his second striking discovery: the receding speed of a galaxy is
directly proportional to its distance away from us. That is if a galaxy is twice as
to reach the vast dimensions that
far from us compared to a second galaxy, it will recede with a velocity of twice
we observe today. the second one. The extremely important result that was derived from this
observation was that the universe itself is actually expanding.

80 ASTRONOMY
 Example 9.1 Ve l o c i t y- D i s t a n c e - Ra t i o o f G a l a x i e s

The receding velocity of the galaxy Andromeda from the Milky way (ignoring its orbital velocity) is roughly 40 km/s. The dis-
tance away from Earth of Andromeda (M31) is 2.3 million light years.
Calculate the receding velocity of the Pinwheel (M101) galaxy whose distance away from Earth is 3800kpc (1 kpc=3260 ly).
Solution
v 40 km / s v
for M31 :  6  1.74 10 5 km /(s ly) thus, for M101 : 1.74 10 5 km /(s ly)

d 2.3  10 ly d

ratios should be the same for each galaxy according to v = (1.74  10–5 km/s·ly)(d)
d
Hubble’s discovery: v = (1.74  10–5 km/s·ly)(3 800 kpc)(3 260 ly/kpc)

v v = 216 km/s
H  cons tan t
d

9.2 HUBBLE'S CONSTANT

Hubble summarised his work on a graph which showed the relationship between
velocity and distance. The modern version of this graph is redshift versus apparent
magnitude.
The slope of the graph provides information on how velocity increases with distance.
Velocity
Slope =
Distance
The slope of the graph is called Hubble's constant and is represented by the sym-
bol H:
v = Hd

v: velocity of recession in km/s

d: distance to galaxy in megaparsecs (Mpc). (1 Mpc = 1 000 000 parsecs)
H: Hubble's constant in km /(s · Mpc)
This is one of the most important discoveries ever made. Starting with this prop-
erty, the history of the universe can be derived. Furthermore, the most reliable pre-
dictions about the past and future of the universe can be derived using Hubble's
constant. Now let's take a brief look at what the expansion of the universe tells us.
The recession of the galaxies indicates that the universe is actually expanding.By
looking back into the past we conclude that the universe was a single point at the
beginning. It has reached its current dimensions by continuous expansion. We will
look at the development of the universe in this chapter.
As a starting point, let's look at how Hubble's constant is used to calculate the age
of the universe. The famous relationship between velocity and position is:
t – t0 = (x – x0) / v

t = x /v

The Big Bang and Universal Expansion 81

 t: time interval
x: change in position
v: velocity
If we substitute the data in the formula:
Assuming the Earth and the observed galaxy were at the same point in the begin-
ning, we take the value of x0 as 0 so x is the position of the galaxy today,

With the same logic t0 = 0 is the time of birth of the universe and t is the age of
the universe.
v is the receding velocity of the galaxy relative to us.
Using the relationships,
d
v = Hd and t=
v
together; we can express the age of the universe as:
1
t=
H
t is the age of the universe, in seconds.
H is the Hubble’s constant, in km/s·Mpc.
Hubble calculated the value of the constant as 540. There were some external
effects that Hubble didn't take into account, which makes the value that Hubble
calculated for the constant inaccurate. However, Hubble's discovery was so great
that studies into the motion of galaxies extended deeper into the universe. The dis-
tance versus velocity relationship was confirmed by observations on more and
more distant galaxies. The ratio between velocity and distance was redefined with
more accurate measurements. It is known today that the value of Hubble's con-
stant is between 50 and 100. Moreover, even today the search for the most accu-
rate value of Hubble's constant continues. The Hubble Space Telescope, for
example is still searching deep into the universe for a more accurate value of
Hubble's constant.

Example 9.2 Hubble’s Constant

Calculate the age of the universe (1 Mpc=3.08 1019 km)

a) If Hubble's constant is 50 b) If Hubble's constant is 100
Solution
1 3.08  1019 3.08  1019
age  s  Mpc / km  s b) age
  s 3.08  1017 s
H H 100

3.08  1019  0.97  1010 years

age
a) age
  s 6.16  1017 s
50
 1.95  1010 years
age

82 ASTRONOMY
The result shows that the uncertainty in Hubble's constant directly affects estima-
tions of the age of the universe. Using more accurate information the age of the
universe is calculated to be 1.8 1010 years.
An observer should take into account that motion of a galaxy is not the result of
universal expansion. It is true that all galaxies have velocities due to universal
expansion but they also have orbital motions within a cluster. The velocity due to
universal expansion of distant galaxies is so great that (remember the farther the
galaxy, the higher the velocity) the effect of orbital velocity is negligible for very dis-
tant galaxies. On the other hand we have to take orbital velocities into account for
closer galaxies. Moreover, Andromeda (M31) -the nearest galaxy- is not receding
but approaching us at a speed of 100km/s.

9.3 COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND

The conclusion to Hubble's discovery is that there was nothing at the beginning,
then somehow an explosion occurred at a time we can call zero (t0=0). The entire
universe was a point at the beginning. All the matter in the universe was com-
pressed into a point. It started to expand because of an incredible explosion. This
expansion is still continuing throughout the entire universe.
The point, at which all the material of the entire universe was compressed, was very
hot with a temperature of 1032 degrees about 10–43 seconds after the explosion. It
is impossible to make an accurate estimation of temperature within a shorter time
interval than this. There was strong radiation -in the form of very energetic gamma
rays- due to the extremely high temperature and pressure in the beginning. The tem-
perature of the radiation decreased with increasing volume, however, this radiation
should still exist uniformly in the universe, if the big bang theory is correct. Taking
several variables into account, and making complex calculations, George Gamow
showed in 1948 that the temperature of the radiation should be about 2.7 K today.
Substituting this temperature into Wien's Law:
T= 2.9 10–3 m · K
 = (2.9 10–3 m · K)/(T) = (2.9  10–3 m · K)/(2.7 K)
 = 1.1 10–3 m
the wavelength of universal radiation should be about 1.1 mm.
It took 17 years to verify that the radiation existed. In 1965, two radio astronomers
Arno Penzias and Robert Bob Wilson encountered static in their radio antenna.
When they tried to adjust their radio antenna in order to overcome the problem,
they noticed that there was something wrong. On further evaluation they realised
that the radiation was not static but the universal radiation which was being
sought, it was called the cosmic microwave background. The two scientists were
awarded the Nobel Prize in 1978 for their experimental work.
The radiation detected by Penzias and Wilson was the cosmic microwave back-
ground. The first clue to this fact was that the detected radiation was thermal radi-
ation, the origin of thermal radiation is temperature.
The wavelength of the detected radiation is what was expected, furthermore, the
radiation was uniform in all directions in the universe just as was worked out in the

The Big Bang and Universal Expansion 83

 calculations. No object was identified as being the source of the radiation.
Scientists made sure of this when COBE was sent in 1989 to detect the cosmic
microwave background. The results fitted with theory. the temperature of the radi-
ation was 2.73 K, which exactly fits what is calculated in theory.
The calculated hydrogen to helium ratio exactly fits in with actual values.

9.4 THE BIG BANG, THE HISTORY OF THE

UNIVERSE
We have mentioned that the first 10–43 of a second is the smallest time interval
within which we can make calculations. The temperature was so high 10–43 of a
second after the big bang (T=1032 K) that even subatomic particles couldn't form.
Thus, at the beginning there was only radiation.
The fundamental particles, (leptons, and quarks) and radiation were filling the uni-
verse 10-35 second after the explosion, the temperature was 1028 K.
The rapid expansion was effective for only 10–30 seconds.
Electrons and positrons were present when the temperature was 1011 K, 10–2 sec-
ond after the beginning, however, neutrons and protons couldn't form until after 0.1
s, the temperature at this time was 1010 K.
The expansion and cooling continued
The infinite density had decreased to 4 109 g/cm3 1 second after the explosion.
The simplest atoms, hydrogen and helium started to form in the 14th second.
The temperature and density decreased and the volume increased with time. The
lower density and temperature provided suitable conditions for heavier elements
to be formed. Energy contained within mass became greater than the energy of
radiation. The universe became matter-dominated and the interaction between
matter and energy subsided in time. The cool matter combined to form groups of
clouds. These clouds are the source of material from which the galaxies and super
clusters of galaxies are formed.
What Does the Big Bang Tell Us
The Big bang theory explains what happened after the universe was first created.
The most important interpretation of the big bang theory is that there was a begin-
ning to the Universe, and that the Universe is not eternal.

84 ASTRONOMY
 The most popular and powerful theory concerning the history of the Universe is the big bang theory.
According to this theory the Universe started life as a point, the expansion of this point caused it to
reach the vast dimensions that we observe today.
In 1924 Edwin Hubble discovered that a fuzzy light source, thought to be a cloud or nebula, in the
constellation Andromeda, was actually another galaxy containing billions of stars. In 1929 Hubble
made his second striking discovery: the receding speed of a galaxy is directly proportional to its dis-
tance away from us.
Hubble summarised his work in a graph, which indicated the relationship between velocity and distance.
The slope of the graph (velocity / distance) is called Hubble's constant and is represented by the sym-
bol H. The age of the Universe can be calculated using Hubble's constant, however, Hubble's constant
has not been determined precisely yet. The best present value of Hubble's constant has been calculat-
ed to be between 50 and 100.
The radiation caused by the massive explosion that began our Universe should still exist uniformly over
all space in the Universe, if the big bang theory is correct. This radiation has been detected at its
expected microwave wavelength and value and is called the 'cosmic microwave background'. The
most important interpretation of the big bang theory is that there was a beginning to the universe,
and that the universe is not eternal.

1. What was Hubble's great discovery of 1929? 4. What is the age of the universe?

2. Which theory was developed based on Hubble's dis- 5. What is the source of cosmic microwave back-
covery? ground?

3. What is Hubble's constant? What is it used for? 6. What does the big bang theory tell us?

The Big Bang and Universal Expansion 85

Chapter 1 Chapter 2
Basic Concepts of Astronomy The History of Astronomy
1. An astronomer is supposed to explore and define the 1. The main reason is that they were affected by incorrect
operating laws of celestial objects. beliefs and philosophy. The other reason was the lack
of sophisticated instruments.
2. An observer with his naked eye can observe the Sun,
the Moon, some stars, five of the planets, comets, 2. The idea of epicycle was first used in order to explain
meteors, the Milky Way galaxy and the Andromeda planetary motion.
Galaxy. 3. Brahe carried out an observation of a supernova explo-
sion, which occurred in 1572. An incorrect belief, that
3. Stars appear to twinkle while planets do not twinkle.
the heavens were eternal, sharply changed with this
4. The Celestial sphere is the sphere which we see when discovery.
we look at the sky. 4. Kepler's Laws of planetary motion:
5. The Earth completes a full rotation in 24 hours. Hours, a. All the planets revolve around the Sun in an ellipti-
minutes and seconds define the motion of the sky due cal orbit.
to the rotation of the Earth better than degrees. b. A planet is faster when it is closer to the Sun and
6. The declination of the Sun is exactly at 0°0' at the times the speed decreases when it gets farther from the
Sun.
of the equinoxes, that is why daytime and night time
are equal at the times of the equinoxes. c. The square of the period of revolution of the plan-
et around the Sun is proportional to the cube of
7. The Moon and the Sun move from the east to the west, the semi-major axis (half of the long axis of an
however, this motion is slower than the motion of the ellipse): P2 ~ a3
entire sky. The Sun is late by about 1° everyday (360°
in 365 days), while the Moon moves 1° backwards in 2 5. Newton's Laws of planetary motion:
hours. a. The planets and the Sun revolve around a centre
8. The sidereal period of the Moon is the period of the of mass.
Moon with respect to the entire universe, while the syn- b. The angular momentum of the planets and the
odic period is measured with respect to the Earth-Sun Sun are constant during revolution.
line.
c. The square of the period is proportional to the
9. There are eight phases of the Moon these are: New cube of the semi-major axis. The equation can be
Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing expressed as follows: (M + m) P2 = a3
Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Third Quarter, 6. He discovered that a light source, which had been
Waning Crescent.
thought to be a nebula, was actually a galaxy. Then, in
10. The Moon completes one cycle around the Earth each 1929, Hubble discovered that the receding speed of a
galaxy was proportional to the distance of the galaxy
month, but doesn't pass exactly in front of the Sun
from the point of observation.
each month. This is because the orbit of the Moon is
tilted by about 5°, and the angle between the declina-
tions of the Moon and the Sun is between -5 and +5.
Eclipses occur only when the declination difference is
close to zero and they are at the same right ascension.

86 ASTRONOMY
Chapter 3 10. We can only determine the radial velocity using the
Doppler shift on the spectrum since only a receding or
Light approaching object causes the detected spectrum to
shift towards red or blue, respectively. Perpendicular
1. It is impossible to go to far distant objects (even to the
motion does not cause the received wavelength to be
nearest star) and collect information. Information is
shifted.
carried from there to the Earth by light. This is why
light is of vital importance to astronomy. 11. A star of magnitude 2 is brighter than a star of magni-
tude 5, since an increase in magnitude means a
2. The temperature, luminosity, size, distance, life story,
decrease in brightness.
age, chemical compound, density, atmospheric prop-
erties, velocity with respect to us, brightness, mass and 12. G2
magnetic field of a star can be obtained by analysing
the spectrum of a star. 13. The Sun is a main sequence star?
3. The wavelength is the distance between two following
wave crests of the wave. The energy of a wave is
inversely proportional to the wavelength of the wave. Chapter 4
Telescopes
4. The electromagnetic spectrum has no boundaries at
either side. There is no minimum or maximum value of 1. The purpose of using a telescope is to collect more
wavelength for the electromagnetic spectrum. light and to increase resolution.

5. Gamma rays, X-rays, infrared rays, visible light, ultravi- 2. By increasing the light-collecting surface of the tele-
olet rays, microwaves, radio waves. scope or by taking long exposure photographs.

6. We can classify the electromagnetic spectrum under 3. Inversely proportional, that is, the higher the resolution
two different classifications: power, the smaller the detected angle.
The first classification:
4. In order to improve the resolution power, astronomers
a. Continuous Spectrum
use telescopes in groups. The radiation collected by
b. Discrete Spectrum
each telescope is overlapped to produce an interfer-
The second classification: ence pattern. This technique is called Interferometry.
a. Emission Spectrum
b. Absorption Spectrum 5. Visible light telescopes, infrared telescopes, ultraviolet
telescopes, x-ray telescopes, and radio telescopes.
7. Fraunhofer lines exactly coincide with the lines of some
elements, this means these elements exist in the 6. Reflecting telescopes and refracting telescopes. They
chemical composition of the Sun. This relationship both have advantages and disadvantages compared to
helped astronomers to learn about the chemical com- each other, that is why astronomers use both types of
position of the Sun and other stars. It also helped to telescopes.
examine whether there is a relationship between the
origins of all stars.
Chapter 5
8. Wien's law, Stefan-Boltzmann law, Inverse square law.
The Solar System
9. In the Sun, there is a cool outer layer of gas around a
hot interior core. 1. The solar system consists of the Sun, eight planets,
asteroids, comets, satellites, and interplanetary dust.

Answer Key 87
2. The Sun is the dominant object in the solar system mitted to the surface by gamma rays via the processes
because the mass of the Sun is more than 99 % of the of radiation and convection.
total mass of the solar system and all the others objects
revolve around the Sun. 5. Hydrogen is burnt into helium in the proton-proton
chain reaction.
3. About five billion years.
6. The layers of the Sun from the innermost to the outer-
4. The astronomic unit is half of the length of the semi- most are: the core, the radioactive zone, the convective
major axis of the Earth's orbit. It is about zone, the photosphere, the chromosphere and the
149 600 000 000 km. corona.

5. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, 7. The solar wind is a stream of charged particles. The dif-
Neptune. ferential rotation of the Sun causes a relative motion of
this stream of charged particles inside the Sun, and so
6. Asteroids revolve around the Sun in an orbit between generates a magnetic field inside the Sun. The mag-
the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. netic field of the Sun causes charged particles to be
accelerated away from the surface.
7. The most famous comet is the Halley's comet which
passed very close to the Earth in 1986 and will return 8. Sunspots are cooler regions of the surface of the Sun.
in 2062. Cooler regions of the Sun appear to be darker than
their surroundings. Due to this difference in appear-
8. Mercury and Venus do not have any satellites. ance, these regions are called sunspots.

9. Venus is the hottest planet because of the strong

greenhouse effect in its atmosphere.
Chapter 7
10. Ganymede (of Jupiter), Titan (of Saturn). The Stars
1. The initial mass of a star plays a key role in all the other
properties of the star.
Chapter 6
The Sun 2. Greater mass causes a higher number of reactions, and
also causes these reactions to proceed at a faster rate.
1. The Sun is an ordinary star. It has no extraordinary That is why stars with high initial masses have shorter
properties except that it is the star closest to the Earth. lives and why higher elements can be produced in such
stars.
2. 73% hydrogen, 23% helium, the remaining 2% is com-
posed of carbon, iron, oxygen, hydrogen. 3. ‘Proton-proton chain reactions’ and ‘triple alpha reac-
tions’ take place inside a sun-like star.
3. The equilibrium between the gravitational force and the
pressure is called hydrostatic equilibrium. The life of a 4. ‘CNO cycle reactions’, ‘triple alpha reactions’ and ‘alpha
star would end unless this equilibrium was maintained capture reactions’ take place inside a massive star.
since a higher gravitational force compared to pressure
would cause the star to collapse. Whereas a higher 5. The remnant of a sun-like star (up to the Chandrasekhar
pressure compared to gravitational force would cause limit, sometimes up to 10 solar masses) is a white dwarf;
the mass of the star to spread out in space. the remnant of stars with masses between the
Chandrasekhar limit and 20 solar masses is a neutron-
4. The energy of the Sun is produced in its core as a star; if the mass of a star is greater than 20 solar mass-
result of nuclear fusion reactions. The energy is trans- es, it will turn into a black hole.

88 ASTRONOMY
Chapter 8 Chapter 9
The Milky Way and Galaxies The Big Bang and Universal Expansion
1. There are roughly four hundred billion stars in the Milky 1. In 1929, Hubble discovered that the receding speed of a
Way galaxy. This number is normal for a galaxy. galaxy is directly proportional to its distance away from
Galaxies contain a hundred billion stars on average. the point of observation..
2. The Milky Way galaxy is formed by a spherical centre, a 2. The Big Bang Theory, claims that the universe was a
halo and spiral arms. tiny point at the beginning. Then, somehow a massive
explosion took place at this single point. This point
3. The nearest star is 4.3ly away from us, whereas the
expanded continuously and has reached its current
radius of the disc of the Milky Way is roughly 50,000ly dimensions.
(15kpc).
3. Hubble's constant is the ratio of a galaxy’s distance
4. We cannot detect the stars in a galaxy individually
away from Earth to its recession velocity from Earth.
because other galaxies are very far away from us, thus Hubble's constant is used to calculate the age of the
angular distance of any two stars adjacent to each universe.
other would be impossibly small to resolve. The angu-
lar size of a galaxy is as small as a single star in the 4. The universe is calculated to be 18 billion years old.
Milky Way because of its great distance from us.
5. According to the big bang theory, a massive explosion
5. Elliptical galaxies, Spiral galaxies, Irregular shaped occurred, which caused a huge amount of energy to be
galaxies. emitted. This energy should have spread out every-
where in the universe in the form of cosmic radiation.
This has been calculated to be a microwave back-
ground radiation energy, which spread out over the
entire universe.

6. The best interpretation of the big bang theory is that

there was a beginning to the universe, and that the uni-
verse is not eternal.

Answer Key 89
A epicycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Milky Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 spectroscopic parallax . . 38
Alexandria . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 equatorial coordinate star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
alfonsine tables . . . . . . . . 19 system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 N Stefan-Boltzmann law . . . 31
alpha-centauri . . . . . . . . . 38 Eratosthenes . . . . . . . . . . 19 nebula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 summer solstice . . . . . . . 12
Anaxagoras . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Neptune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Sun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Andromeda . . . . . . . . . . . 23 F neutron star . . . . . . . . . . . 71 sunspots . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
angular momentum . . . . . 22 Fraunhofer lines . . . . . . . . 29 new moon . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Syene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Aristarchus . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 full moon . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Newton's laws . . . . . . . . . 21 synchronous rotation . . . 14
Aristotle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 synodic period . . . . . . . . . 13
asteroid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 G O
astronomical unit . . . . . . 21 galaxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 objective . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 T
autumnal equinox . . . . . . 11 Gamow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Oort cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 terrestrial planets . . . . . . . 50
gibbous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 opposition . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 thermal radiation . . . . . . . 29
B granulation . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 triple alpha reaction . . . . . 70
Babylonians . . . . . . . . . . . 18 greenhouse effect . . . . . . 55 P
Big Bang Theory . . . . . . . 23 Parallax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 U
binary stars . . . . . . . . . . . 40 H parsecs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 universal expansion . . . . . 83
black hole . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Halley's Comet . . . . . . . . . 51 Penzias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
blue shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Hipparchus . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Plato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Uranus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Bode Sequence . . . . . . . . 50 horizon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Pluto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Brahe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 H-R diagram . . . . . . . . . . 37 photosphere . . . . . . . . . . 61 V
Bunsen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Hubble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 probe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Van Allen radiation
Hubble's constant . . . . . . 81 proton-proton chain belts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
C hydrostatic equilibrium . . 59 reaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Venus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
celestial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Ptolemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 vernal equinox . . . . . . . . . 11
celestial sphere . . . . . . . . 10 I Pythagoras . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Voyager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Ceres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 interferometry . . . . . . . . . 43
Chandrasekhar limit . . . . 70 inverse square law . . . . . . 32 Q W
chromosphere . . . . . . . . . 61 quadrature . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 white dwarf . . . . . . . . . . . 36
corona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 J Wien's law . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 jovian planets . . . . . . . . . . 50 R Wilson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
CNO cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Jupiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 radial velocity . . . . . . . . . . 33 winter solstice . . . . . . . . . 12
COBE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 radiative zone . . . . . . . . . 59
comet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 K red giant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Z
conjunction . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Kepler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 redshift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Zeeman Effect . . . . . . . . . 41
constellation . . . . . . . . . . 23 Kepler's laws . . . . . . . . . . 20 reflecting telescopes . . . . 44 Zeeman Splitting . . . . . . . 41
convective zone . . . . . . . . 59 Kirchoff's laws . . . . . . . . . 33 refracting telescopes . . . . 44
Copernicus . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Kuiper belt . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 resolution power . . . . . . . 43
coronal holes . . . . . . . . . . 61 retrograde motion . . . . . . . 9
cosmic microwave L right ascension . . . . . . . . 11
background . . . . . . . . . . . 83 limb darkenin . . . . . . . . . . 62 Russell-Vogt
crescent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 luminosity . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
lunar eclipse . . . . . . . . . . 15
D lunar month . . . . . . . . . . . 13 S
declination . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 satellite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Doppler effect . . . . . . . . . 33 M Saturn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
magnitude . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Schwarzschild radius . . . 72
E main sequence . . . . . . . . 36 semi-major axis . . . . . . . . 49
Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Mars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 sidereal period . . . . . . . . . 13
ecliptic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 mass-luminosity ratio . . . 78 solar eclipse . . . . . . . . . . . 15
electromagnetic Mercury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 solar flare . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 meteor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 spectral type . . . . . . . . . . 35

90 ASTRONOMY