Professional Documents
Culture Documents
a
a
t
v
a
= (1)t
t =
v
a
or
t = v/a .
Very often, the isolation of a given quantity requires the use of several operations, each of which
must be identically performed on both sides of the equation. For example, suppose we are given
that
d =
1
2
at
2
.
The solution of this relationship for the quantity t would proceed by first multiplying both sides
of the equation by 2:
2 d =
1
2
at
2
2
72 Chapter 3: The Astronomical Alphabet
which gives us
2d = at
2
.
We would then divide both sides of the equation by the quantity a
2d
a
=
at
2
a
which leaves us with
2d
a
= t
2
.
If we now take the square root of both sides of this equation we obtain
2d
a
= t
2
which gives us the final result that
t =
2d
a
.
Chapter 3: The Astronomical Alphabet 73
There are many ways to solve similar equations, but as long as one remembers to be fair
to both sides of an algebraic equation, then the particular order of steps will not matter and the
final result will always be the same.
POSITIONAL ASTRONOMY
As we have seen in Chapter 1, ancient sky watchers imagined that the night sky was filled
with the heavenly outlines of the heroes, heroines, beasts, and objects prominent in the folklore
and mythology of their cultures. Although every culture the world over had its own set of star
pictures or constellations, most of the constellations we know today came from the Greeks and
Babylonians. In more modern times observers in various countries imagined their own favorite
constellations. German star maps, for example, listed a constellation called Frederickss
Glory, the scepter of the famous Prussian ruler, Frederick the Great. Aside from their historical
and mythological interest, however, the constellations serve the modern astronomer as
largescale divisions of the night sky. In 1928, an international organization of astronomers, the
International Astronomical Union or IAU, met to decide what constellations would thenceforth
be recognized by the astronomical community and to formally define the boundaries of these
regions. After considerable discussion, a total of 88 constellations and their corresponding
regions of the sky were set up by the IAU. Thus, did Musca Borealis, the Northern Fly and
Globus Aerostaticus, the Hotair Balloon pass into astronomical history!
Astronomers retained and organized the concepts of constellations primarily because the
constellations provide a useful method of locating an objects general position in the sky. Thus
monthly astronomical columns appearing in the media routinely locate objects according to the
74 Chapter 3: The Astronomical Alphabet
constellations in which they can be found. For example if the planet Mars is said to be located
in the constellation of Gemini, any observer familiar with the night sky in general and the
location of the constellation of Gemini in particular will be able to easily locate Mars. Such
techniques are profoundly lacking, however, when determinations of more precise celestial
positions are required. Even in antiquity, the astrologers of the day with their need for accurate
angular separations of the sun, moon and planet required a more precise statement of an objects
position than simply Mars is in the constellation of Gemini. With the coming of the telescope
and its ability to zoom in on very small areas of the sky, the need for a more precise method of
locating objects became overwhelming. Without such a method, for example, faint stars and
other objects such as nebulae and star clusters visible only in telescopes would be most difficult
if not impossible to relocate for continued observations.
The concepts underpinning the most commonly used system in positional astronomy are
geometric in nature and are closely related to the latitudelongitude system of coordinates
employed by geographers to precisely specify positions on the earths surface. In this system,
the earth is regarded as an idealized sphere spinning about an axis of rotation. Any location of
interest to the geographer is regarded as being situated on the surface of this sphere. The points
of intersection between the earths surface and its axis of rotation are referred to as the
geographic north pole and the geographic south pole. Exactly halfway between these two points
lies a great circle, that is, one whose center is at the spheres center, that divides the earth into
equal parts and is hence called the equator. The latitude (LAT) of a given point on the surface
of the earth is then defined as the shortest angular distance between the equator and the given
point as seen from the center of the earth. The latitude thus ranges from 90N at the earths
Chapter 3: The Astronomical Alphabet 75
north geographic pole, to 0 at the equator, to 90S at the earths geographic south pole.
Fort Collins has a latitude of about 41N.
In order to complete the specification of a position on the earths surface we must now
define a second coordinate. This is accomplished by first defining a meridian. Meridians are
semicircles on the surface of the earth whose endpoints are located at the earths geographic
poles. One of these meridians, the meridian that passes through Greenwich, England, is
designated as the prime meridian or the meridian of zero longitude. The longitude (LONG) of
a given point on the earth is then defined as the angular distance east or west of the prime
meridian. Longitude ranges from 0 at the prime meridian eastward to 180E or from 0 at the
prime meridian westward to 180W. The longitude of Fort Collins is about 105W. Using
only two coordinates, latitude and longitude, geographers are thus able to determine positions on
the surface of the earth to whatever accuracy their instrumentation will allow. A list of the
latitude, longitude coordinates for a number of the worlds cities is given in Table 3.3 as a
sample of such coordinates.
The most commonly used coordinate system in astronomy is the equatorial or right
ascensiondeclination system. The development of this system closely parallels that of the
geographers latitudelongitude equation. In a similar fashion it is useful to first introduce the
concept of the celestial sphere. Basically the idea is both a vestige of the ancients crystalline
spheres concept and the geographers idealized sphere. The celestial sphere is an imaginary
sphere that is centered on the earth and has dimensions sufficiently large that the earth can be
regarded as a point at the spheres center. Because the astronomer is concerned at this point
only with the direction from which the light of celestial objects is coming, the images of all
76 Chapter 3: The Astronomical Alphabet
celestial objects, regardless of their true distances, are considered to be projected onto the surface
of the celestial sphere. Thus, the celestial sphere plays the same role for the astronomer as does
the idealized globe in the geographers latitudelongitude system.
Chapter 3: The Astronomical Alphabet 77
Table 3.3. Geographic Positions of Some Cities of the World.
__________________________________________________
City (Country) LAT LONG
__________________________________________________
Athens (Greece) 38.0 N 23.6 E
Beijing (China) 39.9 N 116.4 E
Berlin (Germany) 52.5 N 13.5 E
Buenos Aries (Argentina) 34.3 S 58.9 W
Cairo (Egypt) 30.0 N 31.3 E
Calcutta (India) 22.5 N 88.4 E
Cape Town (South Africa) 33.8 S 18.5 E
Honolulu (USA) 21.3 N 157.8 W
Jakarta (Indonesia) 6.3 S 106.8 E
Jerusalem (Israel) 31.8 N 35.2 E
London (United Kingdom) 51.5 N 0.1 W
Los Angeles (USA) 34.1 N 118.2 W
Mecca (Saudi Arabia) 21.5 N 39.8 E
Mexico City (Mexico) 19.5 N 99.2 W
Moscow (Russia) 55.8 N 37.6 E
Nairobi (Kenya) 1.3 S 36.8 E
New York (USA) 40.7 N 74.0 W
Paris (France) 48.9 N 2.3 E
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) 22.8 S 43.3 W
Rome (Italy) 41.9 N 12.6 E
Singapore (Singapore) 1.3 N 103.9 E
Sydney (Australia) 33.9 N 151.3 E
Tokyo (Japan) 35.7 N 139.8 E
Wellington (New Zealand) 41.3 S 174.8 E
___________________________________________________
78 Chapter 3: The Astronomical Alphabet
If we extend the poles of the earths axis of rotation, the extensions will ultimately intersect
the celestial sphere at two points, called the celestial poles. The intersection of an extension of
the earths north geographic pole and the celestial sphere is called the north celestial pole, while
the intersection of an extension of the earths south geographic pole and the celestial sphere is
called the south celestial pole. The celestial equator is the great circle on the celestial sphere
that is everywhere equidistant from the celestial poles. The declination (DEC) of an object is
defined as the shortest angular distance between the celestial equator and the object.
Declination is thus a sort of astronomical latitude. Declination ranges from +90 at the north
celestial pole to 0 at the celestial equator to 90 at the south celestial pole. Declinations of
some prominent stars are listed in Table 3.4.
As in the case of the geographic latitudelongitude system, we now must specify a second
coordinate. To this end astronomers define an hour circle as a semicircle on the celestial
sphere whose endpoints are located at the celestial poles. An hour circle can thus be thought of
as a sort of astronomical meridian. To define the reference meridian for the eastwest
celestial coordinate, astronomers must pick a point or object that is attached to the celestial
sphere. This can, of course, be done in a variety of ways, but bowing to tradition and calenderic
considerations, the point so designated by the astronomers is the vernal equinox point. As the
earth orbits the sun, the sun appears to project onto various parts of the celestial sphere along a
path called the ecliptic. This ecliptic path intersects the celestial equator at two points, called
the equinox points. The vernal equinox point is the point on the celestial equator at which the
sun appears to cross the celestial equator moving from south to north. It is thus a welldefined
point which is attached to the celestial sphere. The prime hour circle is then designated as the
Chapter 3: The Astronomical Alphabet 79
hour circle which contains the vernal equinox point. The right ascension (RA) of an object is
defined as the angular distance between the prime hour circle and the hour circle of the object.
The right ascension is thus a sort of astronomical longitude. Unlike longitude, however, the
right ascension is measured from the prime hour circle in a counterclockwise direction looking
down from the north celestial pole. It ranges from 0
h
to 24
h
where 1
h
of RA = 15. The RAs
of some prominent stars are listed in Table 3.4. In this system the position of the vernal equinox
point represents the origin of the system and has coordinates of (0
h
,0). The (RA, DEC) position
of an
80 Chapter 3: The Astronomical Alphabet
Table 3.4 Celestial Positions of Some Bright Stars
____________________________________________________________
Star (Constellation) RA DEC
____________________________________________________________
Achernar (Eridanus) 01
h
38
m
( 25) 57.3
Polaris (Ursa Minor) 02 32 ( 38 ) +89.3
Aldeberan (Taurus) 04 30 ( 68 ) +16.3
Capella (Auriga) 05 09 ( 77 ) +45.9
Rigel (Orion) 05 10 ( 78 ) 08.3
Betelgeuse (Orion) 05 50 ( 88 ) +07.4
Canopus (Carina) 06 24 ( 96 ) 52.7
Sirius (Canis Major) 06 41 (100 ) 16.6
Procyon (Canis Minor) 07 34 (114 ) +05.5
Castor (Gemini) 07 35 (114 ) +31.9
Pollux (Gemini) 07 39 (115 ) +28.3
Regulus (Leo) 10 03 (151 ) +12.5
Alpha Crucis (Crux) 12 27 (188 ) 63.1
Spica (Virgo) 13 20 (200 ) 10.6
Arcturus (Bootes) 14 11 (213 ) +19.7
Alpha Centauri (Centaurus) 14 40 (220 ) 60.8
Vega (Lyra) 18 34 (279 ) +38.7
Altair (Aquila) 19 46 (297 ) +08.6
Deneb (Cygnus) 20 38 (310 ) +44.9
Fomalhaut (Piscis Austrinus) 22 52 (343 ) 30.2
____________________________________________________________
Chapter 3: The Astronomical Alphabet 81
object, like its terrestrial (LAT, LONG) counterpart on earth can be measured as accurately as
our instruments will allow.
Using (RA, DEC) coordinates, astronomers have systematically catalogued the celestial
positions of literally millions of objects. Moreover, long term observations of these coordinates
have enabled astronomers to detect a variety of phenomena including the precession and nutation
motions of the earth, the proper motions of the stars, the suns space motion, and stellar parallax
effects.
In a more practical mode, precise celestial coordinates can also be used for keeping time
and navigating the globe, using principles employed for thousands of years, albeit at a much
more accurate and sophisticated level.
OTHER ASTRONOMICAL ANGLES
In addition to locating the positions of celestial objects, astronomers also use angular
measurements to obtain distances and sizes of celestial objects as well. Because of the great
distances to these objects, astronomers must deal with very small angles which are measured in
units of arcminutes or arcseconds. One arcminute is defined as 1/60 of a degree and is about
1/30 of the halfdegree angular size of the sun or full moon. One arcminute is roughly the limit
of angular resolution of the human eye and is the angle between the top and the bottom of a
quarter viewed from a distance of about 90 meters or just under the length of a football field.
The arcsecond is an even tinier unit of angular measurement which is defined as 1/60 of an
arcminute of 1/3600 of a degree. An arcsecond is roughly the angle between the top and bottom
of a quarter viewed from a distance of a little over 5 kilometers or about 3 miles.
82 Chapter 3: The Astronomical Alphabet
Using the latter definition of angular measurement, it can be shown that for an object
having a given linear diameter located at a given distance, the angular diameter measured in
arcseconds is given by the following equation
angular diameter
(measured arcseconds)
= 2.06 10
5
linear diameter
distance
.
In this equation the linear diameter and the distance must be expressed in the same units.
This equation can be used in either of two ways. If an object, such as a planet, has a
measurable angular diameter and its distance is known, then the linear size of the planet can be
readily calculated. Thus if the planet Mars exhibit an angular size of 23.3 arcseconds when it is
at a distance of 60 million kilometers from the earth, its linear size must be given by
2.3 = 2.06 10
5
D
60 10
6
km
.
Solving this equation for the diameter of Mars yields
D =
23.3 60 10
6
2.06 10
5
km = 6790 km .
In a similar fashion, when we triangulate on a given object, we in essence measure the angular
diameter of a baseline of known length as seen from the objects distance, and using the above
Chapter 3: The Astronomical Alphabet 83
equation, calculate that distance. It is in this way, for example, that the distances to stars can be
determined.
Many more mathematical techniques and approaches, not described here, have flowed from
the imaginations of scientists and mathematicians in their quest to describe the physical universe
in a quantitative way. So complex and sophisticated have some of these methods become that
Pythagoras himself would undoubtedly be very impressed by it all. The venerable old
mathematician would almost certainly derive great satisfaction from the spectacular success that
his most cherished philosophical principle has come to enjoy in modern times.
81
CHAPTER 4
THE PHYSICS OF ASTRONOMY:
MOTION AND GRAVITY
The astronomer who seeks the scientific secrets of outer space is faced with the basic
difficulty that the objects of interest are incredibly remote, and, therefore, distinctly inaccessible
for controlled experimentation. In a laboratory setting here on the earth, for example, we can
readily and accurately measure a number of physical characteristics of a given object, including
its mass, temperature, and chemical composition. If, however, we wish to measure those same
characteristics for a celestial object such as the sun or moon, we find that they are too big, too far
away, and in the case of the sun, much too hot to lend themselves to direct measurements in a
terrestrial laboratory. The astronomer must therefore perform experiments on these objects
in situ, or in their natural states. Space age efforts to bring the terrestrial laboratory to the object
via space probes have produced a number of spectacular contacts and encounters with many of
the worlds of our solar system, but have left the remainder of the cosmos essentially untouched.
Thus the astronomer must necessarily continue to observe from afar. At this point we make a
most vital appeal to the principle of universality. If the way nature operates is independent of
time and location here on the earth, then it is reasonable to apply this very same principle to the
82 Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity
whole of outer space. In other words, the astronomer regards all of the physical universe as
being consistent, or in a variation of an old astrological refrain, As below, so above. Armed
with this fundamental assumption, which has yet to be contradicted by any of our observations
and measurements, the astronomer can interpret objects and phenomena observed from afar by
tapping into the vast array of physical laws and descriptions of natural phenomena gleaned here
on the earth by the physical sciences.
Of these phenomena none is more intrinsic to the physical world than that of motion.
Movement of one sort or another is encountered at every level of our perception of the
observable universe from the tiniest subatomic particles racing through inner space to the
largest clusters of galaxies hurtling toward the farthest reaches of outer space. In spite of this
wealth of experience, however, an overall viable description of this important aspect of nature
eluded the greatest thinkers in the world for centuries. A profound change came to this state of
affairs when in 1687 the Englishman Sir Isaac Newton published his premier work Mathematical
Principles of Natural Philosophy or, more simply, the Principia. The scientific revolutionaries
of the generation that preceded Newton--Galileo, Kepler, and Descartes, to name a few--had
managed to replace the Aristotelian view of motion with a number of ad hoc laws and principles
in which a specific phenomenon was described with a specific law. Thus Keplers laws of
planetary motion described precisely that--planetary motion. The brilliance of Newtons
Principia lay in the fact that it galvanized all of these bits and pieces into a simple, elegant, and,
most important, highly successful view of motion that was not limited to any specific motion in
particular, but could be explain a multitude of motion phenomena using only a few basic
concepts and principles. This Newtonian or classical view of motion was the first truly
Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity 83
successful scientific theory of any aspect of nature, and even after more than three centuries of
scientific progress, it still offers an excellent accounting of the behavior of moving objects in
everyday life.
BASIC NEWTONIAN KINEMATICS
If you were asked to write an informational definition of motion or movement you
would probably respond with something like motion is the process of changing places or
movement is the passage of an object form one location to another. Regardless of how you
might state your definition, it would have to involve the idea of an object changing places within
the framework of a nonmoving backdrop. Such a backdrop is denoted by scientists as a frame of
reference or reference frame and provides the base against which any position changes are to be
measured. Most of the time, common sense will dictate how we define our reference frames. If
an instructor strides across the front of a classroom, a reasonable assumption is that the instructor
is moving against the background of the classroom as opposed to the reverse--a classroom
complete with students and attached building that is moving against the reference frame of a
stationary instructor. Similarly, the state trooper who just pulled you over for doing 30 miles
per hour above the posted speed limit has made the decision that your automobile was moving
relative to a stationary road and speed limit sign rather than assuming that the road and sign were
whizzing by a stationary automobile. Quite often, however, frames of reference that are defined
as being at rest can, in fact, possess considerable motion of their own relative to other reference
frames. If a passenger walks up and down the aisles of a jetliner while the aircraft is in flight,
we think of the passenger moving relative to the stationary backdrop of the jetliner, despite the
84 Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity
fact that the aircraft may be moving several hundred miles per hour relative to the earths surface.
Even terra firma, our most familiar and widely used stationary reference frame, is whirling at
a rate of more than 100,000 kilometers per hour about a sun orbiting at more than
700,000 kilometers per hour about the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, which in turn is rushing
toward the Virgo supercluster of galaxies at millions of kilometers per hour, and so on.
Thus an at rest frame of reference must be decided on and defined. Any displacement or
change in an objects position relative to that rest frame then constitutes what is known as
translational motion. Newtons theory provides us with two basic concepts by which the degree
of such motion can be defined and measured. The first of these is called velocity and can be
defined as follows:
velocity =
distance object moves a given direction
elapsed time
(4.1)
or in algebraic symbols as
v =
d
t
.
There are several noteworthy characteristics about defining the degree of an objects motion in
this way. First of all, such a definition expresses motion in terms of measurable quantities, in
this instance the fundamental quantities of length and time, thus allowing an observer to
represent numerically the degree of an objects motion. When we make such a measurement,
the units in which the velocity is expressed are units of length/time such as miles/hour,
Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity 85
centimeters/second, or furlongs/fortnight. In keeping with the fundamental units of the meter
and the second, in science the velocities in this discussion will be expressed in meters/second
(m/s). One meter per second is a rate of motion equivalent to approximately 3.5 kilometers/hour
or 2.2 miles/hour.
With the above definition of velocity, we can now judge the degree of motion in a far more
articulate manner. When we exceed the speed limit in an automobile, for example, we are
judged to be covering more distance per unit time than society has deemed safe for the given
road. We judge the winner of a race of motion to be the human being, animal, or machine that is
able to achieve the highest overall average velocity by either covering a given distance in the
least amount of elapsed time or by covering the greatest distance in a given amount of elapsed
time. Thus the winner of a 10,000-meter run is the athlete who runs the 10,000 meters in the
fastest or shortest interval of time, while the driving team that wins the 24-hour LeMans
automobile race is the team that drives its machine the farthest distance in the allotted 24 hours
of racing time.
A specification of the numerical value of the distance traveled divided by the elapsed time,
however, does not of itself constitute a complete description of an objects velocity. An athlete
may be able to cover 10,000 meters in a smaller interval of time than the other contestants in the
field, but if the runner fails to direct that effort in the proper way, i.e., toward the finish line, the
effort becomes meaningless in terms of winning the race. A bowling ball delivered down an
alley will have a decidedly different effect from one delivered at the same rate but toward the
scorers table. Moreover, in attempting to describe the interaction of velocities such as a person
swimming cross-stream, we find that velocities and their interactions must be described in terms
86 Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity
of vector quantities in which both a magnitude and a direction are specified for a given velocity.
Thus a complete description of an objects velocity requires a value for the magnitude of the
velocity, called the speed of the object, and a designated direction toward which the object is
moving.
A second concept is needed to fully describe motion; specifically, the fact that most objects
change their velocities, sometimes speeding up, slowing down, or changing the directions.
Athletic coaches, for example, are fond of distinguishing an athletes speed from that athletes
quickness, where the quicker athlete can change whatever he or she is doing over a shorter
time interval than one not so gifted in this regard. Obviously such a quality is of great value in
virtually every form of athletic activity imaginable, whether it is a volleyball player altering the
direction of a spike or a halfback making a crucial cutback on a long run. In a somewhat similar
fashion, an automobile may have the ability to attain a high rate of speed, yet will lose out in a
drag race because it doesnt possess enough quickness, or ability to achieve that large
magnitude of speed in a short enough time interval. Newtons theory of motion therefore
establishes a second criterion by which the degree of an objects motion can be defined and
measured. The concept is, in essence, a formalization of the idea of quickness and is called
acceleration. The acceleration of an object is defined as follows:
acceleration =
change objects velocity
elapsed time
or more simply as
Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity 87
a =
v
t
.
Like velocity, acceleration is defined in terms of the measurable quantities of length and time.
In this case, however, the units of acceleration are those of velocity/time. Since the units of
velocity are length/time, one can express acceleration in units of
(length/time)/time
length/[(time) (time)]
or simply as
length/(time)
2
.
For example, an object for which the velocity changes by 10 meters/sec over a time interval of
5 sec experiences an acceleration of 10 (meters/sec)/5 sec or 2 meters/(sec)
2
. Acceleration, like
velocity, is a vector quantity, and as such, a complete description of acceleration requires that
both the magnitude and the direction of the acceleration be specified.
Note that in our definitions of both velocity and acceleration we are in effect dealing with
average values for these quantities. If an automobile takes 3 hours to travel 120 kilometers, its
average velocity is 120 kilometers/3 hours or 40 kilometers/hour. This value provides us with
the overall average velocity, but says nothing about the manner in which the velocity may have
changed during the course of the journey. To gain this sort of insight we must examine the
average velocity of the auto over shorter intervals of time. In some cases we may need to
88 Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity
distinguish between average velocity and the velocity at a particular moment, such as would be
indicated on the cars speedometer. As early as the fifth century B.C., the Greek philosopher
Zeno of Elea called attention to the fact that any definition of motion that was based on an
elapsed time seemed to encounter serious difficulties whenever the value of the elapsed time
approached zero. One of the triumphs of Newtonian theory was its success in dealing
mathematically with such instantaneous velocities and accelerations through the use of limits
and other methods of the integral and differential calculus developed in the seventeenth century
by both Newton and the German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz.
Having decided on how the degree of an objects motion would be defined, Newton then
noted that agents existed in nature that were capable of altering the state of an objects motion.
These agents are referred to in Newtons theory as forces. If, for example, you hold a pencil
above the floor, two such agents act on the pencil. The first, called the force of gravity, tends to
cause the pencil to alter its state of motion by falling to the floor. Such an alteration of the
pencils state of motion, however, is prevented from occurring by the presence of a second force
called a frictional force, which exists between your fingers and the pencil. If you release the
pencil, thereby removing the force of friction, the force of gravity will then cause the pencil to
fall to the floor.
Force as an undefined and ambiguous concept had been in use for centuries prior to the
time of Newton and, for the most part, had little to do with motion phenomena. Such is the case
for the cosmic forces of the astrologer, the dark and light forces of witches and warlocks,
and a full gamut of all sorts of other supernatural forces, including The Force of Star Wars
fame.
Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity 89
The forces proposed by Newton, on the other hand, deal strictly with motion phenomena.
Moreover, the Newtonian forces of nature are completely amoral in their influence and efforts.
Thus the fall from a high cliff experienced by a great saint due to the action of the earths
gravitational force will be the same as that experienced by the worlds worst sinner.
Significantly, the forces of Newtonian theory can be mathematically described in terms of
measurable quantities. This latter characteristic of Newtonian forces is of crucial importance,
since we can, in principle, determine through experimentation what measurable quantities a
given type of force may depend on as well as the mathematical nature of that dependence. The
force of gravity between two objects, for example, depends inversely on the square of the
distance between the objects or 1/(distance)
2
. Thus the forces employed by Newtonian theory,
unlike their non-Newtonian counterparts, lie quite within the reach of empirical science, and as a
result, physicists have uncovered a number of important interactions in nature that can be
described in terms of a mathematical force equation.
The last of the basic concepts required in our discussion of Newtonian theory is that of
mass. Formally, the mass of an object is generally defined in terms of the quantity of matter
present in that object. A cubic centimeter of water at a temperature of 4C has a mass of very
nearly 1 gram. A similar cube of water 10 cm on a side, contains 1000 times more water and
hence is said to have 1000 times more mass than the 1-cm cube. The mass of an object,
however, can also be though of in terms of the ability of that object to resist a force. This
concept of mass is in effect a recognition that certain objects are harder to move than others.
Four very large sumo wrestlers, for example, would not have a particularly hard time pushing a
small compact car, but these same four individuals, exerting the same amount of force, would
90 Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity
encounter a good deal of trouble if they tried to push a large truck. Because of this fact, we say
that the large truck has more mass than the compact car, and thus can resist the force of the
wrestlers more effectively than does the car. In a similar vein, the force required to move the
more massive cube of water 10 cm on a side is far larger than that needed to move the one cubic
centimeter of water.
NEWTONS LAWS OF MOTION
Armed with the four basic ideas of velocity, acceleration, force, and mass, Newton then
claimed that all motion phenomena could be summarized in three fundamental statements, called
Newtons laws of motion. The first of these is called the law of inertia and is stated by Newton
in the Principia as follows:
Every body continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a straight line, unless it is
compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it.
In other words, an object moving at a constant velocity will resist any attempt to change this state
of uniform motion. Numerous every day examples of the law of inertia exist. When a car
starts to move from a standstill, a given passenger will feel a backward pull against the seat
because the passengers body, in a state of uniform motion, in this case with a velocity or speed
of zero, initially resists the attempt of the car to change that motion. On the other hand, a
sudden stop at high velocity finds the passengers body continuing along in a sate of uniform
motion at the high velocity until a force is exerted on it by the windshield, dashboard, etc. The
use of seat belts or harnesses prevents this from happening by making the passenger in essence
an attached part of the vehicle. Because velocity has direction as well as magnitude, a moving
object will also resist any attempt to change the direction of the motion. A skier attempting to
Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity 91
make a sudden change of direction while coming down the slope finds that such is the stuff of
which torn ligaments are made because the body, which is moving in a straight line, is very
adamant about not changing that direction of motion, even though the skiers speed has remained
nearly constant throughout. If one drives around a mountain curve in such a way that the
speedometer reading remains fixed, a pull along the seat is still experienced because the inertia
of the bodys mass tends to keep the passenger moving in a straight line, while the automobile
tends to pull the passenger in a curved path.
Newtons second law regarding motion can be written as follows:
Whenever an object is subjected to a new force, it will respond by accelerating in the
direction of the force by an amount which is directly proportional to the force and
inversely proportional to the objects mass.
This relationship can be written as
acceleration =
force
mass
but is most often expressed in the more familiar form of
force = mass acceleration
or simply
92 Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity
F = ma .
In essence Newtons Second Law tells us that an object responds to a given force by changing its
velocity. If we exert a force on an object, such as by giving the object a push, its velocity
changes. For a given object the harder the push or force, the more pronounced the objects
acceleration or change in velocity. On the other hand, the same force applied to a more massive
object will result in a smaller change of velocity for that object.
We can see from Newtons second law that the units of force are mass length/(time)
2
. In
this context, physicists have defined one newton or 1 N as the amount of force which, when
applied to an object having a mass of one kilogram, will cause that object to accelerate at a rate
of one meter/sec
2
. Thus a force of one N is equal to one kilogram-meter/(second)
2
or kg-m/s
2
.
As noted earlier, a complete description of any acceleration requires that both the magnitude and
the direction of that acceleration by specified. The direction of the acceleration of an object that
results from the exertion of a given force depends on the direction in which the force was
exerted. Thus, if we are to evaluate the effects of a given force on a given object, we must
specify both the magnitude and the direction of that force. In short, Newtons second law
requires that forces, like velocities and accelerations, be mathematically described as vector
quantities.
In addition to the law of inertia and F = ma, Newton recognized yet a third pattern of
behavior in motion phenomena. This behavior, which is referred to as Newtons third law of
motion, may be described as follows:
If an object is subjected to a force, it will respond by exerting an equal and opposite force
on the initial force producing agent.
Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity 93
This law is often stated simply as action = reaction. Newtons third law says that when you
push an object (action force), you feel a resistance, which is the reaction force the object exerts
on you. One of the most familiar examples of Newtons third law is that of a balloon which is
inflated and then released. The air escaping out of the nozzle of the balloon pushes off the
balloon (action) and the balloon responds by pushing off the air to produce the familiar forward
thrust of the balloon (reaction). The air exerts a force on the balloon and the balloon exerts a
force on the escaping air. The third law thus tell us that force in nature must always occur in
pairs, action and reaction. Also, in a given interaction, the action force can never act on the
same object or entity as the reaction force. Failure to keep this fact in mind can lead to a certain
amount of confusion over how the third law operates. Newtons third law is also sometimes
misunderstood due to the fact that the effects of an action or reaction force are not always readily
ascertainable. Much of this difficulty can be resolved if we recall that the response of an object
to a given force depends on the mass of that object. Thus, even though an individual exerts just
as much gravitational force on the earth as the earth exerts on the individual, the mass of the
earth is of the order of 10
22
times as massive as a typical 50- to 100-kg human being. As a
result, the earth only accelerates 1/10
22
times as much as the human, or in other words, not very
much.
Almost all motion phenomena at the everyday level of our perception can be described by
these three simple but elegant laws of motion. Interestingly, several aspects of Newtons theory
of motion have loose analogues in the nonscientific areas of our lives. For example,
administrative types all too often provide a beautiful example of a bureaucratic law of inertia
for which habit = psychological inertia and the state of uniform motion is, for all intents and
94 Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity
purposes, equal to zero. In a similar fashion, the partners in an emotional relationship can be
thought of as affecting each other in a sort of sociological action = reaction principle. From a
scientific viewpoint, however, the credentials of Newtonian theory have not been gleaned from
its simplicity, elegance, or sociological analogues, but rather than from the simple fact that it has
been eminently successful in describing motion-related phenomena.
One very powerful manifestation of that success has come through the applications of
Newtons second law. Suppose we have an object that is subjected to one or more forces. We
immediately write from Newtons second law that F = ma. We also know that the acceleration
is a time rate of change of velocity which, in turn, is a time rate of change of position. Thus, the
acceleration can be thought of as a time rate of change of a time rate of change of position, or in
mathematical terms, the acceleration can be derived from the position or vice versa. In other
words, a very precise mathematical relationship exists between position and acceleration. If we
also know the mathematical form of the force(s) involved, we can forge all of this information
into an equation of motion. The mathematical solution of this equation of motion yields a
description of how the object will move when subjected to the stated forces. This, of course, is
an eminently useful thing to be able to do. Much of engineering is concerned with what will
happen to a bridge, building, aircraft wing, or a host of other objects if they are subjected to
various sets of forces. Newtonian mechanics can, in principle, answer those questions. In
practice, however, many such equations of motion are very complicated, and their solutions often
require mathematical techniques well beyond the scope of this discussion. We will, however,
consider two examples of objects in motion which for the astronomer are worth considering in
some detail.
Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity 95
THE UNIVERSAL LAW OF GRAVITATION
For centuries it was known that the Moon moves about the Earth in a roughly circular
pattern at a nearly constant speed. Galileos observations demonstrated a similar kind of motion
for the planets Mercury and Venus about the Sun and for the moons of Jupiter about that planet.
In the first two decades of the seventeenth century, the German mathematician Johannes Kepler
forged his laws of planetary motion in which he demonstrated that not only Mercury and Venus
orbited the Sun, but that the Earth and the rest of the planets did too.
Newton surmised that these orbital motions must be the result of some sort of force acting
on the objects involved. Making use of the work of predecessors such as Galileo, Tycho Brahe
and Kepler, Newton was able to demonstrate that such a gravitational force could be
mathematically described by the Universal Law of Gravitation
force of gravity
two objects
= constant
mass of first object mass of second object
(distance objects)
2
or in symbols
F = G
m
1
m
2
d
2
.
The constant G is called the universal gravitation constant and has a value of
6.6710
11
Newtonm
2
/kg
2
.
96 Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity
The universal law of gravitation thus provides us with the amazing result that there is a
mutual gravitational force between any given object and every other object in the universe! It
should be quickly noted, however, that even though such gravitational forces exist, most of them
are vanishingly small in their magnitudes. For example the force between you and your
roommate is about 10
11
times that between the earth and either one of you.
SURFACE GRAVITY
Having formulated his law of universal gravitation, Newton then proceeded to investigate
some of its implications and consequences. For example, consider a person standing on the
surface of the earth as shown in Figure 4.4. Relative to that person, various regions of the
earths interior lie in various directions at various distances. Thus, each mass element within the
earth will have its own gravitational interaction with the person on the surface. What, then, is
the net result of all of these gravitational forces? To answer this question, Newton first assumed
the earth could be thought of as being made up as a very large number of tiny gravitating mass
elements. Through the use of his flexions mathematics or calculus, Newton was
mathematically able to obtain the total gravitational effect from this infinitude of mass elements
within the earth. The result is amazingly simple. An object having a spherical array of mass
gravitationally behaves as if all of its mass were concentrated at a point at its center. This meant
that gravitating spheres such as the earth, moon, and sun could be regarded simply as gravitating
points in space. Thus the net gravitational force experienced by a person standing on the earths
surface is exactly equivalent to the gravitational force exerted on that person by a mass point or
center of gravity having the same mass as the earth located at a distance equal to the radius of the
Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity 97
earth. The force of gravity between the entire earth and a person or object at the earths surface
is then
force of gravity = G
mass of earth mass of object
(radius of earth)
2
From Newtons second law of motion, we also have that the force of gravity on the object is the
product of the objects mass and the acceleration of gravity at the earths surface, thus, we may
write that
EQ \A(mass of,) acceleration of earth___surface gravity = G \F(mass of earth mass of
object,(radius of earth)\S\up4(2))
Thus
acceleration of earth___surface gravity = G
mass of earth
(radius of earth)
2
or
g = G
m
R
2
Measurements made of the earths radius and mass (see Chapter 7) indicate that the earth has a
radius of about 6.3710
6
m and a mass of 9.9810
24
kg. If we substitute these values into the
preceding expression for the acceleration of the earths surface gravity, we find that g is equal to
9.8 m/sec
2
. Even though the value of the earths radius changes somewhat due to topography,
the rotational flattening of the earth, etc, the resulting variations in the acceleration of the earths
98 Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity
surface gravity or simply its surface gravity amount to only a few tenths of a percent. This is the
justification for the approximation that the magnitude of g has a constant value of 9.8 m/sec
2
, a
value that is sometimes employed in flight dynamics as a unit of acceleration simply called a g.
Thus a pilot subjected to an acceleration of 3 gs has experienced an acceleration of
39.8 m/sec
2
or 29.4 m/sec
2
.
Notice that the value of the mass of the object does not appear in the final expression for
that objects gravitational acceleration. In other words, the gravitational acceleration
experienced by a falling body does not depend on the mass of that body. Any object of any mass
will, therefore, fall to the ground at exactly the same rate, in the absence of other forces such as
air resistance and the like. From this result, Newton was able to provide the mathematical basis
for Galileos empirical observations at the turn of the seventeenth century that bodies of different
masses dropped from the same height strike the ground at the same time. It should be
emphasized that we are dealing here with the rate at which a given object falls. The weight of
the object or the gravitational force exerted on the object by the earth is equal to mass g and,
therefore, does depend on the objects mass in accordance with Newtons second law of motion.
For spherical objects in space such as the stars and planets, we find that a wide range of
surface gravities exist. The moon has a surface gravity, for example, that is about 1/6 as much
as the earth, while the acceleration of gravity in the suns outer atmospheric layers is nearly 30
times that of the earth. Some celestial objects exist that have very large masses compacted into
very small spheres, with the result that their surface gravities are billions of times larger than
what we experience here on the earths surface.
Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity 99
A quantity closely related to the surface gravity and also of considerable interest to space
scientists is the escape velocity. Briefly defined, the escape velocity is the minimum velocity
required to escape the gravitational pull of a given object. It can be shown that for an object
having a mass M and a radius R, the escape velocity v
esc
is given by
v
esc
=
2GM
R
= 2gR .
As in the case for surface gravity, celestial objects exhibit a wide range of values in their
escape velocities. For the earth, whose radius and surface gravity are about 6.4 10
6
m and
9.8 m/sec
2
, respectively, v
esc
is about 11,200 m/sec or over 24,000 miles per hour. On the other
hand, the escape velocity from a small asteroid can be as low as a few meters per second, while
other objects have escape velocities which can actually exceed the speed of light. These latter
objects which are called black holes are of considerable interest to the astronomer. Because, as
we shall see, the ultimate speed limit in the universe is the speed of light, no form of matter or
energy can escape the surface of a black hole. Moreover, any form of matter or energy incident
on such objects is fated to be swallowed up by the objects gravitational field, leaving behind
only a myriad of interesting and fundamental questions for the astronomer.
THE TWO-BODY SYSTEM
A gravitating system of considerable importance to astronomers is the two-body system,
which, as the name implies, is a system in which two objects are moving in each others
gravitational force. Since the mathematical form of the universal law of gravitation is known,
100 Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity
we can generate an equation of motion for the two objects involved. This equation can then be
solved, thereby providing us with the characteristics of the motion that occurs in such a system.
First of all, if a two-body system is moving through space, the overall motion of the system
behaves as if the sum of both masses were concentrated at a point mass called the barycenter,
which is located along a line connecting the two centers of gravity of the bodies. The position of
the barycenter along this line is given by
distance object 1
distance object 2
=
mass of object 2
mass of object 1
.
Thus, if an object is twice as massive as a second object, the barycenter of their mutual
revolution will be located along a line joining them at a distance that is twice as far from the
smaller mass as from the larger mass. Clearly if one object has a very large mass compared to
the second object, the barycenter will lie very close to the center of gravity of the massive object.
The earth, for example, is about 81 times more massive than the moon. Thus the barycenter of
the earth-moon system is 81 times closer to the earths center of gravity than to that of the moon.
Since the earth-moon distance is about 384,000 km, the earth-moon barycenter is located
4680 km from the earths center of gravity, or about 1690 km below the earths surface!
One also finds in a two-body system that the motion of one object about the other must
occur along one of the following types of mathematical curves: circle, ellipse, parabola, or
hyperbola (Figure 4.5). No other path or orbit is possible for a two-body system. Circular and
elliptical orbits are sometimes called capture orbits because of the fact that one body is in
Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity 101
effect trapped by the others gravity. The moon orbiting the earth, the earth orbiting the sun,
and stars orbiting other stars are all examples of objects moving in elliptical and circular orbits.
Keplers first law of planetary motion can then be demonstrated within the larger
framework of Newtons theory of motion and the universal law of gravitation. We also find,
however, that two additional types of orbits are possible that are not included in Keplers first
law of planetary motion. These are the parabolic and hyperbolic orbits, which are often referred
to as encounter orbits. For these types of orbits, a given object sweeps by the second body in a
one-time-only encounter, such as the Voyager space probe flybys of the planets Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, and Neptune.
Analysis of the motion in a two-body system also indicates that an orbiting body will move
about the second body in such a way that a line joining the two bodies will sweep out a constant
area of orbit per unit time regardless of the objects relative positions. This result is simply
Keplers second law of planetary motion and is often referred to as the law of equal areas. The
actual size of the orbital area swept out per unit time varies from object to object, but for a given
object this rate of swept out orbital area must always remain the same. For example, if a given
asteroid sweeps out 2 10
22
square meters of orbit during a given year in its orbit about the sun,
it will sweep out that same orbital area in any other one year time period. A second asteroid,
however, might sweep out 5 10
22
square meters of orbit in a given year, but it would then have
to continue to orbit at that same rate of 5 10
22
square meters of orbital area swept out per year.
For objects moving in noncircular orbits, the law of equal areas in effect dictates that the
object must speed up in its orbit when the objects are close together and slow down when they
are far away if a constancy in the orbital area swept out per unit time is to be maintained (see
102 Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity
Figure 4.6). Thus, as the famed Halleys comet moves in its highly elongated elliptical orbit
about the sun, it only spends a few months of its 76 year orbital period in the vicinity of the sun.
As the comet moves back into the deep recess of the solar system, however, its increased distance
fro the sun permits it to sweep out its constant orbital area per unit time at a lower orbital speed.
Further mathematical analyses of the motions in a two-body system result in the
formulation of a more comprehensive version of Keplers harmonic law. For a two-body system
in which the orbits are circular or elliptical, we can show that the mean distance, time for one
orbit, and the sum of the masses of the two bodies involved are related as follows:
(mean distance)
3
(time for one orbit)
2
=
G
4
2
(mass 1 + mass 2)
.
If distances are measured in astronomical units, where one astronomical unit is defined as
the mean earth-sun distance, orbital periods, called sidereal periods, are measured in years, and
masses are measured in solar mass units, then the constant G/4
2
= 1. The measured value of
the astronomical unit is about 1.510
11
meters or about 150 million kilometers and that of the
solar mass unit is 210
30
kilograms.
Thus far in our discussion of the two-body system, we have naively assumed that the bodies
involved behave as point masses and that no forces are present aside from the mutual gravitation
of the two bodies involved. This is not the case in the real universe. Most bodies, for example,
do not have perfectly spherical mass distributions. Instead, there exist within these objects
small-scale departures or asymmetries from this ideal. As a result, the point mass representation
for the gravitational behavior of such objects is one that is not exact. Moreover, according to the
Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity 103
universal law of gravitation, every mass in the universe interacts gravitationally with every other
mass. In almost every instance, such interactions are vanishingly small. For some situations,
however, gravitational interactions with bodies other than the two primary objects can be
significant. If such additional gravitational interactions are relatively small compared to the
mutual gravitation of the primary objects, they are referred to as perturbations and manifest
themselves as small but observable departures from the motion expected in a pure two-body
system. The moons orbit about the earth, for example, has a roughly elliptical shape, as
predicted by the analysis of the earth-moon system as a two-body system. The moons motion,
however, also exhibits small-scale departures from a strictly elliptical orbit owing to the
gravitational effects of the earths slightly nonspherical mass distributions as well as the
gravitational effects of some of the other planets in the solar system.
For some systems, such as star clusters and galaxies, the gravitational effects of additional
bodies are not small compared to the mutual gravitation of the two primary objects. Such
systems are referred to as many-body systems and any description of the motions of an object
in a many-body system must necessarily take into account all of the gravitational influences from
all of the bodies present. Unfortunately, there are no simple mathematical techniques for
dealing with such systems. As a result, these types of systems must be analyzed by means of
computers and complex mathematical techniques.
PLANETARY CONFIGURATIONS
As the planets orbit about the sun, they move with rates and sidereal periods different from
that of the earth. As a result, the relative positions of the earth, planet, and the sun are
104 Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity
constantly changing. The time for a given configuration to repeat itself is referred to as that
planets synodic period, and can be regarded as the approximate interval between successive
favorable observing conditions for the planet in a given part of the sky.
Two of the planets, Mercury and Venus, move in orbits about the sun which lie entirely
within the earths orbit. As a result of the geometry of these orbits, Mercury and Venus can
never be viewed at angles from the sun which are larger than their angles of greatest elongation
(Figure 4.7) which has a value of about 25 for the planet Mercury and 47 for the planet Venus.
These maximum angular separations represent the times of best observing these objects from
earth, and can occur when the planet is to the east of the sun (greatest eastern elongation) when
the planet appears after sunset in the evening sky and also when the planet is to the west of the
sun (greatest western elongation) when the planet appears before sunrise in the predawn sky.
Any planet which moves in an orbit about the sun which lies entirely outside of the earths
orbit has the orbital geometry shown in Figure 4.8. The most favorable configuration of an
exterior planet from the standpoint of the observational astronomer is called opposition and
occurs when the earth lies between the planet and the sun. At opposition the planet appears
exactly opposite the sun as seen in the earths sky. On the date of opposition, the planet rises at
sunset, sets at sunrise, and is visible all night long. Opposition also represents the time of an
exterior planets closest approach to the earth and hence the most favorable time for observing
the planet.
The sidereal periods and average synodic periods of each of the planets are listed in
Table 4.1. Using these data one can predict the next approximate date of a favorable observing
configuration if the date of the last such configuration is known. Thus if the planet Mercury was
Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity 105
seen in the evening sky at greatest eastern elongation on March 19, 1998, the next greatest
eastern elongation of Mercury would be expected 116 days later, or on July 13, 1998. In like
fashion, if the planet Mars was last observed at opposition on March 17, 1997, the next
opposition date will occur about 780 days later or on May 12, 1999. Because of the speeding up
and slowing down of planets in their elliptical orbits, dates of various configurations predicted
using average synodic periods may be off by a few days.
Table 4.1 Sidereal and Synodic Periods of the Planets
______________________________________________________________________________
Sidereal Period Average Synodic
Period
_____________
____________________
Planet Days Years Days Years
______________________________________________________________________________
Mercury 88 0.24 116 0.32
Venus 224 0.61 584 1.6
Mars 687 1.88 780 2.1
Jupiter --- 12 399 1.09
Saturn --- 30 378 1.03
Uranus --- 84 370 1.01
Neptune --- 165 367 1.005
Pluto --- 249 366 1.004
______________________________________________________________________________
106 Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity
From its conception, Newtons universal law of gravitation has enjoyed phenomenal
success in the analysis of the behavior of gravitating bodies. Within the pages of a section of the
Principia entitled the System of the World are to be found a correct explanation for the degree
of the earths flattening, oceanic tides, a valid technique for launching an artificial satellite, and
an accurate rendition of the orbit of Halleys comet at a time when comets were widely regarded
as supernatural portents of doom, death, and destruction. The universal law of gravitation has
lead to the discoveries of planets, satellites, and stellar companions. It has permitted the
motions of the moon and planets to be predicted with an accuracy such that they form the basis
for an entire system of timekeeping called ephemeris time. It even inspired the following ode
from Newtons close friend and second Astronomer Royal of England. Sir Edmund Halley:
. . . But now, behold
Admitted to the banquets of the gods,
We contemplate the politics of heaven;
And spelling out the secrets of the earth,
Discuss the changeless order of the world.
Such was the enthusiastic belief in the human capacity to comprehend the workings of the
physical universe during the European Enlightenment. At the turn of the 20th century, however,
measurements and observations of the physical world, particularly at the atomic level, yielded
results which could not be accounted for by using Newtonian mechanics. In keeping with the
principles of scientific philosophy, Newtons elegant theory has accordingly been replaced by the
more successful theories of relativity theory and quantum mechanics. While we will not dwell
Chapter 4: The Physics of Astronomy: Motion and Gravity 107
on these views of nature during the course of this text, we will nonetheless draw on some of their
important concepts as they become pertinent to our discussions.
107
CHAPTER 5
THE PHYSICS OF ASTRONOMY:
ENERGY, LIGHT, AND MATTER
ENERGY
Of all the quantities which are described in science, the most important, fundamental, and
unifying is that which we call energy. For simple systems energy can be thought of as a measure
of the ability of an object, person, or system to deliver or perform work, a quantity which in turn
is formally defined as a force acting through a given distance. Energy thus has the dimensions
of force length, or Newtonmeters. The basic unit of energy is called the Joule, J, where one
Joule is defined as the amount of energy expended when a force of one newton acts through a
distance of one meter. One Joule of energy is roughly the amount of energy expelled when you
hoist a 12 ounce soda from your waist to your lips.
Although energy is the agent by which work is performed, it is a far more comprehensive
quantity than work. We can in fact observe and measure the effects of energy over a wide range
of phenomena, one of which is the performance of detectable work, but we cannot point to a
given physical entity and say this is it. Yet energy is to be found at all levels of the physical
108 Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter
world, sometimes in rather subtle and disguised forms. Energy is to be found, for example, in
moving objects in the form of kinetic energy, and in spinning objects as rotational energy. Even
the positions of an object in a gravitational, electric, or magnetic field possess a form of
positional energy called potential energy. Moreover, countless scientific experiments the
world over have led to the result that although energy can be transferred, transformed, and even
dissipated to infinitesimally small quantities, it cannot be created or destroyed by any process in
nature of which we are aware. In other words if energy is gained by a system, it has to come
from somewhere, and if it is lost by a system, it has to go somewhere. If we require the
somewhere to be in the observable universe, then the total reservoir of energy in the observable
universe must have a value that remains constant in time. This profound property of energy is
expressed on a less grandiose level in the form of the principle of conservation of energy, which
can be stated as follows:
The total amount of energy in a closed, isolated system remains the same, even though the
energy in the system may be converted from one form to another.
The closed isolated provision ensures that the system cannot import or export any energy to any
nearby system. Under these circumstances, the principle of the conservation of energy tells us
that the total energy in a given system that is closed off and isolated from the rest of the universe
will not change before, during, or after an event or interaction of any kind.
Another important quantity for the astronomer is the time rate at which energy is produced
by a given system or object. This time rate of energy production is called the objects power
output or luminosity and has the dimensions of energy/time. A power output or luminosity of
Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter 109
one Joule per second is defined as one watt (w) of power. Thus a light bulb rated at 100 watts
will produce light energy at a rate of 100 Joules/second.
ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES
Virtually all of the information received by astronomers from celestial objects comes in the
form of a type of energy called electromagnetic energy, a small part of which our eyes perceive
as visible light. If an electric charge is made to oscillate, it will produce an outwardly
propagating disturbance having variable electric and magnetic field components. Such a
propagating disturbance is referred to as an electromagnetic wave and in essence serves as the
agent by which the energy producing the charge oscillation is carried away from the point of
oscillation, thus preventing an energy buildup at that point.
Electromagnetic waves can be represented by a type of wave called a transverse wave
(Fig. 5.1) in which the disturbance or displacement of the wave occurs perpendicular to the
direction that the wave is traveling. Such waves can be characterized by a distance called the
wavelength, which is the distance between successive corresponding parts of the wave, such as
the distance between successive crests or successive troughs. The frequency of the wave motion
is defined as the number of wave crests or cycles that pass a given point per unit time. A
frequency of one cycle per second is defined as a frequency of one Hertz (Hz).
Electromagnetic waves all travel through free space at a rate of 3 10
8
m/sec, regardless of
their frequency or wavelength. This speed is commonly referred to as the speed of light and is
of great significance in both physics and astronomy. Moving at this rate, an electromagnetic
wave can circle the earth about seven and a half times in one second. Leaving the earth even at
110 Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter
this incredible rate of speed, however, it would take an electromagnetic wave about eight minutes
to reach the sun, over five hours to reach the outermost planet in our solar system, and over four
years to reach the nearest star. Such travel times have inspired astronomers to define a unit of
distance called the light year as the distance an electromagnetic wave would travel through space
moving at 3 10
8
m/sec for one year. One light year is thus equal to about 9.5 10
15
meters
and serves the astronomer as a convenient unit with which the distances to objects outside of the
solar system can be measured.
Interestingly no form of particle or energy has been discovered to date which can travel
faster than the speed of light. The value of 3 10
8
m/sec thus appears to be the ultimate speed
limit in the universe. Perhaps the most amazing aspect of all concerning the speed of light in a
vacuum, however, is the observationally verifiable fact that regardless of how an observer is
moving with respect to a given electromagnetic wave, that observer will always measure the
same value, 3 10
8
m/sec, for the speed of light. Such a result is contrary to the way speeds and
velocities are predicted to behave in the Newtonian view of motion and is in fact one of the key
underpinnings of the view of motion proposed by relativity theory.
An important consequence of electromagnetic wave theory is that it is possible for an
electric charge to oscillate at any frequency larger than zero, thereby allowing for the possible
existence of an infinite variety of electromagnetic waves. This range of possible
electromagnetic frequencies and wavelengths is referred to as the electromagnetic spectrum
(Fig. 5.2). If we measure the wavelengths of the electromagnetic waves visible to us as light, we
find that the human eye can detect wavelengths as small or as short as 4 10
7
m and as large
or as long as 7 10
7
m. This range of electromagnetic wave observable with the human eye
Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter 111
is referred to as visible light or as the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum and has a
corresponding range of frequencies between 7.5 10
14
Hz and 4.0 10
14
Hz. Beyond these
limits, the human eye is not able to detect the presence of electromagnetic waves. There is, of
course, no reason whatsoever to assume that, just because we as human beings cannot directly
see radiant energy beyond these limits, no such energy exists. In fact, our bodies can, to some
extent, detect such energy. The thermal energy radiating from a hot spoon handle or teapot, for
example, can be felt by our hand as heat, and numerous creatures, such as pit vipers, are
equipped with detectors that operate quite superbly at nonvisual frequencies and wavelengths.
One of the supreme achievements of human technology over the past century has been the
exploration of this electromagnetic spectrum, particularly in our development of the ability to
detect and, in many instances, make use of its many types of radiant energy. As a result, we are
now aware of a wide variety of electromagnetic waves that extend outward from the high and
lowfrequency ends of the visible spectrum. Thermal energy, for example, has frequencies
smaller than 4.0 10
14
Hz and wavelengths longer than 7.5 10
7
m, which marks the red end of
the visible spectrum, and is hence said to be a part of the infrared region. The microwave region
of the electromagnetic spectrum extends over a frequency range of about 10
9
to 10
11
Hz or over a
corresponding wavelength range of 0.3 m to 30 m, followed by the radio region, whose
frequencies are lower than 10
9
Hz and wavelengths longer than 20 m. Included in this region of
the electromagnetic spectrum are those frequencies over which commercial AM radio broadcasts
are made (5351605 kilohertz), FM radio broadcasts (88188 megahertz), and all of the channels
of television broadcasting (54890 megahertz).
112 Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter
On the other side of the visible region, extending in frequency from 7.5 10
14
Hz to
roughly 3 10
15
Hz and in wavelengths from 4 10
7
m to 1.0 10
7
m, is the region we call the
ultraviolet region. It is primarily the ultraviolet waves we receive from the sun that provide us
with our summertime tans and sunburns. A yet higher frequency region for electromagnetic
waves called the xray region extends in frequency from about 3 10
15
Hz to 10
18
Hz and in
wavelength from 1.0 10
7
m to 3 10
10
m. X rays are perhaps most famous for their ability
to penetrate matter. In fact, their use as a diagnostic tool in the medical sciences is due to their
ability to pass through human tissue readily. The most energetic and probably the most feared
types of electromagnetic waves are the gamma rays. Gamma rays have frequencies in excess of
10
18
Hz, wavelengths smaller than 3 10
10
m, and are a result of incredibly high charge
vibration rates generated within atomic nuclei by various nuclear processes. Because gamma
rays are a byproduct of nuclear reactions and because they have an extraordinary ability to
penetrate and disrupt matter, they are a major factor to be contended with in the production of
nuclear power.
When an electromagnetic disturbance is created, the outward flow of its associated energy
can generally be represented as a uniformly expanding spherical shell of energy. As the shell
expands, the total energy in the shell remains the same, but the total surface area of the shell at
any given time increases as the square of the radius of the shell. As a result, if we define the
energy intensity or apparent brightness of a source as the power per unit area received from a
given source of electromagnetic waves at a given distance, we find that the apparent brightness of
the source is given by
Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter 113
apparent brightness
of source
=
luminosity of source
4 (distance source)
2
(1)
Notice that the apparent brightness of the source is measured in watts per square meter and
decreases as the square of the distance to the source. In other words, the apparent brightness of a
source of electromagnetic waves can be described with what is referred to as an inverse square
law (Fig. 5.3). Thus the apparent brightness of a street light is larger when you are standing
directly beneath it than when you are viewing it from several blocks away. If you wish to
compare two objects 1 and 2, this dimming with distance effect can also be mathematically
expressed in the following way
b
1
b
2
=
L
1
L
2 \
|
.
|
|
d
2
d
1
2
(5.1)
where b
1
and b
2
, L
1
and L
2
, and d
1
and d
2
, are, respectively, the apparent brightnesses,
luminosities, and distances to objects 1 and 2.
These relationships are of fundamental importance to the astronomer in obtaining
astronomical data. If, for example, an astronomer has obtained the distance to a given object by
trigonometric triangulation techniques, then using equation (5.1) it is possible to calculate the
objects intrinsic luminosity. On the other hand, if we have an idea of the value of an objects
intrinsic luminosity owing to its similarity to a second object, such as our sun, whose luminosity
has been determined, we can now calculate the distance to the first object. In this fashion
114 Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter
astronomers have been able to measure the luminosities of objects and their related
characteristics as well as the vast dimensions of interstellar, intergalactic, and extragalactic space.
Even though celestial objects possess large intrinsic luminosities, their vast distances
reduce their apparent brightnesses to very small values when measured in watts per square meter.
Thus while the sun has a very respectable apparent brightness of 1360 w/m
2
, the brightest stars
in the night sky shine only at an apparent brightness of 2.8 10
8
w/m
2
, and the familiar objects
which can be detected with our largest telescopes are feebly glowing at only 4.5 10
19
w/m
2
.
As a result, astronomers have adopted a less cumbersome brightness rating scale for measuring
celestial brightness which is called the magnitude scale or scale of magnitudes.
The zero point of the magnitude scale is formally defined by astronomers in terms of a set
of photometric standard stars, but simply put, a zero magnitude object roughly corresponds in
brightness to the average brightness of the ten brightest stars in the sky. A zero magnitude
object thus has a brightness or energy intensity of about 2.8 10
8
w/m
2
.
Because larger telescopes and more sensitive detectors have enabled the astronomer to
observe progressively fainter objects, the magnitude scale is defined in such a way that
progressively more positive magnitudes denote progressively fainter objects. Thus a 6th
magnitude star is fainter than a 4th magnitude star, and a 12th magnitude star is fainter than a 6th
magnitude star, and so on. In like fashion, progressively more negative or less positive
magnitudes denote progressively brighter objects. Thus the full moon at a magnitude of about
12.7 is brighter than the planet Venus which has a magnitude of about 4. By defining the
direction of the magnitude scale in this way astronomers can avoid negative values of magnitudes
for all but the very brightest of celestial objects.
Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter 115
The third characteristic of the magnitude scale defines the relationship between a given
magnitude difference m
1
m
2
for two objects having magnitudes of m
1
and m
2
and the
corresponding ratio of their respective apparent brightnesses b
1
/b
2
. This relationship is set by a
scale called the Pogsen Scale in which a difference of 5 magnitudes is defined as corresponding
to a brightness ratio of 100:1. Thus a 10th magnitude object on this scale is, by definition, 100
times brighter than a 5th magnitude object. Each difference of one magnitude thus corresponds
to a ratio of about 2.5 in brightness. Hence a 5th magnitude star is about 2.5 times brighter than
a 6th magnitude star and 2.5 2.5 = 6.25 times brighter than a 7th magnitude star and so on. It
should be noted that this is an approximation. The actual ratio of brightness for a one magnitude
difference is 2.51:1, 6.30:1 for a two magnitude difference, etc. A list of various magnitude
differences and their corresponding brightness ratios is presented in Table 5.1.
We now have a scale in which the zero point, direction, and scale size are all formally
defined. In order to provide an idea of what these magnitudes are like when observed in the
real life sky, a list of familiar objects and their corresponding apparent visual magnitudes is
presented in Table 5.2.
LIGHT AS A PARTICLE OF ENERGY
In the last decade of the nineteenth century, the description of light as an electromagnetic
wave enjoyed enormous success in providing an explanation for the behavior of both visual light
and other forms of radiant energy. It was thus with considerable surprise and consternation that
around the turn of the century a number of lightrelated phenomena were observed that simply
could not be accounted for by electromagnetic wave theory. For example, consider the electrical
116 Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter
circuit shown in Figure 5.4 in which two plates having opposite electrical charges are hooked up
to a voltage supply and an ammeter. If no light shines on the plates, the circuit behaves as if it
Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter 117
Table 5.1. Magnitude Differences and Brightness Ratios
______________________________________________
Differences in Magnitude Brightness Ratio
______________________________________________
0.0 1.00 : 1
0.1 1.10 : 1
0.2 1.20 : 1
0.5 1.58 : 1
1.0 2.51 : 1
2.0 6.30 : 1
5.0 100 : 1
10.0 10,000 : 1
11.0 25,100 : 1
12.0 63,000 : 1
15.0 1.0 10
6
: 1
20.0 1.0 108 : 1
____________________________________________
Table 5.2 Apparent Visual Magnitudes of Some Familiar Celestial Objects
_____________________________________________________________
Apparent Visual Brightness
Object/Limit Magnitude (w/m
2
)
_____________________________________________________________
Sun 26.7 1360
Full Moon 12.7 .0034
Venus (brightest) 4 1.1 10
6
Jupiter (brightest) 2 1.8 10
7
Vega, Arcturus, Capella 0 2.8 10
8
Big Dipper Stars +2 4.5 10
9
Cassiopeia Stars +3 1.8 10
9
Pleiades Stars +4 7.1 10
10
Limit of:
Naked Eye +6 1.1 10
10
Binoculars +10 2.8 10
12
10inch Telescope +15 2.8 10
14
Largest Telescopes +27 4.5 10
19
118 Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter
_____________________________________________________________
Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter 119
were an open circuit and no electric charge current flows. If, however, the plates are exposed to
light, particles having negative electrical charge, called photoelectrons, are ejected from the
negatively charged cathode plate and flow across the plate gap to the positively charged anode
plate, as the electric circuit is completed. This phenomenon is called the photoelectric effect
and, as we hall see in the next chapter, is of fundamental importance in modern astronomical
instrumentation. Detailed investigation of the photoelectric effect uncovered a number of
characteristics of this phenomenon that were totally at odds with the idea that light acts as a
wave.
In 1905 the legendary German physicist Albert Einstein offered an ingenious explanation
for these difficulties by simply assuming that light, in some instances, does not behave as a
continuous wave motion, but instead acts as if it were composed of discrete packets of energy
called photons, which exhibit particlelike behavior. Each of these photons possesses an energy
having a value given by
energy of a photon = Plancks constant frequency of the photon
or
E
photon
= h f
where Plancks constant h has a value of 6.63 10
34
Joulesec. Since the product of the
frequency f and the wavelength of an electromagnetic wave is equal to the speed of light c, we
may write the above equation as
120 Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter
E
photon
=
hc
Thus, the energy associated with a very small wavelength gamma ray photon is much higher than
that of larger wavelength photons, a fact which in part accounts for the wellknown ability of
gamma rays to penetrate matter with relative ease.
The realization that light can behave as a particle led to the amazing conclusion that light
exhibits a sort of waveparticle duality in which it can somehow behave as both a particle and as
a wave, but not simultaneously. In actuality such a result tells us that neither of these
comparatively simple representations of light as particle or as wave is adequate for the cause.
Less than three decades after Einsteins work on the photoelectric effect, physicists developed the
theory of quantum mechanics in which light is described in terms of a sort of probability
distribution called a wave function, which unfortunately has no visual analogue in the everyday
world, but which nonetheless has been successful in accounting for all of the observed
characteristics of electromagnetic radiant energy in general and visible light in particular.
ATOMIC THEORY AND THE STRUCTURE OF MATTER
As we have already seen, the Greek thinker Democritus claimed in the fifth century BC that
if an object such as a page from this book were chopped up into ever smaller pieces, one would
eventually come to the ultimate indivisible particle of matterthe atom. For over two
millennia this view of matter took a distinct back seat to the Aristotelian continuous
fourelement hypothesis. By the turn of the seventeenth century, however, the idea of only
Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter 121
four elements and continuous, forever divisible matter was to give way to a revised version of
Democritus atomic theory of matter.
From the systematic work of atomic and nuclear physicists, we now know that atoms are
almost unimaginably small. Approximately one million atoms side by side would cover a
distance roughly equal to one of the printed periods in this text! Because they are so small,
atoms are able to evade even the tiny wavelengths of light by which our most powerful optical
microscopes are able to detect and resolve objects in the microbial world. Nevertheless,
improved instrumentation such as the socalled electron microscope has allowed us to see
many of these atoms and molecules.
We have also learned that Democritus billiard ball atoms possess a structure of their own
whose complexity is considerable. As a first approximation to this structure, one can imagine
that atoms are composed of three basic types of building block particles: protons, electrons,
and neutrons. Protons and neutrons occupy the center or nucleus of an atom and are
simultaneously small in size and relatively large in mass. Electrons, meanwhile, are
comparatively lowmass particles and, depending on their number, occupy one or more
concentric shells or energy levels, which are centered on the nucleus (Fig. 5.5).
Protons and neutrons are each about 1800 times more massive than an electron. Thus the
bulk of the mass contained in an atom is highly concentrated over a relatively small volume of
space at the center of the atom. While protons and neutrons are relatively large mass particles
atomically speaking, on an everyday scale they have masses of only 1.7 10
27
kg. In other
words, it would take about 10
27
protons or neutrons to form into a total mass of one kilogram.
122 Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter
To place this number into perspective, the number of grains of sand on all the worlds beaches
has about the same value of 10
27
!
Each chemical element in nature is characterized by its atomic number or number of
protons in its nucleus. The element hydrogen, for example, has one proton in its nucleus, the
element helium has two, and oxygen has eight. The element uranium has a 92proton nucleus.
The mass number of an atom is defined as the total number of protons and neutrons contained in
the nucleus. Thus an oxygen atom with 8 protons and 8 neutrons has a mass number of 16 and a
uranium atom with 92 protons and 146 neutrons has a mass number of 238. Because any given
proton, neutron, or electron is identical to any other proton, neutron, or electron, it is possible to
transform one element into another by nuclear reactions of such particles with atomic nuclei.
Atoms of a given element can interact with other atoms of either the same element or
different elements to form combinations of atoms called molecules. Atoms of a given element
may also exist in various forms of isotopes in which atoms have the same number of protons in
their nuclei but a different number of neutrons (Fig. 5.6). An example of an isotope is the
substance called deuterium. Normally a hydrogen atom has only a single proton in its nucleus,
but the much rarer deuterium has one proton and one neutron in its nucleus. Thus deuterium
still qualifies as a hydrogen atom because it has a oneproton nucleus, but it also has a mass
number twice as large as the more common variety of hydrogen in which the neutron is absent.
Many isotopes are important because they are radioactive and, as such, can be both quite useful
and also pose potential dangers to our environment.
Protons and electrons also possess a fundamental property called an electric charge. Two
types of electric charge exist in nature that have been designated positive (+) and negative ().
Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter 123
Electric charges with like signs exert repelling or repulsive forces on one another. Electric
charges with unlike signs exert an attractive force on each other. Protons possess a positive
electric charge and electrons a negative electric charge. Neutrons are in effect composed of a
proton and an electron that have been squished together and thus possess no net electrical
charge.
Recent decades of physics research has provided an overwhelming array of empirical
evidence in favor of the idea that protons, neutrons, and electrons are themselves composed of
even smaller, more elementary particles or subatomic particles, which leads one to wonder
whether Democritus ultimate billiard ball even exists at all, thus giving the last laugh in such
matters, at least in part, back to Aristotle.
NUCLEAR ENERGY
Of all the sources and reservoirs of energy that exist in the universe, none is more
extraordinary than that uncovered in 1905 by Albert Einstein in his theory of special relativity.
In the course of developing this revolutionary view of motion phenomena, Einstein was able to
demonstrate that mass and energy are in effect equivalent quantities which are related to one
another by what is perhaps the most widely known equation in the history of scientific endeavor:
E = mc
2
or the energy E locked up in a mass m is equal to the product of the mass m and the square of the
speed of light c. Mass can thus be thought of as a sort of freezedried form of energy.
124 Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter
Because of the large size of the square of the speed of light, a rather small amount of mass is
capable of becoming a tremendous amount of energy. It is precisely by making such a
conversion that the sun and distant stars are able to generate their large amounts of energy over
geological time scales.
There are a variety of processes in which the relativistic energy locked in matter can be
released, all of which involve the nuclei of atoms. Whenever a particle such as a neutron strikes
a nucleus and is absorbed, the impact causes a deformation of the shape of the nucleus. If the
deformation exceeds a certain critical amount, then it is possible for the electrostatic repulsive
forces within the nucleus to split that nucleus into two smaller nuclei of roughly equal size.
Such a process is called nuclear fission and generally occurs only in the heavier nuclei such as
uranium. Under certain circumstances, a substance can sustain such a fission process by means
of a chain reaction in which the particles generated in the initial fission process are able to
produce additional fission processes. Perhaps the most famous example of a chain reaction
involves the uranium isotope uranium235, which, on being struck by a neutron, will split in two
and release two or three neutrons, which in turn strike other uranium235 nuclei and so on.
With each fission, some of the mass in the nucleus is converted into its equivalent energy. As a
result, such fissionable materials constitute a potential source of impressive amounts of energy.
At conditions of extraordinarily high temperatures and pressures, two or more nuclei can
collide and fuse together into a single nucleus having a larger atomic number and atomic mass.
The most familiar example of a fusion process is the thermonuclear fusion of four protons into a
helium nucleus with an attendant conversion of mass into its equivalent energy. Such fusion
reactions are capable of releasing thousands of times more energy than the fission chain reactions
Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter 125
and, as we shall see, are known to be the source of the energy produced by the sun and distant
stars.
One of the hallmarks of the last half of the 20th century is that, for better or for worse,
human beings have managed to some degree to access the virtually limitless reservoir of
relativistic energy available in the physical world. How human beings are able to handle such
an awesome responsibility will, of course, have a direct impact on the very future of our
civilization.
SPECTRA OF LIGHT SOURCES
One of the most beautiful phenomena in nature is produced when white light strikes the
water droplets found in a rain shower, the mist of a waterfall, or even the spray of a lawn
sprinkler. As the sunlight interacts with the droplet, it is spread out into its component
wavelengths which we see as the total range of the visible light spectrum. Not only is sunlight
so composed of a spectrum of wavelengths, but so too is the light received from all celestial
objects. Using a variety of techniques and instrumentation astronomers can quantitatively
measure this effect by obtaining a plot of the energy intensity I
=
A
)
`
1
10
B/T
1
where T is the temperature of the object expressed in Kelvins (0 K = absolute zero = 273C), A
is equal to 1.2 10
16
kgm
4
/sec
3
, and B is equal to .0063 mK. Planck was appalled at the idea
that energy of any form in the universe had to come in discrete packages, and would later refer to
his calculations as an act of mathematical desperation. Nevertheless the Planck function was
eminently successful in accounting for the behavior of continuous spectra and Einsteins
previously discussed work on the photoelectric effect would further confirm the idea that light
came in tiny energy packets, each of which possessed an energy equal to hc/.
Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter 131
The question then remained of how a Bohr model atom surrounded by discrete electronic
energy states could emit a continuous spectrum of radiant energy. Bohr noted that continuous
spectra were always produced from incandescent solids, liquids, and high density gases. Each of
these states of matter is characterized by the close packing of the atoms which compose the
source. This close packing in turn crowds the electronic energy levels of the atoms to such an
extent that these levels are no longer discretely separated. Under such circumstances electrons
can make transitions having any amount of energy. Hence the wavelength of the corresponding
photon that is emitted from such a source can take on any positive value as well. The result is
the observed continuum of radiant energy.
Although Bohrs portrait of the atom provided the first insights concerning spectroscopic
phenomena, less than twenty years later, the Bohr model came to be replaced by the far more
successful quantum mechanical view of the electron in which the energy absorbed or emitted by
an electron manifests itself not by making an upward or downward jump from one energy level
to another, but rather by a change in the shape of the electrons wave function.
TEMPERATURE
The ability of an object or system to transfer thermal energy is specified in science as the
temperature of that object or system. There are several scales which can be used to measure
temperature, but the most fundamental scale is the Kelvin scale in which the zero point is set at
absolute zero, the ultimate low temperature in the universe whose equivalent values are 273
and 460 respectively on the more familiar Celsius and Fahrenheit temperature scales. All
temperatures on the Kelvin scale thus have positive values.
132 Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter
As we have seen, the continuous energy intensity distribution emitted by an incandescent
light source, as expressed by the Planck function, depends in part on the Kelvin temperature of
the source. In theory, therefore, the Kelvin temperature of an object can be obtained by
measuring the value of energy intensity at a set wavelength and then calculating the Kelvin
temperature using the Planck function.
A far easier technique is to make use of two relationships which can be derived from the
Planck function. The first of these is called Wiens law. From Fig. 5.10 it can be seen that the
energy intensity for a given object at a given temperature passes through a maximum value at a
wavelength
max
which is defined as the wavelength of maximum energy intensity. Wiens law
states that the product of
max
in meters and the Kelvin temperature has a constant value equal to
.0029 meterKelvins or
max
Kelvin temperature = .0029 meter!__vins
for any incandescent light source. Also, if an incandescent light source has a given energy
intensity at its surface, then the total surface intensity I
total
in watts/m
2
of the radiant energy
emitted at all wavelengths is also related to the Kelvin temperature, this time by a second
equation called the StefanBoltzmann law, which states
I
total
= (Kelvin temperature)
4
Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter 133
where the symbol represents a constant called the Stefan Boltzmann constant which has a
value of 5.67 10
8
(watts/m
2
)/(Kelvins)
4
. From these two laws, we can see that an increase in
the Kelvin temperature of an incandescent light source will produce a marked increase in the
total energy intensity emitted by the source as well as a downward displacement in the position
of the wavelength of maximum energy intensity (Fig. 5.10).
Both of these laws can be seen in action when we observe how the color of an incandescent
light source changes with temperature. As the temperature of the object increases, Wiens law
dictates that the value of
max
decreases inversely. Thus the first color we see when an object is
hot enough to visibly glow is the dull red color at the long wavelength end of the visible light
spectrum. As the temperature of the object increases, Wiens law continues to drive the value of
max
toward smaller values, while progressively more energy intensity is also contributed at all
wavelengths in accordance with the StefanBoltzmann law. The observed result is that with
increasing temperature the color of the object appears to change from dull red, through various
shades of red, orange, and yellow, and ultimately to the whitehot color attained when the
objects temperature is so high that large amounts of energy intensity are being emitted over the
entire range of the visible light wavelengths, resulting in the objects white light appearance.
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
Long before a physical explanation was offered for their existence, line spectra were
recognized as having enormous potential as a vehicle for chemical analysis. Spectral line
patterns exhibited by a given substance were found to be unique to that element. Thus the line
pattern exhibited by hydrogen is different from that of helium and so on. Moreover this property
134 Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter
of uniqueness extends to molecules, ions (atoms or molecules which have lost or gained one or
more electrons), and even isotopes of the same element. This uniqueness of spectra line patterns
can readily be explained with the Bohr model by noting that each atom, ion, or molecule is
surrounded by a set of energy levels whose energy spacings are unique to that substance. Thus
any electronic transitions which occur within that substance will have transition wavelengths
which are also unique to that substance.
To make use of this uniqueness characteristic in chemical analysis, scientists must first
collect a fingerprint file of the line pattern exhibited by as many known substances as possible.
This is accomplished for each substance by painstakingly observing the line pattern exhibited by
a highly purified sample of the given substance under carefully controlled laboratory conditions.
By comparing the line pattern exhibited by a sample of unknown composition with the
spectroscopic fingerprints from known substances, scientists can identify which substances are
producing the pattern of lines observed for the unknown sample. The use of spectral line
patterns in chemical analysis is a most powerful technique and in fact during the last half of the
nineteenth century led to the discovery of a thenunknown chemical element. In 1868 the
French and English astronomers Pierre Janssen and Norman Lockyer discovered lines in the
spectral line pattern of the sun which could not be identified with any earthly counterpart
substances known at the time. Lockyer became convinced that the unidentifiable lines were
from a new chemical element which he called helium, a Greek word meaning element of the
sun. This bold assertion was confirmed nearly 30 years later when in 1895 the Scottish chemist
William Ramsay was able to isolate this same element here on earth, thus dramatically affirming
the validity of the technique as well as the principle of universality.
Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter 135
THE DOPPLER EFFECT
If there is relative motion between a source of wave motion and an observer, the observer
will not see the wavelength emitted by the source, but rather a wavelength that is different in
value, depending on the relative motion involved. If the relative motion between the source and
the observer is one of recession, the wavelength perceived by the observer will be larger or
longer than that emitted from the source. On the other hand if the relative motion between the
source and the observer is toward the observer, the wavelength perceived by the observer will
now be smaller or shorter than that emitted from the source (Fig. 5.11). This phenomenon is
known in physics as the Doppler effect, and has as its most familiar examples the observed
changes in sound wave frequencies of approaching and receding sound producing vehicles such
as automobiles, aircraft, etc.
Since light behaves as a wave motion, we also observe the Doppler effect in light sources
as well. The only contribution to the Doppler effect made by an objects velocity, however, is
that part of the velocity which is directed along the line of sight between the source and the
observer. This component of velocity is called the radial velocity and for light waves is given by
the following relationship
V
r
=
\
|
.
|
observed wavelength laboratory wavelength
laboratory wavelength
(speed of light)
or
136 Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter
V
r
=
\
|
.
|
|
obs
lab
lab
c =
lab
c
The observed wavelength is that which is perceived as coming from a source moving with the
radial velocity V
r
, while the laboratory wavelength is that which would be observed from that
same source if it were at rest in a laboratory. The dimensionless quantity /
lab
is called the
Doppler shift of the object. If the observed wavelength of an object is longer than the laboratory
wavelength, then the relative motion of the source is away from the observer, the radial velocity
has a positive value, and the objects spectrum is said to be redshifted. On the other hand, if
the observed wavelength of an object is shorter than the laboratory wavelength, then the relative
motion of the source is toward the observer, the radial velocity has a negative value and the
objects spectrum is said to be blueshifted.
To determine the direction and magnitude of an objects radial velocity, the observed
wavelength emitted by a moving object is compared with the wavelengths unshifted or
laboratory value and V
r
is then calculated using the above relationship. A radar gun, for
example, operates by emitting a known wavelength which reflects off the object whose radial
velocity we wish to measure. The return echo now has a different wavelength imported to it
as a result of the relative motion between the radar gun and the moving object, and is used to
calculate the value of the objects radial velocity. It is in this fashion that velocities of objects as
diverse as an automobile traveling over the speed limit, a baseball thrown by a major league
pitcher, or a moving jet plane can be measured. As we shall see, astronomers have also made
extensive use of this same Doppler effect in obtaining information about topics ranging from the
earths orbital motion about the sun to the overall nature of the entire observable universe.
Chapter 5: The Physics of Astronomy: Energy, Light, and Matter 137
135
CHAPTER 6
VIEWING AND RECORDING FROM
AFAR
THE TELESCOPE IN GENERAL
With the invention of the telescope in the early years of the 16th century, astronomers
began a marvelous journey of discovery which continues to this day. Armed with a plethora of
telescopes located on the earths surface and in outer space, astronomers have, over the past four
centuries, uncovered a universe that is vast and complex beyond anything that possibly could
have been imagined by the naked eye observers of antiquity and the middle ages.
As its name suggests, the telescope permits its user to view from afar. Such an enhanced
view of distant objects is accomplished in several ways. In the most familiar aspect of this
enhancement the telescope is able to create images in which a given object appears to be closer to
the observer, thereby providing a much greater degree of specific detail for the observer. Thus
when viewed through a telescope, fuzzy patches of light are transformed into nebulae, star
clusters, and galaxies, planets exhibit detail such as ring systems, orbiting satellites, and oblate
shapes, and the comparatively featureless naked eye moon explodes into a treasure trove of
topography.
136 Chapter 6: Viewing and Recording From Afar
In addition to the increase in the detail which can be observed in the image of a given
object, the overall brightness of the object is considerably enhanced over the apparent brightness
of the same object viewed without the benefit of the telescope. Thus objects which are too dim
to be seen with the naked eye are now in effect brightened up by the telescope to the extent that
they are now readily viewed. Since, as we have seen, the apparent brightness of an object
depends inversely on the square of its distance, the ability of a telescope to brighten images
essentially allows the astronomer to peer more deeply into space to detect and observe ever more
distant objects.
The twentieth century has also seen the development of a third aspect of the telescopes
ability to enhance our views of the heavens. Historically telescopic observations were confined
almost entirely to the visual region of the electromagnetic spectrum. As new regions of the
electromagnetic spectrum were discovered and investigated, however, astronomers began to
design telescopes which could image and analyze the nonvisual electromagnetic waves
emanating from celestial sources. The first such step came in the 1930s when an American
electronics engineer named Grote Reber built the first radio wave detecting telescope or radio
telescope and turned it skyward. The coming of the Space Age in 1957 allowed astronomers to
view the heavens from above the earths atmosphere, thereby providing access to those parts of
the electromagnetic spectrum such as xrays and gamma rays which, from the standpoint of our
existence on the earth, are thankfully blocked out by the earths atmosphere. Telescopes
designed to detect such radiant energy have since been built and orbited about the earth and have
made discoveries that rival those of Galileo in terms of their impact on our view of the heavens.
Chapter 6: Viewing and Recording From Afar 137
Image Formation in a Telescope
In describing the details of how a telescope is able to form images of distant objects, it is
useful to represent light as a ray or beam. If unimpeded, light rays will travel in straightline
paths from source to observer. For distant celestial objects this "ray" effect is similar to a
rainstorm in which an infinitude of parallel light rays are striking the earth over a given area,
each ray of which carries the entire amount of information regarding the image. Thus, you can
look at the moon with one eye and then the other and still see the entire moon in each instance.
Because light rays from celestial objects are falling onto the earth parallel to each other,
astronomers must somehow alter the direction of such rays if they are to be collected and formed
into a useful image.
Fortunately, two phenomena exist in nature which result in the deflection of light rays.
One of these occurs when a beam of light "bounces" off a smooth surface or is "reflected" off that
surface. These reflections occur in such a way that the angle of incidence and the angle of
reflection are equal. The phenomenon of "refraction" occurs when a light beam moving in one
medium crosses an interface with a second medium at some angle of incidence. Instead of
continuing in its original path as it crosses the interface, the light beam will be bent or refracted
in a manner that depends on the properties of the materials on either side of the interface.
Usually light that is reflected or refracted in nature results in a distorted image such as the
view of a river bottom through turbulent, swiftly flowing water or the view of a distant landscape
on a hot day. However, by shaping or "figuring" a refracting or reflecting surface such as a lens
or mirror in just the proper fashion, it is possible to bring a set of incident, parallel light rays from
a distant point source to a sharp focus. The point where the image is formed is called the focus
138 Chapter 6: Viewing and Recording From Afar
or focal point, and the distance between the lens or mirror and the focal point is the focal length
of the lens or mirror. Any observed point source is imaged as a point at the focal point, but if an
extended source such as a planet, nebula, or star cluster is observed, the image is formed on a
plane called the focal plane of the lens or mirror. Each ray that strikes the lens or mirror
conveys the entire image of the object and the effect of covering part of the lends or mirror will
be only to cut down on the total light which forms the final image.
The refracting telescope employs a lens, called the objective lends at the front of a tube as
the lightgathering and image forming element. The image is formed at the rear of the tube and
can be inspected visually by means of a second, smaller eyepiece lens or recorded
photographically by placing a photographic plate in the focal plane of the objective lens.
In a reflecting telescope a concave mirror serves as the lightcollecting and imageforming
element. In this case, however, the image formed by the "primary" mirror lies between the
object being observed and the mirror, thus generally requiring the use of "secondary" mirrors to
locate the final image at a position convenient for observation.
The simplest design for a reflecting telescope is the prime focus reflector. In this system
no secondary mirrors are used and the image is formed in the middle of the tube. If the area of
the detector is not too large, then the corresponding light loss as a result of light blockage from
the detector will be acceptably small. If, however, the area of the detector is larger than about
ten percent of the area of the primary mirror, the light blockage becomes unacceptable, and it is
necessary to employ alternate designs for light collection in a reflecting telescope. One
approach in this regard is to make use of much smaller size secondary mirrors which serve to
relocate the final image at a position outside of the incoming light beams. In the socalled
Chapter 6: Viewing and Recording From Afar 139
"Newtonian" reflector this is accomplished by means of a small, flat mirror mounted at a 45
angle. The light is thus brought to focus outside the telescope tube. Because of its relative
simplicity and convenience of viewing, the Newtonian design is employed most extensively in
small aperture amateur reflecting telescopes.
A second method of light diversion is preformed by mounting a small convex mirror at the
center of the telescope tube. This mirror reflects the light from the primary mirror back down
the tube. A small hole in the primary mirror allows the light rays to come to focus at a point
behind the telescope tube. Such a telescope system is referred to as a Cassegrain reflector. The
Cassegrain reflector allows the astronomer to work at the base of the telescope and is widely used
for medium sized observatory instruments.
Because reflectors and refractors employ different methods of lightgathering and image
formation, each type of telescope has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Refractors
can be constructed so as to minimize image distortion, provided that the incident light is
monochromatic. Thus, the refractor finds wide use in planetary and lunar astronomy as well as
in the field of astronomy which deals with the accurate measurement of stellar positions.
However, refractors are troubled by color distortions or "chromatic aberrations" and also require
lenses of flawless glass, shaped on two sides, and which can be supported only about their outer
edges. These requirements become prohibitive if a largeaperture refractor is to be constructed,
since it is exceedingly difficult to cast and shape a large, flawless piece of glass. Such a lens
would also tend to sag slightly if supported only around its rim, thus, producing a small distortion
of its optical surface. The largest refractor in the world is the 40inch diameter refractor at the
Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin.
140 Chapter 6: Viewing and Recording From Afar
A reflector, on the other hand can be constructed so that the primary mirror is supported not
only along its rim, but from the back as well without loss of the telescope's ability to gather and
focus light. In addition, a mirror needs to be shaped only on one surface. Thus, a reflector does
not require a flawless piece of glass and can be made much larger than a refractor. The largest
single mirror reflector in the world is the 6meter (236inch) diameter telescope in the Caucasus
Mountains in the southern part of the Russian Federation. A number of recently developed
socalled "new generation" telescopes have segmented primary mirrors which are made up of a
set of smaller telescope mirrors. Examples of such segmented mirror systems are those of the
twin Keck Telescopes in Hawaii, each of which has a diameter of 10 meters and is composed of
36 hexagonalshaped mirror segments. Reflectors are able to focus multicolored light beams,
but are not able to precisely focus rays of light that are not near the center of view. Because of
their size and lack of color distortion, reflectors are used in spectroscopy and photometry projects
where colorcorrected images and image brightness are extremely important. Most large
reflectors have a set of secondary mirrors that allow the observer to change from one type of
reflecting telescope to another. This, or course, makes the reflector a much more versatile
instrument than the refractor, for which optical design must remain largely unchanged.
Image Brightness
The image brightness generated by a given telescope is a most important parameter because
it greatly determines the quality and types of measurements which can be made on a given
celestial object. In general, the image brightness is given by
Chapter 6: Viewing and Recording From Afar 141
brightness =
total power collected by the telescope
total area of formed by the telescope
.
The total power collected by the telescope is equal to the product of the apparent brightness
B of the object being observed and the total aperture area of the telescopes primary lens or
mirror. Since virtually all telescope lenses and mirrors are circular in shape, we may write that
total power collected = B area = B
(diameter)
2
4
=
B
4
(diameter)
2
assuming no light losses within the telescope.
When viewing celestial objects, there are two classes of images which can be produced by
the telescope. The first of these are the unresolved images or socalled point source images.
These images arise from objects are so small and/or so far away that the telescope cannot resolve
a definite shape, and thus such objects exhibit images which have a starlike appearance when
viewed through the telescope. Examples of point sources are the stars themselves, small
asteroids, planetary satellites and the like. For the purposes of this course we will assume that
the image area for any point sources image formed by any telescopes has a constant value. The
image brightness for a point source therefore is given by
brightness
(point source)
= (constant) (diameter)
2
.
If we have two different telescopes, the ratio of their image brightnesses is given by
142 Chapter 6: Viewing and Recording From Afar
brightness
(telescope 1)
brightness
(telescope 2)
=
\
|
.
|
|
diameter
telescope 1
diameter
telescope 2
2
. (point source )
For example, a 2inch spyglass will be able to generate a point source image brightness that is
100 times more than that of the human eye with an average diameter of 1/5 inch since
brightness
(spyglass)
brightness
(eye)
=
(2)
2
(1/5)
2
=
4
1/25
= 100 .
When an objects shape can be resolved in a telescope, the resultant image is said to be an
extended source image. Examples of such images include planetary disks, nebulae, star clusters,
and all but the most distant galaxies. For extended source images the area of the image formed
by the telescope is proportional to the square of the focal length of the primary lens or mirror of
the telescope. The image brightness for an extended source can thus be written as
brightness
(extended source)
= (constant)
\
|
.
|
|
diameter
focal length
2
.
Chapter 6: Viewing and Recording From Afar 143
If we have two different telescopes, the ratio of the image brightnesses produced for extended
sources is given by
brightness
(telescope 1)
brightness
(telescope 2)
=
\
|
.
|
|
diameter
telescope 1
diameter
telescope 2
focal length
telescope 2
focal length
telescope 1
2
.
The ratio of the focal length of the telescopes primary lens or mirror to its diameter is a
dimensionless quantity called the fratio of the telescope. The fratio can be thought of as a sort
of brightness indicator for the extended source images produced by a given optical instrument,
and as such is extremely useful not only in astronomy but also in more everyday applications
such as camera optics.
Image Resolution
The ability of a telescope to resolve detail in an image is referred to as its "resolving
power." Because of the wave nature of light, images formed by a telescope are slightly blurred
out by a phenomenon called diffraction. In particular, a point source of light is never imaged as
a true point in a telescope but rather as a minute spot surrounded by a series of faint concentric
rings. This central spot is called a diffraction disk and its diameter depends on the wavelength
of the light being observed and the size of the telescope aperture. Any detail in the image that is
smaller than this diffraction disk cannot be resolved or observed with that telescope.
It can be shown that this theoretical resolving power of a telescope is given by
144 Chapter 6: Viewing and Recording From Afar
resolving power = constant
)
`
, or the total energy generated by the sun per unit time. The
solar luminosity thus determined is 4 10
26
watts.
The Solar Temperature
The mean temperature of the suns outer layers can be estimated in a variety of ways,
including the use of Wiens law, Stefans law, Plancks law, and the relative intensities of
absorption lines in the solar atmosphere. In all cases, the mean temperature of the suns
atmosphere is found to be in the vicinity of 5800K.
The Rotation of the Sun
The sun, like the planets, spins on its axis. The rate of rotation is measured by observing
either the rate at which sunspots move across the visible face of the sun or from the Doppler
shifts present in the light radiating from its edges. Results from such studies indicate that the
Chapter 11: The Sun 225
sun does not rotate as a rigid body, but spins faster at its equator (once every 25 days) than at
points near its poles (once every 35 days).
The Solar Magnetic Field
The sun processes a very weak magnetic field which is thought to be similar to that of the
earth, both in terms of the general shape of its field lines and its overall magnitude. The
relationship between this general field and the stronger, more localized magnetic fields that are in
part responsible for sunspots, flares, and other aspects of solar activity is not yet clear.
THE SOLAR INTERIOR
226 Chapter 11: The Sun
The sun has been shining at or near its present rate for approximately 4 billion years. Its
tremendous energy output cannot be accounted for by any classical method of energy production
such as chemical, gravitational, or rotational processes. The dynamics of the suns energy
generation, as well as that of the distant stars, puzzled astronomers and physicists into the early
part of this century, at which time Albert Einstein demonstrated in his theory of special relativity
that matter and energy are related by the familiar equation E = mc
2
, where c is the speed of light.
The conversion of even a small amount of material into its equivalent energy can result in an
energy release sufficiently large to account for the intensity and duration of solar luminosity.
Nuclear energy is released either by breaking apart atoms (nuclear fission) or by fusing light
atoms into heavier atoms (nuclear fusion). Because elements such as uranium and plutonium
that are capable of sustaining fission reactions have extremely low cosmic abundances, nuclear
fission cannot be responsible for the suns energy generation. On the other hand nuclear fusion
processes in which hydrogen, the most abundant of the elements in the sun, is transformed into
helium, the next most abundant element in the sun, are now known to provide the source of the
suns energy production. Such a fusion reaction can be accomplished by means of either the
proton-proton (PP) cycle,
H
1
+ H
1
H
2
+ positron + neutrino
H
2
+ +H
1
He
3
+ energy (ray)
He
3
+ He
3
He
4
+ H
1
+ H + energy
or the carbon (CN) cycle,
Chapter 11: The Sun 227
C
12
+ H
1
+ N
13
energy (ray)
N
13
C
13
+ positron + neutrino
C
13
+ H
1
N
14
+ energy
N
14
+ H
1
O
15
+ energy
O
15
N
15
+ positron + neutrino
N
15
+ H
1
O
16
C
12
+ He
4
The superscripts denote the atomic weights of the elements involved. A positron is an electron
having a positive electric charge and a neutrino is a mysterious particle in nuclear physics that
has no mass or electric charge but is capable of carrying energy and can slip through matter like a
nuclear phantom.
Theoretical calculations indicate that the temperature at the center of the sun is 10 to
20 million degrees Kelvin and the pressure is over 400 billion times that of the earths
atmosphere. Under such conditions fusion by both the proton-proton cycle and the carbon cycle
can occur. Further investigations have shown that the proton-proton cycle accounts for
80 percent of the suns radiant energy and the carbon cycle for the remainder. Because the
temperature and pressure in the suns interior become less extreme at grater distances from the
center (for example, at a distance of R
from the center, gigantic convection currents carry this radiant energy the remaining distance to
228 Chapter 11: The Sun
the surface of the sun. The tops of these convection currents are observable as the solar
granulation and give the suns outer layers their mottled or granulated appearance.
THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE
Because of the suns large apparent brightness, astronomers have designed a number of
instruments and techniques which can resolve detail in the suns bright outer layers without
producing image brightnesses which could cause damage to a detecting device. Astronomers,
for example, can project the suns image safely onto a screen for examination or make use of
neutral density filters which cut down the suns image brightness. One instrument, called the
spectrophotometer, creates the suns image at the wavelength of a specific absorption line such as
the Balmer alpha line of the element hydrogen at 656 nanometers. Such images provide
astronomers with an invaluable amount of information about the suns outer layers. Other
observations of the suns atmosphere can be made during times of total solar eclipse, when the
suns visible disk is blotted out by the moon or by means of an instrument called a coronagraph,
in which the uns disk is eclipsed by an occulating disk placed within the optics of the
instrument. Using these observational techniques, astronomers have found that the solar
atmosphere consists of three distinct regions: the photosphere, the chromosphere, and the
corona.
The Photosphere
As the distance from the suns center increases, the temperature and pressure of these
interior layers decrease until the gaseous convective currents can no longer be maintained. The
Chapter 11: The Sun 229
end of the convection zone roughly marks the boundary between the solar interior and the suns
lowest atmospheric layer, the photosphere. The light emanating from the photosphere (light
sphere) defines the suns visible disk. Its spectrum contains hundreds of absorption lines that
reveal the presence of more than seventy elements and molecules in the photospheric gas. In
addition to line absorption, the photosphere spectrum shows continuous absorption, the source of
which is the negative hydrogen ion, a hydrogen atom that for a very short time picks up a free
electron and thus has a negative charge. As negative hydrogen ions form and dissociate, the
continuum radiation is absorbed and reemitted in a random fashion until it finally reaches the end
of the photosphere and escapes into space.
The light coming from the center of the solar disk appears brighter than that coming from
the edges. This phenomenon, referred to as limb darkening, arises out of the fact that the light
observed at the center of the sun originates in the deeper, hotter regions of the photosphere and
that observed at the edges originates in the higher, cooler regions. A detailed study of the
limb-darkening effect has allowed astronomers to develop a reasonably accurate picture of the
physical conditions present in the photosphere. The temperature at the top of the photosphere is
found to be about 4500K; it increases to 8000K some 400 km into the suns interior. The
photospheric pressure increases over the same interval from about 10
2
atmosphere to just under
1 atmosphere.
The Chromosphere
Just above the photosphere is the chromosphere (color sphere), a layer about
16 thousand km thick whose density decreases with increasing altitude but whose temperature
230 Chapter 11: The Sun
increases dramatically over the same interval from 4500K to over 100,000K. For many years
observations of the chromosphere could be made only in the few seconds preceding a total
eclipse of the sun. At this time the photosphere is covered, and a reddish crescent of light from
the chromosphere can be briefly observed. The spectrum of this light, called a flash spectrum,
exhibits elemental abundances much the same as those found in the photosphere. Because of
the higher temperatures, however, atoms in the chromosphere are in much higher states of
ionization and excitation and thus display slightly different sets of spectral lines. It was in the
chromospheric spectrum that the element of the sun, helium, was first discovered, years before
it was isolated and identified here on the earth.
The difficulty of observing the chromosphere has been overcome by the invention of the
coronagraph, a device in which the sun is eclipsed by optical means, thus permitting a more
leisurely study of this region than is possible during an eclipse. The chromosphere can also be
studied by use of a spectroheliograph, which allows the sun to be photographed in the light of a
very narrow spectral line such as the hydrogen alpha line at 656.3 nanometers.
In the upper region of the chromosphere can be seen a series of bright jets called spicules.
These jets shoot through the chromosphere to heights of several thousand kilometers above the
photosphere at velocities of 15 to 25 km/sec. Although each spicule lasts only from 2 to
5 minutes, about 100,000 of these features can be seen evenly distributed around the solar limb at
one time, giving the appearance of a brush fire. It is thought that the spicules are involved in the
transport of energy through the chromosphere as\d as such are closely related to the solar
granulation in the lower photosphere.
Chapter 11: The Sun 231
It is also in the chromospheric layer of the solar atmosphere that protons and electrons as
well as trace amounts of heavier nuclei are boiled off the sun and thrust into the interplanetary
medium. As these particles leave the sun they are thermally accelerated by the high coronal
temperatures and eventually reach speeds of several hundred kilometers per second. This
continual ejection of high-velocity atomic particles into the interplanetary medium is commonly
referred to as the solar wind. It has been measured extensively by artificial satellites as well as
by deep-space probes.
The Corona
During the total phase of a solar eclipse, the sun is surrounded by a pale glow of light
called the corona (crown). The corona is the outermost region of the solar atmosphere and
extends thousands of kilometers into space. It often displays a complicated structure of
streamers, which suggests the presence of strong localized magnetic fields.
The outer portion of the corona, or F corona, exhibits a reflected-absorption line spectrum
and is thought to be due to an inner extension of the interplanetary dust that gives rise to the
zodiacal light at greater distances from the sun. The inner portion of the corona or K corona,
exhibits a spectrum consisting of a number of emission lines superimposed on a weak
continuum. For many years these lines defied identification and were thought to arise from yet
another undiscovered element, coronium. However, the coronium lines were shown to arise
from atoms of iron, nickel, and calcium from which 13 or more electrons have been stripped.
The coronal temperature required for such a high degree of ionization is roughly 2 million
degrees Kelvin, a value that is confirmed by analyses of the profiles of the emission lines. The
232 Chapter 11: The Sun
density of the corona, however, is little more than that of the interplanetary medium, a density so
low that despite the high coronal temperature the total thermal energy emitted by the corona is
small compared to that which arises from the lower-temperature, but much higher-density
photosphere. The means by which the corona is heated to such a high temperature is thought to
be related to the deposition of large amounts of energy from the denser convective layers of the
sun at the base of the corona by the granulation and the spicules.
SOLAR ACTIVITY
Sunspots have been known since the time of Galileo and possibly even earlier. In 1838 it
was discovered that the number of spots visible on the sun varies in an 11-year cycle. More
detailed investigations have revealed a wealth of solar activity whose frequency and intensity
are closely correlated with the sunspot cycle. Thus, astronomers often refer to the sun as the
quiet sun at times of sunspot minima and the active sun at times of sunspot maxima. The
physical processes by which the various aspects of the solar activity cycle occur and their
relationship to one another are, to date, not completely understood by astrophysicists.
Sunspots
Sunspots appear, disappear, and change their size and shape as they advance across the
suns disk. Sunspots are about 1500K cooler than the surrounding solar gas and hence appear
darker. The lower temperature of sunspots is thought to be due to the reduction in energy flow
to these areas by the strong magnetic fields associated with them.
Chapter 11: The Sun 233
Faculae and Plages
Often a region develops on the solar surface that has the appearance of a bright, granulated
cloud. These regions, called faculae, usually develop in the vicinity of sunspots or in regions
with stronger than average magnetic fields. When viewed in a spectroheliograph, such features
are called plages. It is assumed that the faculae and plages are regions where the chromospheric
gas is changing its state of ionization and/or excitation, thereby emitting photon radiation.
Prominences and Filaments
Periodically huge jets of gas will, in a matter of minutes or hours, shoot thousands of
kilometers into space from the edge of the suns surface. These jets, called prominences, are
often twisted and bent by magnetic fields and taken on different shapes. Prominences are
usually observed at times of sunspot maxima, but, like other aspects of solar activity, they
sometimes occur at times of sunspot minima. Prominences that are not at the solar edge project
onto the solar disk as dark, wispy features called filaments.
Flares
Flares are the most impressive manifestations of solar activity. Sometimes a highly
localized area of the sun suddenly brightens up over a period of a few minutes. Associated with
this event are a wide variety of emissions, including X rays, radio bursts, and high-velocity
atomic particles. Such outbursts can have a considerable impact on the earth and its atmosphere,
and among other effects, can produce partial communications blackouts and aurorae.
234 Chapter 11: The Sun
Other Changes
A number of other changes in the solar atmosphere are related to the solar activity cycle.
At sunspot maximum, the corona is almost completely symmetrical about the solar disk and
extends out at a considerable angular distance; at sunspot minimum, it takes on a more flattened
appearance and exhibits weak polar rays. The variation in the strength of certain lines in the
spectrum of the solar corona is in phase with the solar activity cycle.
Most interesting of all, perhaps, is the fact that certain changes in the earths environment
seem to be related to the solar activity cycle. For example, botanists have found that the spacing
in tree rings, indicative of tree growth rates and hence climatic conditions, can be correlated with
the solar activity cycle. Because there are so many other variables, however, such potentially
important correlations between the solar cycle and the earths environmental conditions are,
unfortunately, of a very indirect nature.
235
CHAPTER 12
THE STARS
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STARS
From the initial realization that Earth orbits about the Sun, astronomers simultaneously
surmised that the stars necessarily had to be situated at enormous distances from the Sun, or
otherwise the nearest of them would exhibit relatively large parallax angles as Earth proceeded in
its orbital motion. For more than two centuries after the invention of the telescope, astronomers
efforts to measure the parallax angles of the distant stars came to naught. When the first
parallax angles were finally measured in the middle of the last century, they confirmed the long
suspected fact that the stars were orders of magnitude more distant than the outermost planets.
Thus, the nearest star, called Alpha Centauri, is found to be located at a distance of some
4 10
16
meters from the Sun, or about 6000 times further away than the last known planetary
outpost of the Solar System. On the same scale, if the Earth-Sun distance were 1 meter, the
distance between Earth and Alpha Centauri would be 270 kilometers!
236 Chapter 12: The Stars
Stellar Distances
Because stellar distances are so large, the parallax angles measured to obtain them so small,
astronomers employ a unit of distance called the parsec which is defined as the distance to a star
having a parallax angle of one arcsecond or 1/3600 of a degree. Using these units, the
relationship between the distance to a star in parsecs and its parallax angle in arcseconds is
simply
distance (parsecs) =
1
parallax (arcseconds)
.
With suitable conversion calculations, we can show that one parsec is equal to about
3.1 10
16
meters and one arcsecond is about 4.8 10
6
radians. Astronomers also employ a unit
of distance called the light year, which was defined earlier as the distance a photon of light can
travel in one year moving at a rate of 300,000 km/sec. One light year is thus equal to about
9.5 10
15
m or about 0.3 parsec.
Stellar Luminosities
Despite the fact that the stars are at such large distances, about 5000 of them are bright
enough to be seen with the naked eye. Clearly, for stars to appear as bright as they do at the
distances at which they are located, the stellar energy outputs required are comparable to that of
the Sun. For example, the observed intensity of the light coming from the star Alpha Centauri is
approximately 3.0 10
8
watts/m
2
. From the measurements of the parallax angle of Alpha
Chapter 12: The Stars 237
Centauri, the distance to this star is about 1.3 parsec or about 4.1 10
16
meters. If we calculate
the total power output or luminosity of Alpha Centauri into all directions of space, we obtain
power of Centauri = ( ) 3.0 10
8
4 ( ) 4.1 10
16 2
watts
= 6.34 10
26
watts
or about 1.6 times that of the Suns luminosity. Similar calculations for other stars reveal a
rather large range of values for stellar luminosities. Stars exist that produce energy at a rate over
one million times that of the Sun, while others have a luminosity that is barely a millionth that of
the Sun. Thus, the Suns luminosity is about average, not remarkably large nor small as stars go.
Because the Sun seems to be a typical star in terms of its energy production as well as its
other physical characteristics, astrophysicists most often measure stellar properties in terms of
solar units. Thus, the Suns luminosity of 3.84 10
26
watts is defined as one solar power unit
or one solar luminosity. A star having a power output of seven solar luminosities would be
radiating a total power of 7 3.84 10
26
watts = 26.9 10
26
watts. Similar solar units are
defined for the mass, radius, and photospheric temperature. In this system, one solar mass unit
is defined as 2.0 10
30
kg, one solar radius unit is equal 6.5 10
8
meters, and one solar
photospheric temperature unit is equal to 5800 K.
Stellar Temperatures
Temperatures of stars can be obtained from intensity spectra and by employing either
Wiens law or the Stefan-Boltzmann law. Early in this century, it was discovered that the
238 Chapter 12: The Stars
patterns of absorption lines in stars of differing temperatures can be arranged into the sequence of
spectral types as shown in because as the temperature of a given gaseous mixture changes, the
energy levels occupied by the electrons of the gas will change as well. Thus, an electron in a
given energy level will drop down or thermally deexcite to a lower level at a lower temperature
or thermally excite up to a higher level at a higher temperature. As a result, the wavelength
pattern of spectral lines that atoms in a given gas can absorb is controlled in large measure by the
temperature of the gas. We can make use of this fact to obtain stellar temperatures readily by
simply comparing the spectral line patterns of a star whose temperature is unknown with the
spectral sequence of stellar temperatures determined from standard stars having
well-determined temperature values from Wiens law and the Stefan-Boltzmann law. The
standard star line spectrum that most closely matches the patterns of lines in the spectrum of the
star of unknown temperature is assumed to have the same temperature as the unknown star.
This process is referred to in astronomy as the method of spectral classification. Almost all
stars have photospheric temperatures in the range of 2,000 k to 50,000 K.
At the stars visible disk or photosphere the total energy intensity I
TOTAL
of the radiation
passing outward through the photosphere is
I
TOTAL
=
L
4R
2
where L is the luminosity of the star and R is its radius. If the photosphere has a temperature T,
we have from Stefans law that
Chapter 12: The Stars 239
I
TOTAL
= T
4
and hence
L = 4R
2
T
4
If we write this equation for the sun () and a star (_), we obtain
L
*
= 4R
2
*
T
4
*
L
= 4R
2
T
4
Dividing these equations yields
L
*
L
R
*
R
T
*
T
4
If the luminosity and temperature of a given star have been determined, then it is possible to
calculate the radius of the star using the above equations. Calculations of stellar radii done in
this fashion have produced the amazing result that stars can range in size from a fairly large
metropolitan area such as New York or Los Angles up to the diameter of the entire solar system!
Stellar Masses
240 Chapter 12: The Stars
Stellar masses are determined from observing the orbital motions of binary stars and
making use of the harmonic law. If the distance of a binary system from the earth is known and
the angular separation between the two stars is observable, then the linear size of the orbit can be
calculated. If the mean distance is converted into astronomical units and the sidereal period of
the system is measured in years, then from the harmonic law we have
(mean distance)
3
(sidereal period)
2
= Mass 1 + Mass 2
where the mass of each of the stars is measured in solar mass units. For binary star systems
neither mass can be neglected and only the sum of the masses can be determined in this way.
Often, however, careful studies of the binarys radial velocity and proper motion reveal small
oscillating motions of each star about the systems center of mass, or barycenter. The two stars
motions about the barycenter are such that the product of the mass and the distance to the
barycenter is the same for both stars. By measuring the relative amplitudes of these oscillating
motions, astronomers can determine the mass ratio Mass 1/Mass 2 of the system. The individual
masses can them be readily obtained by algebraically solving these two equations for Mass 1 and
Mass 2. In some instances one of the stars, such as a solar-type star, can be assigned a value for
its mass, thereby permitting the determination of the second stars mass.
Stellar Rotation
It has long been recognized that the sun rotates on its axis at a rate of about once every
27 days, but it was not until the early decades of this century that astronomers were able to
Chapter 12: The Stars 241
assemble evidence that the distant stars also rotate, and often at enormous velocities. The most
direct evidence for stellar rotation is found among the eclipsing binary stars. For some of the
eclipsing systems it has been noted that the radial velocity curve of the eclipsed star will exhibit
an anomalous single oscillation from the mean curve at the exact time of the eclipse. This
behavior is referred to as the Rossiter effect and is explained by the fact that as the eclipsing star
covers up first one half of the rotating star and then the other, the observer sees in turn that half
of the star that is rotating toward (or away) and then that half rotating away from (or toward) the
observer. The net perceived result is a single Doppler oscillation superimposed on the normal
radial velocity curve.
Larger rotation rates also tend to impart a washedout appearance to spectral lines, which
become larger with increasing rates of rotation. Because the angular inclination i of the axis of
rotation of the star relative to the observer cannot be determined for the distant stars, one can
only determine the value of V
rot
sin i, or the component of the rotational velocity V
rot
that is
directly toward or away from the observer. The most rapidly rotating stars are the B and early A
(A0A5) stars, some of which must be on the verge of rotational disruption because of their
extremely high rates of rotation. Stars cooler than G0, such as the sun, are observed to have
considerably reduced rotational velocities.
Stellar Magnetic Fields
When certain atoms are placed in a magnetic field, the magnetic field causes the electronic
energy levels to split into two or more sublevels, each of which is capable of participating in
electronic transitions. This splitting of energy levels in the presence of a magnetic field is a
242 Chapter 12: The Stars
phenomenon called the Zeeman Effect and manifests itself in the creation of complex spectral
line patterns in the presence of a magnetic field. The degree to which the energy levels and
hence the resulting line patterns are split is directly proportional to the strength of the magnetic
field which is present. Thus astronomers can deduce the intensity of stellar magnetic fields by
measuring the degree to which Zeeman line splitting is observed. In this fashion astronomers
have found that stellar magnetic fields range from nearly zero to intensities millions of times that
of the earths magnetic field.
The HertzsprungRussell Diagram
Although one might expect a relative uniform distribution of the types of stars which can be
generated from all the possible combinations of the variety of stellar physical characteristics, it is
observed that certain combinations of these physical characteristics occur far more frequently
among the stars than others. These results can be partially summarized in a plot of the
temperature of a star versus its luminosity called a HertzsprungRussell or HR diagram after is
codiscoverers, E. Hertzsprung of Denmark and the American Henry Norris Russell.
Sometimes such a plot is referred to as a spectrumluminosity diagram or a colorluminosity
diagram.
The areas of the HR diagram where the largest number of stars are found are the main
sequence and the giant branch. The sun occupies a position on the main sequence below and
slightly to the left of the giant branch. Because these points on the HR diagram are
experimentally determined over such a short time period relative to the lifetimes of stars, they
represent a frozen picture of stars in their various stages of evolution, much as a photograph
Chapter 12: The Stars 243
taken of a garden or forest is a frozen picture of the state of the plants present at that time. For
this reason, their study of the various facets of the HR diagram is of considerable importance in
understanding how stars evolve during their life cycles.
PECULIAR STARS
In addition to the more or less typical stars, there exist several thousand stars whose
properties are quite unusual. Such objects are believed to represent various stages in the lives of
stars and thus can provide a better understanding of stellar life cycles.
Stars Having Unusual Abundances of Elements
Spectroscopic analysis of stellar atmospheres shows that stars are composed primarily of
hydrogen (about 90 percent by number of atoms) and helium (about 9 percent by number of
atoms). The relative abundances of the elements heavier than helium are roughly the same as
those found in solar cosmic rays, the earths crust, and meteorites. A few stars, however, exhibit
significant variations from the typical relative abundances, and because it is not likely that these
abundance anomalies were present in the material from which the star was formed, they are
assumed to have arisen from nuclear processes occurring during the stars lifetime. Thus, a
study of these abundance anomalies and the nuclear processes that could give rise to them yields
important clues as to the nature of the deep interior of a star, especially a star in an advanced
stage of its life cycle.
A few stars exhibit most of the spectral characteristics of B stars but have lines of hydrogen
that are weak or completely absent; these stars also exhibit an enhancement of the lines of
244 Chapter 12: The Stars
helium. It may be that the hydrogenrich outer layers of the star have been blown off, thus
baring the heliumrich inner layers. Another possibility is that the two regions have become
throughly mixed by convection and the relative hydrogen abundance has decreased in the outer
layers while the relative abundance of helium has increased.
Perhaps the most puzzling of all the objects with abundance anomalies are the peculiar A
stars. These objects have spectra resembling those of normal A stars, but also display very
strong lines of the more common metals such as silicon, chromium, and strontium and of the rare
earth elements such as europium. Moreover, the strengths of these lines vary from time to time.
Peculiar A stars may also exhibit strongly variable magnetic fields, some of which change their
magnitudes by thousands of gauss in a matter of a few days.
Positioned on the HR diagram near the main sequence and the F stars are the metallicline
stars. These objects exhibit the same continuum distributions and gross spectral characteristics
as the A and F stars but contain metallic lines characteristic of somewhat cooler stars. These
objects all seem to possess large amounts of turbulence and all are spectroscopic binaries.
In the region of the late G and early K giants and supergiants are the barium stars. Not
only are the barium lines enhanced for these objects, but also the lines arising from other heavy
metals such as zirconium and lanthanum, thus suggesting an overabundance of these substances
relative to the light metals such as vanadium, titanium, and iron.
In the normal cool red giants, the molecular bands of the light metal oxides, in particular
titanium oxide and vanadium oxide, dominate the spectrum. Carbon stars are a class of cool
stars having luminosities similar to those of the normal red giants but whose spectra are
characterized by bands arising from molecules containing carbon, especially C
2
, CH, and CN.
Chapter 12: The Stars 245
The S stars, like the carbon stars, are found in the region of the red giants on the HR
diagram. Their spectra, however, are dominated by the molecular bands of heavy metal oxides
such as zirconium oxide and lanthanum oxide. Quite often the carbon starts and S stars are also
intrinsic variables having light variations similar to those exhibited by the Mira variables and the
irregular variables, to be discussed below.
Intrinsic Variable Stars
Binary stars that vary in brightness because they eclipse each other are sometimes called
eclipsing variables, and are in effect geometric accidents whose orbital planes happen to be
aligned in such a way that we here on the earth observe them to eclipse. Intrinsic variable stars
are those whose brightness varies as a result of actual variations in their luminosities. About
30,000 such stars are known at present. There are two main types of intrinsically variable stars:
pulsating variables and eruptive variables.
Pulsating Variables. Nearly 20,000 intrinsic variables vary in brightness as a result of
pulsations that occur in their atmospheric layers. The existence of such pulsations can be
verified by observing the correlation between the measured brightness of the variable and its
observed radial velocity.
The cepheid variables, named for their prototype, Delta Cephei, are F and G supergiants
that have nearly constant periods of pulsation ranging from 1 day to more than 50 days. During
these pulsations, the cepheid rises rapidly to its maximum brightness and more slowly dims to its
minimum light. Typically, the radius is altered by about 10 percent during this cycle with
corresponding changes in the luminosity and surface temperature.
246 Chapter 12: The Stars
The cepheids can be divided into two categories: type I, or classical, cepheids, which are
the brighter cepheids and are found in the regions of high gas and dust content along the Milky
Way plane; and type II cepheids, or W Virginis stars, which are fainter and have a roughly
spherical distribution around the nucleus of the Milky Way.
An important property of the cepheid brightness variation is that the period of the light
variation for a given cepheid variable can be mathematically expressed in terms of the average
luminosity of that cepheid. This relationship is called the periodluminosity law. Because of
their large intrinsic brightnesses, distinctive light variation, and adherence to a welldefined
periodluminosity law, cepheid variables are used extensively as distance indicators. Such stars
in galaxies and star clusters are first identified from the characteristic nature of their light
variation. The period of the light variation is then measured and the corresponding average
luminosity calculated from the periodluminosity law. The average luminosity and the apparent
brightness of the object, which is easily determined, provide enough information to compute the
cepheids distance. Care must be taken to identify correctly type I and type II cepheids, since the
one to two magnitude difference in their absolute magnitudes can lead to a distance
determination that is off by as much as a factor of 2.
Below the cepheids in the HR diagram and similar to them in properties are the RR Lyrae
stars. However, their periods of light variation are much shorter, being in the range of 0.1 to
1.0 day. The absolute magnitude of RR Lyrae stars does not exhibit the periodluminosity
relation as does that of the cepheids, but their mean absolute magnitude of 0.0 is roughly what
would be expected for a type II cepheid variable having the same period of light variation. The
Chapter 12: The Stars 247
space distributions of the type II cepheids and RR Lyrae stars are also similar, and it is assumed
that these objects are closely related.
Most numerous of the variable stars are the longperiod or Miratype variables. These
objects are very cool red giants and supergiants with periods of light variation that range from 70
to more than 1000 days. However, their periods are not constant like those of the cepheids, and
maximum or minimum light can occur weeks before or after the dates predicted from the mean
light curve. Because the temperatures of the Mira variables are often so low (less than 2500K),
they tend to radiate most of their energy at the invisible infrared wavelengths at the
lowtemperature phases of their cycles. Thus the star appears to vary greatly in brightness in the
visible range not only because of changes in overall luminosity but also because the region of
highest energy output shifts back and forth between the visible and infrared. Thus o Ceti, or
Mira, the prototype of this class of star, can vary in visual brightness from a prominent 2nd or
3rdmagnitude star to a 9thmagnitude star that can be viewed only with optical aid. The Mira
variables also display a complicated series of changes in spectra during their light cycles which
are not yet fully understood.
Closely related to the Mira variables, the red semiregular variables exhibit a similar overall
periodicity but display shortterm unpredictable changes. The range of light variation in the
semiregulars also tends to be smaller than that to the Miras.
Irregular variable stars exhibit no periodicity whatsoever. Their observed properties, such
as their color and spectra, strongly suggest that they are related to the Miras and the semiregulars.
The T Tauri stars, usually found in star clusters and associations having high gas and dust
content, also exhibit shortterm irregular variations in brightness. Their spectra are an unusual
248 Chapter 12: The Stars
combination of emission lines of hydrogen and metals on an odd background continuum that
suggests an object intermediate between stars and nebulosity. It is believed that the T Tauri stars
represent a protostar stage of a stars development and that the light variations reflect anomalies
in the gravitational contraction process.
Eruptive Variables. In addition to the pulsating variables, there are stars called eruptive
variables that exhibit sudden and erratic outbursts of light. Often such outbursts of visible light
are accompanied by ejections of gas shells and bursts of radio radiation.
At the lower end of the main sequence, located among the M dwarfs, are the flare stars or
UV Ceti stars. These objects can increased their brightness by several magnitudes over a matter
of minutes. During these outbursts astronomers have observed radio emission as well as sudden
changes in spectra that are reminiscent of the behavior of solar flares; indeed, the total energy
associated with these events, about 10
30
ergs/sec, is comparable to that emitted by the largest
solar flares. The available evidence thus indicates that these events are probably flaretype
phenomena that, because of the low luminosities of the Mdwarfs, can be observed at interstellar
distances.
Novae and Supernovae. Most spectacular of the variable stars are the gigantic stellar
explosions called novae and supernovae. Beginning as hot, smallsized stars below the upper
main sequence, novae over a matter of a few hours or days increase their luminosity by 6 to
10 magnitudes to attain an absolute magnitude as high as 10, then over weeks or months fade to
their original brightnesses. Novae also eject gaseous shells into space at velocities of more than
1600 km/sec; these shells can be detected spectroscopically. Months or years after the outburst,
an expanding shell of nebulosity can often be detected photographically.
Chapter 12: The Stars 249
Supernovae are much rarer than novae and can attain luminosities comparable to the total
power output of an entire galaxy! The most famous supernova occurred in 1054 and was
recorded by Chinese observers. The vestiges of this event are visible to this day as the Crab
nebula in Taurus, a complicated physical system that is a strong source of radio waves and
contains a small, extremely compact stellar remnant called a pulsar.
The P Cygni stars are among the hottest of the eruptive variables and typically possess O
and hot Bstar spectral characteristics. Their light variations are slow and erratic, but
qualitatively resemble those of novae. The P Cygni stars also exhibit weak emission lines in
their spectra, and it is believed that they are ejecting material into the interstellar medium in the
form of gas shells.
Stars of Unusual Structure
Although most stars have an interior and atmospheric structure much like that of our sun,
there are stars whose structures differ markedly from those of the main sequence. Through
careful studies of these structurally different stellar types, astronomers have gained considerable
insight into the dynamics involved in a stars evolution.
Stars with Extended Atmospheres. Stars with expanding gas shells are said to have
extended atmospheres. These are the shell stars, Bemission stars, WolfRayet stars, and the
socalled planetary nebulae.
Among the B stars are objects whose spectra display brightemission lines of hydrogen and
narrow darkabsorption lines that indicated extremely rapid rotation. It is thought that because
of this rapid rotation, material has been ejected from the equatorial region of the star, forming
250 Chapter 12: The Stars
rings or shells of gas about it. Such gas shells would be the source of the observed
brightemission lines. The study of such stars may help to unravel the processes by which mass
loss occurs.
In addition to the shell stars, there are about 4000 class B stars whose spectra exhibit
emission lines of hydrogen and possibly other elements as well. These stars are called Be or
Bemission stars, and it is believed that, as in the case of the shell stars, the characteristic
emission lines arise from ejected material. Be stars are generally found to have extremely high
rotation rates, and astronomers have speculated that the mass ejection and rapid rotation rates in
these stars are directly related, as they are in shell stars. The chief difference between these stars
and the shell stars is that the latter contain a significantly greater amount of material in their
surrounding envelopes and hence exhibit their characteristic sets of narrowabsorption shell
lines.
Occupying a lofty position in the hierarchy of stellar surface temperatures are the
WolfRayet stars, formerly considered a subclass of the O stars but now classified as W stars.
the WolfRayet stars exhibit broademission lines, usually of nitrogen or carbon. On the violet
edge of each emission line is a sharp absorption line not unlike that observed for novae and
indicative of the presence of a rapidly expanding gaseous shell. Surface temperatures of
WolfRayet stars have been estimated to be as high as 100,000K.
The socalled planetary nebulae are the largest of the stars with extended atmospheres.
They consist of a hot, central star surrounded by a slowly expanding gaseous shell that can be as
large as a lightyear across. Some are observable telescopically as small planetlike disks of
light, from whence comes their name. The temperatures of the central stars of the planetary
Chapter 12: The Stars 251
nebulae rival or even exceed those of the WolfRayet stars, occasionally reaching values of well
over 100,000K. However, the planetary nebulae display much less violence in their dynamics
than do the novae and WolfRayet stars, although they appear to have ejected much greater
amounts o material into their surrounding shells.
The normal red giants are stars of spectral classes ranging from late G to late M and of high
luminosities that place them well above and to the right of the main sequence of the HR
diagram. Although red giants do not exhibit any significant element abundances of light
variations, they do possess highly tenuous and extended atmospheres that reach hundreds of
millions of kilometers into space. For example, if the red supergiant Antares in the constellation
Scorpius were placed at the center of the solar system, all the planets out to and including Mars
would be orbiting within the confines of its atmospheric layers.
Compact Stars. In contrast to stars with extended atmospheres are the compact stars,
whose masses occupy almost inconceivably small volumes of interstellar space.
In 1844 Friedrich Bessel of Germany discovered a wobbling effect in the motion of the star
Sirius and correctly attributed it to the gravitational effect of an unseen companion of about one
solar mass. In 1862 the predicted companion was observed visually and eventually found to be
a hot, but surprisingly faint star having a radius about that of earth. Many objects similar to
Siriuss companion have since been discovered and constitute an important class of stars known
as the white dwarfs. These stars are assumed to be at the end of their life cycles, incapable of
any further nuclear energy generation and compacted by an unchecked gravitational collapse.
Theorists have long speculated on the possibility of a stellar gravitational collapse of such
magnitude that it could crush the protons and electrons of a stars atoms into neutrons. Such a
252 Chapter 12: The Stars
collapse would produce an object even more compact and dense than a white dwarf. Under such
conditions the electrons and protons in the star are gravitationally crushed and compacted into
neutrons. Most astronomers thought that if such objects, called neutron stars, existed, they
would be difficult to detect at interstellar distances. In 1967, however, radio astronomers at
Cambridge University in England announced the discovery of several sources that emitted radio
pulses in a highly regular fashion, with periods from 1/30 to more than 3 seconds. These objects
were named pulsars. In light of recent theoretical and observational investigations, it appears
that pulsars are indeed compact neutron stars that are spinning on their axes with rotational
periods ranging from a few seconds to a few hundredths of a second. The intense, periodic radio
beams emanating from the pulsars is thought to be the result of interactions between charged
particles in the pulsars outer layers, the pulsars very rapid rotation, and the enormous magnetic
fields possessed by these objects.
STAR CLUSTERS
Although the distribution of stars in space appears roughly uniform to the naked eye, a
few collections of stars such as the Pleiades and Hyades in Taurus and the Beehive in Cancer
are readily discernible. The telescope reveals hundreds more of these aggregates, each of which
is bound together by gravity. Because these clusters are composed of large numbers of stars
whose lifetimes began at the same point in cosmic history, they have much to tell us about how
stars live out their lives.
Two types of star clusters have long been recognized: the open or galactic clusters found
along the plane of the Milky Way, and the tightly knit global clusters that are found on the Milky
Chapter 12: The Stars 253
Way plane and in other parts of the galaxy as well. In the 1940s yet another type of cluster, the
sprawling stellar association, was recognized.
Globular Clusters
Most impressive of all the star clusters are the 300 or so known globular clusters. These
clusters resemble a bacterial culture when viewed or photographed through a telescope;
thousands of individual stars are visible. Estimates of the actual numbers of stars present are
difficult to make, owing to the close packing at the center (10
2
to 10
3
stars/parsec
3
), but a
globular cluster is thought to have several hundred thousand members, most of which are too dim
to be detected from earth.
The globular clusters are so remote from earth that somewhat different methods of distance
determination are used than those employed for the galactic clusters. Astronomers have
discovered that W Virginis stars and RR Lyrae stars are often found among the stars comprising
the globular clusters. Since the intrinsic absolute magnitudes of these stars can be determined
from their pulsation periods, the distance to the globular cluster can be calculated from the
distance modulus formula. Unfortunately, a significant number of globular clusters are so
distant that individual stars are unresolvable and hence techniques using stellar distance
indicators cannot be employed successfully. However, the angular diameters of such clusters
can be measured, and by assuming an average linear diameter of about 50 parsecs for the cluster
(a value based on data obtained for nearby globular clusters), the distance to more remote
systems can at least be estimated.
254 Chapter 12: The Stars
Distance determinations of the globular clusters indicate that these objects are at enormous
distances, thousands of parsecs in some cases, from the sun. Early in this century the American
astronomer Harlow Shapley established that globular clusters are flung throughout the outer
regions or halo of the Milky Way in a roughly spherical distribution relative to the galactic center
and thus are not independent of the Milky Way system.
Galactic Clusters
The galactic clusters are by far the most numerous of the known star clusters. More than
800 are presently known, and there may be hundreds more in existence that have escaped
detection because of their obscuration by the gas and dust clouds of the Milky Way. The stars in
a galactic cluster are usually loosely packed, and the membership can range from less than 50
stars up to several thousand. Although their linear diameters rarely exceed 10 parsecs, galactic
clusters are relatively close to the sun and often cover a considerable area of the sky. The
likelihood is thus high that a given grouping will contain a certain number of field stars, that is,
stars not in the cluster, but in the same line of sight as the cluster. The only recourse for the
astronomer is such a case is to check both the proper motion and radial velocity of the suspected
cluster member. If the motions of the object are the same as those of known cluster members,
then it is highly probable that the object is indeed a member.
Distances to galactic clusters can be obtained by several methods, including the method of
spectroscopic parallax, the use of the colormagnitude diagram, and the socalled moving cluster
method.
Chapter 12: The Stars 255
In the spectroscopic parallax method, a star or stars of known luminosity are located in the
cluster and their apparent brightnesses measured. A comparison of the apparent brightness,
which is usually corrected for interstellar absorption, and the known intrinsic brightness yields
the distance to the cluster.
In the colormagnitude method an observationally determined apparent brightness main
sequence is compared with the intrinsic luminosity main sequence from the HR diagram. Such
a comparison in effect yields a contrast between the apparent brightness of the stars in the cluster
with their intrinsic luminosities, from whence the distance to the cluster can be readily obtained.
If the star cluster is close enough to the earth, as is the Hyades cluster in the constellation
Taurus, it may be possible to obtain a radiant point for the cluster motion very similar to that
described for a meteor shower. The mean radial velocity of the cluster members can be obtained
as well as the coordinates of their geometric center and radiant point. From this information,
astronomers can obtain the radial velocity component Vof the cluster. Using these results, the
mean tangential component T of the clusters motion (in kilometers per second) can be
calculated, from which the distance r (in parsecs) can be determined from the relation
r =
T
4.74
where is the mean proper motion of the cluster members in arcseconds per year.
256 Chapter 12: The Stars
Once the distance to a galactic cluster having known celestial coordinates is obtained, its
position in threedimensional space can be readily determined. From such analyses, the galactic
clusters are found to lie along the plane of the Milky Way, and as such, comprise an integral part
of the galactic disk.
Stellar Associations
In the middle of this century astronomers recognized that there are certain classes of stars
that are not relatively close together and yet are not randomly distributed across the sky.
Investigations of the motions of these stars confirmed that these groupings, called stellar
associations, are very loosely knit groups of stars ranging in size from 20 to 200 parsecs and
containing between 10 and 100 stars. Membership in these systems is even more difficult to
establish than in the case of the galactic clusters, owing to the large area of sky that is often
covered by the association. For example, the Orion association, whose radiant lies in the
constellation Orion, may have members as far away as the constellation Auriga.
Associations are generally composed of O and B stars, in which case they are called OB
associations, or T Tauri stars, in which case they are called T associations. A few associations
contain all these three types of stars and are thus combinations of OB and T associations. In
such instances the association is denoted by the type of star that constitutes the majority of its
membership.
Distances to associations are usually determined by measuring the spectroscopic parallaxes
of their individual members or by the use of the moving cluster method described for the galactic
Chapter 12: The Stars 257
clusters. Because of the great luminosity of the component O and B stars, associations at even
greater distances than galactic clusters, often as far as 1000 or 2000 parsecs, can be detected.
Like galactic clusters, associations lie along the Milky Way plane. In fact, associations are
so closely allied with the gas and dust of the Galaxy that they have often been used to trace the
galactic spiral structure.
259
CHAPTER 13
THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM
The variety of material in the interplanetary medium strongly suggests that the space
between the stars, the interstellar medium, may be similarly occupied. Although this view was
strongly supported in the last century by the discovery of great nebular clouds along the Milky
Way plane, it was not until well into the present century that astronomers had the necessary
instrumentation to investigate the interstellar medium. Radio telescopes, photoelectric
equipment, and a number of other devices have revealed the presence of both gas and dust in the
vast space between the stars.
INTERSTELLAR GAS
Gaseous matter is the principal component of the interstellar medium. However, its
density is low, about 10 atoms/cm
3
, constituting a better vacuum than can be produced in a
laboratory on earth.
260 Chapter 13: The Interstellar Medium
Evidence of Interstellar Gas
The presence of gas in the interstellar medium is indicated by emission lines from nebulae,
superposed absorption lines on the spectra of hot stars, and radio emission lines.
The most convincing evidence for the presence of interstellar gas are the dozens of bright
patches of nebulosity that line the plane of the Milky Way and whose delicate structure can be
seen only on longtime exposure photographs. The gaseous nature of these nebulae is
confirmed by the presence of brightline spectra.
The detection of absorption lines superimposed on the spectra of hot stars is another
indication of the presence of interstellar gas. Such lines would not arise in the atmosphere of a
hot star. Moreover, the radial velocities of these lines are significantly different from those of
the star, thus precluding the possibility that the lines arise from the second component of a binary
star or shell of gas surrounding the star.
In recent years radio astronomers have discovered an impressive array of emission lines that
arise from lowenergy downward transitions of various atoms and molecules. The most
important of these is the 21cm line produced by neutral atomic hydrogen. This line is
particularly valuable in mapping the distribution of material in the Milky Way plane because ,
unlike shorterwavelength photons, the 21cm line photon can traverse the interstellar medium
relatively undisturbed for thousands of parsecs.
Composition of the Interstellar Gas
The most abundant element in the interstellar gas is hydrogen. Helium is also present, and
trace amounts of heavier substances. Hydrogen atoms are found in both neutral and ionized
Chapter 13: The Interstellar Medium 261
states. Regions of neutral hydrogen atoms are referred to as H I regions and regions of ionized
hydrogen, H II regions.
Because of the cold temperatures that pervade the interstellar medium (1050K), only a
few elements are in an appropriate state of excitation to be spectroscopically detectable. Thus,
studies conducted on interstellar absorption lines indicate the presence only of sodium,
potassium, calcium, titanium, and iron in very low densities (less than 1 atom/cm
3
). Because the
physical conditions along the line of sight are not well understood, accurate abundance
determinations involving such lines are difficult to make. Abundance estimates for these
elements made on the basis of the strength of the absorption lines are similar to the relative
abundances of these elements found from spectral analyses of stellar atmospheres.
Interstellar gas near hot stars is excited and ionized by shortwavelength continuum
radiation from the star. As the ions recombine, photons are emitted and the gaseous region
fluoresces or glows dimly, much as comets in the vicinity of the sun give off a dull glow. The
bright, diffuse nebulae thus exhibit a weak continuous spectrum on which are superimposed a
number of emission lines of varying strengths. Most of these lines are easily found to
correspond with known elements such as hydrogen, helium, and neon. In the early part of this
century, however, several of the observed emission lines eluded identification and were attributed
to an unknown element called nebulium. Nebulium, however, suffered the same fate as
coronium, the hypothetical element on the sun, when Ira Bowen at Mount Wilson discovered that
at the low densities existent in the gaseous nebulae, atoms could deexcite themselves by
downward or forbidden radiative transitions out of lowlying longlived excitation states.
Under normal conditions, these levels, called metastable levels, are deexcited by collisions with
262 Chapter 13: The Interstellar Medium
other atoms, but at low nebular densities, atomic collisions are so infrequent that the forbidden
radiative emission has an opportunity to occur. With this insight, Bowen was able to show that
the nebulium lines were the result of forbidden downward transitions in oxygen, nitrogen, and
neon. A knowledge of the approximate physical conditions in a given nebulosity permits
estimates to be made regarding the composition of the nebula based on the strengths of the
emission lines present in its spectrum. Such studies indicate that the abundances in nebulae are
very similar to those of the stars embedded in them, a fact that strongly suggests a close
connection between the two.
One of the more interesting aspects of the interstellar gas is the presence of the highenergy
atomic particle flux known as cosmic radiation or cosmic rays. These particles probably arise
from eruptive events such as stellar flares, novae, or supernovae explosions and then are
accelerated by the galactic magnetic field. The element abundances in the interstellar cosmic ray
flux, unlike those in the other observable aspects of the interstellar gas, are found to be
significantly different from the normal abundances. For example, lithium, beryllium, and boron
are more abundant in cosmic rays than in stellar atmospheres. The cosmicray abundance
anomalies are considered to be important clues to the origin of these mysterious particles, but the
cosmicray puzzle still defies solution.
More surprising than the existence of atoms of simple elements in the interstellar medium
is the wide variety of lowabundance interstellar molecules that are found (see Table 13.1).
Radio astronomers in the last decade alone have discovered emission lines emanating from
several dozen molecular substances in the millimeter and centimeter wavelength range, and there
are undoubtedly many more as yet undiscovered. The compounds range in complexity from
Chapter 13: The Interstellar Medium 263
Table 13.1. Some Interstellar Atoms and Molecules
______________________________________________________________________________
Interstellar Atoms Interstellar Molecules
________________________ ____________________________________
Element Symbol Molecule Name Formula
______________________________________________________________________________
Hydrogen H Acetaldehyde CH
3
CHO
Helium He Ammonia NH
3
Lithium Li Carbon monosulfide CS
Beryllium Be Carbon monoxide CO
Boron B Carbonyl sulfide OCS
Carbon C Cyanogen radical CN
Nitrogen N Ethyl alcohol C
2
H
5
OH
Oxygen O Formaldehyde H
2
CO
Fluorine F Formic acid HCOOH
Neon Ne Hydrogen molecule H
2
Sodium Na Hydrogen cyanide HCN
Magnesium Mg Hydrogen sulfide H
2
S
Aluminum Al Hydroxyl radical OH
Silicon Si Isocyanic acid HNCO
Sulfur S Methyl alcohol CH
3
OH
Chlorine Cl Methyl cyanide CH
3
CN
Argon Ar Methylacetylene CH
3
CCH
Potassium K Methylidyne CH
Calcium Ca Silicon monoxide SiO
Titanium Ti Thioformaldehyde H
2
CS
Iron Fe Water H
2
O
______________________________________________________________________________
molecular hydrogen (H
2
) to simple hydrocarbons such as ethyl alcohol (C
2
H
5
OH). Observations
of these molecules indicate that they are strongly associated with known clouds of gas and dust in
the Milky Way, and their origin may be linked to the physical conditions existent in these
objects.
Theories for the origin of the interstellar molecules include formation by collisions of
atoms in the interstellar medium; formation in the atmospheres of cool stars or protostars such as
264 Chapter 13: The Interstellar Medium
the carbon stars, Mira variables, or globules; and formation on the surfaces of dust particles that
would act as atom collectors.
Distribution of Gas
Even a casual glance at photographs of the Milky Way reveals that the distribution of
interstellar gas is not uniform. Supporting evidence to this effect is provided by the fact that the
interstellar lines, both absorption and emission, often display several components that can be
accounted for only by assuming that each component line arises from a gas cloud at a different
distance from the earth and moves in a different orbit about the galactic center than that of the
sun, thus producing a unique radial velocity relative to the un. Additional information
concerning distances to nebular clouds can be obtained from spectroscopic parallaxes of stars
contained within the nebulosity. Such studies of the distribution of interstellar gas clouds
indicate that the interstellar gas tends to collect in large, curving spiral arms dozens of parsecs
across.
INTERSTELLAR DUST
Approximately 1 percent of the mass of the interstellar material consists of tiny grains of
dust, about 10
7
meters in diameter. This works out to one dust particle for every 10
12
gas atoms
in the interstellar medium.
Chapter 13: The Interstellar Medium 265
Evidence for Interstellar Dust
Evidence for the presence of dust in interstellar space is provided by dark nebulae,
reflection nebulae, reddening of starlight, and polarization of starlight.
Along the Milky Way plane can be seen a number of dark areas, the largest being the Great
Rift in the OphiuchusCygnus regions and the famous Coalsack nebula. These dark nebulae, as
they are called, are enormous clouds of material that can dim or blot out the light from any stars
or nebulosity that lie behind them. The particle size required to absorb and thus obscure the
starlight must be significantly larger, about 10
4
to 10
5
times, than the atoms and molecules of the
interstellar gas, given the known densities of the latter. Thus astronomers have deduced the
existence of a second component of the interstellar medium, the interstellar dust.
Some bright, diffuse nebulae have spectra that do not show the emission lines of the
gaseous nebulae, but rather display the same spectral characteristics as the stars embedded in
them. This observation can be explained only by assuming that the nebulae are reflecting, or
scattering, the light from the embedded tars. Since interstellar gas clouds do not have the
densities needed to produce such reflection, astronomers have assumed that the observed
reflection is caused by largersized particles.
Extinction of starlight by both absorption and scattering is thus evidence of the existence of
dustsized particles in the interstellar medium. Another indication is the reddening of starlight
due to selective scattering of blue, or shortwavelength, light. If a hot O or B star at a
considerable distance from earth is observed spectroscopically and photoelectrically, it appears
much redder than would be expected for its spectral type. This difference between the intrinsic
color and the observed color is called the color excess. The total absorption or dimming of a
266 Chapter 13: The Interstellar Medium
stars light from the effect of dust particles is, on the average, equal to 3.0 CE, where both the
color excess CE and the absorption are expressed in magnitudes. The existence of color
excesses and absorption can be accounted for only by the presence of particles larger than atoms
or molecules.
Dust in the interstellar medium can polarize light from the stars. As stars of greater and
greater distance are observed, the light becomes increasingly polarized; that is, it has more and
more of a single orientation for its vibrational plane. Such a result cannot be accounted for in
terms of atomsized particles in the interstellar medium.
Nature of the Dust Grains
Unlike the gases in the interstellar medium, the dust grains do not lend themselves to
spectroscopic analysis, so information about them must be obtained indirectly. The
phenomena of reddening and polarization of starlight both indicate something of their nature. It
is almost certain that the dust grains are significantly larger than atoms or molecules. If the
grains possessed atomic dimensions, their ability to scatter short wavelengths of light should be
considerably higher than what is observed. On the other hand, micronsized particles scatter
shortwavelength radiation to much less a degree than do atoms or molecules and hence more
closely fit the observed behavior of the interstellar grains. The manner in which starlight is
polarized as it passes through dust clouds suggests that the dust grains are elongated, like
interstellar needles, and roughly aligned, probably with interstellar magnetic fields, perpendicular
to the plane of the Milky Way. The composition of these grains is still uncertain, but they are
probably a mixture of carbon and frozen compounds of hydrogen.
Chapter 13: The Interstellar Medium 267
Distribution of Dust
Distances to the gaseous and reflection nebulae are obtained from the spectroscopic
parallaxes of the embedded stars; distances to the dark nebulae are determined by the use of the
Wolf diagram. The Wolf diagram is basically a plotting of the number of stars visible in a
region of sky down to an apparent magnitude m versus the value of m. The star counts are
conducted on two regions of the sky, one of which is within the dark nebula of interest, and the
other in a nearby, unobscured star field. Out to the nebula the two star count curves are virtually
coincident. At the near edge of the dust cloud, the stars in the cloud become progressively more
obscured by the clouds everthickening layers as the counts proceed to fainter magnitudes.
Thus, the star count curve for the cloud region diverges from that for the outside region. The
divergence continues until the far edge of the cloud. At this point, the star counts for the cloud
region once more increase at the same rate as for the outside region. By noting the apparent
brightness at which the curves diverge and assuming a mean luminosity for all of the regions
stars, an estimate of the distance modulus to the dust clouds lead edge can be obtained. Such
studies indicate that although the general distribution of the dark dust clouds of the Milky Way is
similar to that of the gaseous nebulae, significant and puzzling differences exist.
269
CHAPTER 14
STELLAR LIFE CYCLES
In our studies of stellar characteristics, we have formed that these properties can be
combined in a variety of ways to produce a variety of types of stars and star systems. Thus
while all stars in an overall sense possess the commonality of being incandescent balls of gas,
they simultaneously retain a great deal of individuality as well. Over the years astronomers have
uncovered a plethora of different types of stars, each discovery which has returned astronomers
to the basic question of how the plethora came to be.
In many ways there is a striking resemblance between the astrophysical problem of
accounting for all of the species of stars found in space and the biological problem of
accounting for all of the species of life found on Earth. In 1859, Charles Darwin shook the
Victorian era by making the claim in his book On the Origin of Species that the variety of species
of plants and animals observed on Earth were the product of responses of life forms to a variety
of evolutionary forces, such as climate and food supply over millions of years of time.
Among other things, Darwin convincingly demonstrated the fact that the earths ecosystem is not
now nor had it ever been a static, immutable entity, but rather one that is ever-changing.
Those
270 Chapter 14: Stellar Life Cycles
changes, however, most often occur over time scales that dwarf a single human beings lifetime
or indeed the entire span of human existence on the planet. In attempting to explain the origin
of stellar species, the astronomer too assumes that the time scale for virtually all cosmic change
is comparable to and in fact exceeds those of Earths geological and paleontological history.
Like the paleontologist or archaeologist who carefully sifts through the sand and soil of a key
site, seeking out bits and pieces of the mosaic of the earths living past, so also does the
astrophysicist scan the heavens for revealing bits and pieces of a cosmic past that are often little
more than the wispy remains of a long-ago exploded star.
Scientists, however, have ascertained that the development of species is envisioned by
Darwin does not apply to stars. Clusters of stars formed at the same time in the same part of
space and subject to the same cosmic evolutionary forces should, in the Darwinian view, result
in all of the stars in the cluster becoming stars of the same species. One need only observe the
variety of colors and power output exhibited by the member stars of a given cluster to
demonstrate the error of such a proposition. Even though the Darwinian scenario of evolution is
not that of the stars, the life scientist can still offer aid and comfort to the astronomer in this
manner.
Associated with every life form on the earth is a life cycle in which a given creature is born,
grows up, reproduces itself, and dies. During the course of such life cycles, the physical
characteristics of a given creature can change drastically. Butterflies, for example, lay eggs from
which caterpillars hatch. After chomping on selected plants and flowers for a few weeks or so,
the caterpillar spins itself into a silken cocoon from which the adult butterfly emerges to mate
and ultimately lay more eggs, thus beginning the cycle anew.
Chapter 14: Stellar Life Cycles 271
We now believe that this concept of life cycles can be used to account for the existence of
stellar species. In this view, there are actually only a few basic types of stars, but as each goes
through a life cycle having a variety of stages with a variety of physical characteristics, the result
is the seeming plethora of different stellar species. Unfortunately, unlike the entomologist who
can carefully watch and monitor the life cycle of a butterfly as it unfolds over weeks or months
the astrophysicist is confronted with stellar life cycles that run into billions of years, compared to
which a human life span is but a wink of an eye. Despite such difficulties, astrophysicists have
employed a blend of the principle of universality, direct measurements and observations, and
computer models and simulations to piece together a portrait of a stars life cycle that is not only
consistent with our knowledge of the behavior of the physical world, but also is able to account
for a large fraction of the stellar species we have observed and cataloged.
STELLAR LIFE CYCLES
Astrophysicists are virtually certain that stars have their beginnings in vast clouds of gas
and dust such as those that line the band of light in the sky we call the Milky Way. One such
gas cloud in the constellation of Orion is over 12 light years in diameter. From our discussion of
thermodynamics, however, we know that there is a tendency toward disorder in the physical
world that can only be overcome in a given system with an input of energy. Gas and dust clouds
in the interstellar medium are in a very high state of disorder and are hence not at all about to
coalesce into highly ordered spheres of gas on their own. Accordingly, astrophysicists have
deduced the existence of several processes at work in the interstellar medium, called triggering
mechanisms, by which star formation is induced or triggered in these otherwise stagnant gas and
272 Chapter 14: Stellar Life Cycles
dust clouds. Each of these processes is thought to produce a high-velocity shock wave, which
fragments the given gas or dust cloud into compacted segments called protostars. Such shock
fronts can be produced by collisions of high and low temperature gas and dust clouds, stellar
explosions, interstellar winds produced by the formation of large mass stars, and even from
violent processes occurring in the center of the Milky Way itself.
Once the protostar is formed, the remainder of the stars life can be thought of as a duel
between self-gravitation, which seeks to collapse the star into an ever-smaller size, and the stars
power production, which seeks to blow the star apart. At first, the protostar has little or no
power production with which to resist the contraction induced by the self-gravitation of the mass
within the protostar. As a result, the protostar continues to shrink in size from an object roughly
one to two light years across down to an object roughly the size of the Sun. As the protostar
continues its contraction, its density increases to the point where it becomes opaque to visible
radiant energy and thus appears as a dark irregular-shaped object called a globule silhouetted
against the backdrop of more distant stars and glowing gas.
As the contraction proceeds, the temperature and pressure at the center of the protostar
continue to increase until they are sufficient to initiate thermonuclear fusion reactions at the
center of the protostar. The energy release halts the contractions of the protostar, but not
without an attendant amount of flare and prominence activity, which in effect propel the
protostars outer layers back into the interstellar medium. It is this material that is believed to
accrete eventually into planets and satellites. At the onset of nuclear fusion reactions at the
center of the protostar, the gas ball takes on an equilibrium configuration in which forces
Chapter 14: Stellar Life Cycles 273
associated with the outward flow of power are balanced by the inward pull of the protostars
self-gravitation. The protostar is then a full-fledged star.
The physical characteristics taken on by stars in this equilibrium stage are almost totally
controlled by the stars mass. A star formed out of a 20 solar mass globule will attain a power
output 4300 times that of the Sun, a radius five times that of the Sun, and a surface temperature
three times that of the Sun. On the other hand, a star that forms out of only one-fifth of a solar
mass of material will shine with only 0.007 of the power output of the Sun, will be only one-third
as large, and possess a temperature about half that of the Sun. Thus, there is an entire series of
possible equilibrium configurations, depending on the mass of the cloud out of which the stars
are formed. Astrophysicists refer to this set of equilibrium configurations as the main sequence,
and a star that is in this equilibrium phase of its life cycle is said to be in its main sequence stage.
As the star continues to shine in its main sequence stage, the helium atoms formed from the
hydrogen fusion sink to the center of the star and begin to form a helium core. In the more
massive main-sequence stars with larger power output, this process occurs more rapidly than in
the lower mass main-sequence stars. Eventually the size of the helium core, which is not
producing any energy of its own, grows to the point where it begins to contract gravitationally in
size. As it does so, the power produced at the core of the star increases due to a release of
gravitational potential energy as the core shrinks to a configuration of smaller gravitational
potential. The rate of hydrogen fusion also increases due to an increase of the core temperature.
As a result of the increase of the power output of the star, its outer layers expand in an attempt to
settle into a new equilibrium configuration. The increase in energy, however, cannot heat this
new stellar volume as efficiently and the star actually has a cooler photospheric temperature.
274 Chapter 14: Stellar Life Cycles
Such a star having an increased power output, very much increased radius, and cooler surface
temperature is said now to be in its red giant stage. The time that a star spends in its main
sequence stage before the changes at the core turn it into a red giant depends on how massive the
star was in its main sequence stage. Computer models tell us that more massive stars evolve
much more rapidly than less massive stars. Thus, the core changes that produce the red giant
phase of a stars life occur within about 20 million years for a 10 solar mass star, but will take as
long as two trillion years for a star with one-fifth of the Suns mass.
The ultimate fate of a given star once it reaches the red giant stage once more depends
almost entirely on the stars mass. The lower mass stars gently eject their outermost layers to
form a shell of gas that can be as large as a light year across. Left behind are the hot core
regions, which produce enough high-energy photons to cause the surrounding shell of gas to
fluoresce. The resulting object has the appearance of a dimly glowing planetary disk when
viewed through a telescope and is referred to as a planetary nebula. Eventually, the gas shell
dissipates into the interstellar medium and abandoned core cools and contracts into a small
compact object called a white dwarf in which one star mass of material has been gravitationally
compacted into an object the size of the earth, with the resulting density equal to about
2 10
9
kg/m
3
. The contracting is finally stopped by the counter pressure of the
quantum-mechanical crowding effects of the electrons of the atoms in the white dwarf. The star
then locks into the final stable configuration of mass and radius in which it will remain until
finally cooling into a dark, cold stellar hulk called a black dwarf. This is the ultimate fate of our
own Sun in another five to six billion years.
Chapter 14: Stellar Life Cycles 275
The fate of more massive stars is not nearly as gentle. Stars having masses larger than
about 10 solar masses or so have sufficient mass to crush and then monuclearly fuse helium
atoms at their cores into a series of shells of progressively heavier elements, helium into carbon,
carbon into neon, neon into oxygen, oxygen into silicon, and finally silicon into iron. When iron
nuclei are produced at the cores of such stars, the iron core regions collapse, and in roughly
one-tenth of a second the core temperature rises to the almost unimaginable values of 5 to
10 billion Kelvins. The radiant energy from an incandescent gas at such a temperature consists
of extraordinarily high-energy, small-wavelength gamma-ray photons that shatter the iron nuclei
into alpha particle fragments by means of a process called photodisintegration. In the next tenth
of a second, the protons and electrons in the erstwhile iron of the star core are crushed into
neutrons in a process called neutronization. This latter process is accompanied by a huge burst
of neutrinos into the interstellar medium.
When the central core density reaches that at which protons and neutrons are packed into
atomic nuclei densities (about 4 10
17
kg/m
3
), the core suddenly becomes very incompressible
and rigid. As the outer layers of the star rush toward the now incompressible core of the star at
speeds in excess of one-tenth that of light, they create huge temperatures and pressures, which in
effect cause them to bounce off the core. This effect, which is called the nuclear bounce effect
or core bounce, occurs in a matter of milliseconds and is accompanied by a blast of incredible
proportions, which astrophysicists have called a supernova explosion. Supernova detonations
are of such magnitude that for a few days they can shine with a power output ten billion times
that of the sun!.
276 Chapter 14: Stellar Life Cycles
The outer layers of the supernova, which bounce off the core, are returned to the interstellar
medium in the form of gaseous supernova remnants. The core left behind is now a sphere of
closely packed neutrons barely 30 kilometers in diameter. If the mass of the core is less than
about three solar mass units, then the quantum-mechanical crowding effects of the neutrons
create a counterpressure that prevents the core from any further gravitational contractions. The
star thus takes on a stable configuration and becomes a neutron star.
Although all of the details have yet to be worked out, it is believed that such compacted
neutron stars rotate very rapidly, as much as 30 times per second, and also possess very highly
compacted and therefore very high intensity magnetic fields. As the neutron star rapidly rotates,
charged particles at the surface of the star are accelerated by the magnetic field along the field
lines. These accelerated particles emit beams of electromagnetic radiation from the magnetic
polar regions of the neutron star. As the star rotates, these twin beams of electromagnetic waves
sweep through space much as the beam from a lighthouse or airport beacon sweeps through the
darkness. These beams of electromagnetic cones emanating from rapidly rotating neutron stars
manifest themselves to us as the flashing pulsars, in which radio and visual electromagnetic
waves have been observed to wink on and off with periods measured in fractions of a second.
Perhaps the most famous pulsar is that buried in the Crab Nebula, an object known to be the
gaseous remnant of a supernova explosion that was observed to occur in 1054 A.D. Eventually,
as the rotational energy of the neutron star is converted into electromagnetic radiation, the
neutron star slows its rotation, and the light from its beacon is forever darkened. It then joins
its larger brothers and sisters, the black dwarfs, as a cold, lightless, burned out stellar corpse.
Chapter 14: Stellar Life Cycles 277
If the neutron core left behind in a supernova explosion exceeds three solar mass units, then
the degenerate gas pressure from the quantum-mechanical crowding effects of the packed
neutrons can no longer balance the self-gravitational effects, and the core collapses further into
an object the size of a typical college campus. At a radius of less than two kilometers and a
mass in excess of three solar mass units or about 6 10
30
kg, the densities in these objects now
soar to values in excess of 1.0 10
21
gm/m
3
. Moreover, the velocity of escape from the surfaces
of such objects exceeds the speed of light, and since no energy or mass entity has been observed
to exceed this speed, any particle or photon caught in the gravitational clutches of such an object
cannot escape. The object in effect becomes a sink into which masses and energy can fall, but
from which they cannot escape. In short, the object disappears from the observable universe.
Such objects, therefore, are appropriately referred to as black holes, and are perhaps the most
intriguing of all the conjurings of modern astrophysics.
Black holes present us with an number of interesting challenges and important questions.
Absolutely essential to our investigations of any celestial object is our ability to detect its
presence via electromagnetic radiation. By their very nature, black holes do not permit such a
direct revelation of themselves. Instead, we must seek out these elusive entities by searching for
whatever observable effects they might have on their surroundings. Proceeding along these
lines, we have discovered a number of objects and systems whose behavior strongly suggests the
presence of a black hole.
The most studied of these is an object in the summertime constellation of Cygnus the Swan,
which is called Cygnus X-I. Cygnus X-1 is a binary system consisting of a hot, very large, blue
supergiant star, which is gravitationally paired with an unseen source of X rays. The model
278 Chapter 14: Stellar Life Cycles
that seems to best fit the measurements and observations made on this system is that the blue
star, like others of its type, emits a large-scale stream of particles called a stellar wind. Part of
this wind is intercepted by an orbiting black hole, whose crushing gravitational field compacts
the incoming gases such that their temperatures rise to values in excess of 2 million Kelvins. At
these temperatures, the gas becomes a plasma. As the now-charged atoms in the plasma spiral
toward the black hole, they are in effect charges oscillating back and forth and, as such, produce
the X rays we see on Earth. In a certain sense, the X rays coming from Cygnus X-1 can be
thought of as the last cry for help by the atoms in the plasma just before they cascade over the
black holes event horizon and into oblivion. The ultimate fate of the energy and matter that
makes such a plunge is a topic of considerable speculation in current astrophysics, as is the fate
of the black holes. We know that the end of a stars life sees vast amounts of stellar material
returned to the gas and dust clouds of the Milky Way, and a lesser amount locked forever into
cold, dark, and compact spheroids of mass. The stellar material that has collapsed into black
holes could possibly end up in either or neither of these scenarios.
EVIDENCE
Although some difficulties remain to be resolved, the theory of stellar life cycles has been
remarkably successful in explaining stellar characteristics. Dozens of types of stars ranging from
the red supergiants to the tiny neutron stars can be nicely fit into the overall framework of the
stellar life cycle theory.
Stellar clusters also provide compelling evidence in favor of stellar life cycles. All of the
stars of a given cluster are formed out of one large cloud of material at approximately the same
Chapter 14: Stellar Life Cycles 279
time. Because the dimensions of a star cluster are almost always negligible compared to the
clusters distance, all of the cluster members can be regarded as being at the same distance from
earth. As a result, a plot of apparent magnitude versus color for the stars (called a
colormagnitude diagram) is in essence an HR diagram. For a recently formed star cluster,
only the more massive stars have had a chance to reach their main sequence stages. The
colormagnitude diagram for such a cluster will have a welldeveloped high temperature, high
luminosity main sequence region, or upper main sequence, but stars at the low temperature, low
luminosity main sequence region or lower main sequence will not have had time to reach their
main sequence stages and hence seem to hang just above the main sequence line. Intermediate
age clusters exhibit a well developed lower main sequence, virtually no upper main sequence,
and a giant branch of moderate strength. In this case the lower main sequence stars have now all
have had time to reach this main sequence stages, while the faster evolving upper main sequence
stars have left the main sequence for their giant phases. The very oldest clusters have virtually
no main sequence remaining, as nearly all of the stars in the cluster have moved into their red
giant stages. By noting the spectral type at which a clusters main sequence turns off toward
the red giants, astronomers can estimate the age of the clusters based on theoretical calculations
of a stars lifetime in its main sequence stage. Using such techniques, astronomers have found
ages of star clusters to range from a few million years up to over 15 billion years, with the stellar
associations being the youngest systems and the globular clusters the oldest.
As stars evolve through their life cycles, the material that they return to the interstellar
medium is enriched with both helium and elements heavier than helium or metals. When this
metal enriched material contracts into another star, that star will contain an even higher
280 Chapter 14: Stellar Life Cycles
percentage of metals at the end of its cycle, and so on. Thus, one would expect to find the
youngest stars highly metalenriched, and the oldest stars metaldeficient. If one
spectroscopically observes the stars believed to be in the oldest dust and gasfree parts of the
Milky Way, one finds that those objects, called Population II stars, display the predicted
metalpoor spectra, whereas stars that are found in the youngest dust and gasrich parts of the
Milky Way exhibit metalrich spectra. The degree to which metals are abundant in a stars
spectrum depends on the previous history of the material from which the star was found. This
history can vary considerably, and thus stars can possess metal contents throughout the range
between the metalrich Population I stars and the metalpoor Population II stars.
The interiors of evolving stars are the greatest nuclear accelerators known, and it is here
presumably that the creation of elements through various types of nuclear reaction occurs.
Using accelerators here on earth nuclear physicists have measured the probabilities or
crosssections of thousands of possible nuclear reactions. The elements produced in those
reactions found to have the highest probabilities correspond to the elements having the highest
observed abundances in nature. The conditions known to produce these elements in nuclear
reactions here on the earth are entirely consistent with those hypothesized for the deep interiors
of the distant stars.
Several basic nuclear reactions are believed to be fundamental to the creation of elements.
The most important of these is the aforementioned fusion of hydrogen into helium according to
the general reaction
4H
1
He
4
.
Chapter 14: Stellar Life Cycles 281
Fusion of helium into yet heavier elements is accomplished by reactions such as
3He
4
C
12
C
12
+ C
12
20
+ He
4
O
16
+ O
16
Si
28
+ He
4
.
Helium nuclei or alpha particles can be captured in a process called alpha capture or the alpha
process in which reactions such as the following occur
C
12
+ He
4
O
16
O
16
+ He
4
20
.
The sprocess occurs when neutrons are produced and captured by a given nucleus at a
sufficiently slow rate to allow the nucleus to decay between successive neutron captures as in the
case of the formation of the element krypton from bromine:
Br
44
+ n Br
45
Kr
45
+ e
.
282 Chapter 14: Stellar Life Cycles
The rprocess occurs when neutrons are produced and captured by a given nucleus at a
sufficiently rapid rate that beta decay does not occur between successive neutron captures. The
element antimony is thus produced from tin as follows
Sn
118
+ n Sn
119
Sn
119
+ n Sb
120
+ e
.
Protons can also be captured by heavier nuclei albeit at a much lower probability. The element
xenon is produced from iodine by the reaction
I
123
+ p Xe
124
.
This elegant view of element creation is called nucleosynthesis and, with the exception of a few
elements such as lithium, beryllium, and boron, provides a successful and consistent explanation
for the existence of elements heavier than hydrogen within the framework of stellar life cycle
theory.
283
CHAPTER 15
GALAXIES AND COSMOLOGY
THE MILKY WAY GALAXY
With his primitive telescope, Galileo observed that the mysterious band of light girding the
celestial sphere was actually a vast collection of individual stars just as the Greek atomist
Democritus had suggested nearly two millennia earlier. Not until this century, however, were
astronomers able to make a reasonably accurate estimation of the magnitude and complexity of
the Milky Way star system.
Size and Shape of the Milky Way
If a composite photograph of the entire Milky Way is assembled as shown in, its planar
symmetry can at once be recognized. The first attempts by Herschel to investigate the size and
shape of the Milky Way resulted in a grindstone model in which the sun was approximately at
the center. Early in the twentieth century, the Dutch astronomer Kapteyn, using more refined
data, developed a model for the Milky Way that was ellipsoid-shaped with the sun at the center.
Kapteyn also estimated that diameter of the Milky Way to be about 5000 light-years or just
under 2000 parsecs. The present picture of the Milky Way, arrived at by Shapley and others,
retains Kapteyns ellipsoid-shaped nuclear bulge, but
284 Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology
shows the sun to be some 10,000 parsecs or about two-thirds of the way from the galactic
nucleus to the outer rim of a disk of stars, gas, and dust that emanates from it. The Galaxy is
estimated to be more than 30,000 parsecs in diameter.
Shapleys conclusion that the sun was not the center of the Galaxy came from his study of
globular clusters. In 1917 he found that globular clusters are distributed in a roughly spherical
shape that is not centered on the sun, but rather at a point some 10,000 parsecs or
32,000 light-years away. He also determined the diameter of this system of globular clusters and
correctly assumed that this value also represented the size of the Milky Way Galaxy. His result
was somewhat high; the presently accepted estimate of the Galaxy diameter is 30,000 parsecs or
100,000 light-years.
Like globular clusters, RR Lyrae stars have a roughly spherical distribution with respect to
the center of the Galaxy. Therefore, this group of stars, too, can be employed to determine the
distance to the center of the Galaxy. First the astronomer measures the number of RR Lyrae
stars per unit volume as a function of the apparent magnitude in a line slightly off the galactic
center. Since the absolute magnitudes are the same for all of the RR Lyrae stars, a plot of
apparent magnitude versus density can, by the use of the distance modulus formula, be readily
converted into a plot of distance versus density. For a spherical distribution, the plot will pass
through a maximum. The apparent magnitude at which the maximum occurs determines the
distance r, and the distance r
0
to the center of the Galaxy is then easily obtained
trigonometrically.. Results from such analyses again yield a value of about 10,000 parsecs for
r
0
.
Mass of the Milky Way
Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology 285
It is known that the sun moves about the center of the Milky Way in a roughly circular orbit
having a radius of r
0
. The velocity of the sun as it moves along this orbit can be computed from
radial velocity measurements made on the globular clusters and the Magellanic Clouds, which
are assumed to be at rest with respect to the center of the Milky Way. By dividing this orbital
velocity (about 320 km/sec) into the total circumference of the suns orbit, the sidereal period P
0
of the sun about the center of the Milky Way can be estimated and is found to be some
200 million years. Assuming that the mass of the Milky Way M
G
is concentrated at the galactic
center, it can be found by Keplers harmonic law:
M
G
=
r
3
0
P
2
0
.
A simple calculation of M
G
in solar masses yields a value of about 2 10
11
solar mass units, and
since the average mass of a star is about one solar mass, this value also represents the
approximate number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Magnetic Field of the Milky Way
Polarization studies of light from dust nebulae show an alignment of elongated particles die
to the presence of a galactic magnetic field of about 10
10
Teslas. This result is roughly
confirmed by measurements made of Zeeman splitting in 21-cm radio emission from various
parts of the Galaxy. The galactic magnetic field may be partly responsible for the acceleration
286 Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology
of electrons and other atomic particles. These accelerated particles in turn give rise to the
galactic radio noise as well as to much of the galactic cosmic ray flux.
Structure of the Milky Way
Our Galaxy can be thought of as consisting of three general, mutually interacting regions:
the galactic plane or disk, the galactic nucleus, and the galactic halo or corona. Each of these
regions exhibits a unique set of physical properties which are thought to offer important clues
regarding the origin and evolution of the Milky Way.
The plane of the Milky Way is not uniform in its content of stars and interstellar material,
but exhibits a spiral structure not unlike that observed for the distant galaxies. The spiral arms
contain the bulk of the stars, dust and gas and hence can be traced out by mapping the locations
of galactic star clusters, associations, and nebulosity. Unfortunately, because of the absorption
effects in the visible region of the spectrum, it is not possible to map such objects beyond
1500 parsecs or so. As a result, the best mapping of galactic structure has been done by radio
astronomers working at the longer wavelengths of radiation, which are essentially uninhibited by
the interstellar medium. Of particular interest are the observations of the 21-cm line arising
from hydrogen gas, the most abundant material in space. By observing the 21-cm line and
measuring any radial velocities that are present, radio astronomers have been able to construct a
picture of the Milky Way and have definitely established the existence of a spiral pattern in the
distribution of hydrogen. Radio observations of other substances yield patterns of distribution
that are similar to but not exactly the same as that found for hydrogen.
Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology 287
The establishment of a spiral structure in the Milky Way plane and the large solar motion
relative to the center of the Milky Way strongly suggest that the entire Galaxy is rotating. If the
average radial velocity of the stars is measured as a function of its galactic longitude or angular
distance from the center of the Galaxy, the relative average velocity in all directions would be
uniformly zero if the Milky Way were either not rotating or rotating as a rigid body. However, if
the sun and the surrounding stars are moving in gravitationally generated Keplerian orbits, then
stars whose orbits are smaller than that of the sun are moving more rapidly than the sun and those
with larger orbits are moving more slowly. It can be qualitatively argued that a plot of average
radial velocity versus galactic longitude should result in a double sine curve. Observationally
determined plots of mean radial velocity versus galactic longitude exhibit the double sine curve
predicted for the Keplerian orbit of differential galactic rotation model and thus verify the
existence of a galactic rotation. Of considerable interest in this regard is the discovery that
whereas the outer regions of the Milky Way and other spiral galaxies are rotating as gravitating
masses, the inner regions are rotating as rigid bodies with the rotational velocity increasing with
increasing distance from the nucleus. For the Milky Way, the transition zone between rigid and
nonrigid rotation occurs at 6000 or 7000 parsecs.
At the center of the Milky Way spiral lies the galactic nucleus, an oblate spheroidal
concentration of stars about 4000 parsecs in diameter. Most of the visible light from the nucleus
is blocked from the earths view by interstellar gas and dust, and radio observations show that the
nucleus is emitting infrared and long-wavelength nonthermal radio waves in a very complicated
fashion. It is generally agreed that the center of the nucleus consists of a very dense assemblage
288 Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology
of stars, possibly even a gigantic black hole, but the details of the structure of this region of the
Galaxy are not known.
Surrounding the Milky Way disk and nucleus is a vast spherical system of stars, gas, and
globular clusters about 32,000 parsecs in diameter, which astronomers refer to as the galactic
halo. Objects in the halo are believed to move in highly eccentric ellipses having the galactic
nucleus at one focus. As a result of Keplers law of equal areas, these objects move almost
imperceptibly unless they are in the vicinity of the nucleus. Thus, to observers on the earth, who
are part of the galactic rotation, these objects appear to have large radial velocities. Both
nucleus and halo objects generally exhibit metal-poor spectra and are thus believed to occupy the
oldest parts of the Galaxy. As in the case of the nucleus, both thermal and nonthermal radio
emissions have been detected from the halo, and like the nucleus, the structure and dynamics of
this part of the Galaxy are not well understood.
The Magellanic Clouds
Like its sister galaxy in Andromeda, the Milky Way has two satellite galaxies that are
visible in the Southern Hemisphere as the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Situated about
50,000 parsecs away, the objects have about one-tenth of the mass of the Milky Way and possess
diameters of 8000 and 3000 parsecs, respectively. These galaxies have no rational symmetry
and are examples of a class of galaxies called irregular galaxies.
Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology 289
THE OTHER GALAXIES
By the start of the twentieth century all of the categories of the diffuse objects found in the
various catalogues of such objects such as the Messier Catalogue and the New General Catalogue
were understood except for the globular clusters and certain classes of diffuse objects that
possessed a variety of symmetrical shapes, especially ellipses and pinwheels. Shapley, as we
have seen, demonstrated the spherical distribution of the globular clusters about the center of the
Milky Way Galaxy and hence their intimate relationship with this stellar system. An
explanation of the puzzling symmetrical spiral and elliptical nebulae, however, was not so easily
obtained. Unlike the globular clusters, which possessed spherical symmetry relative galactic
nucleus, and the gaseous nebulae and open star clusters, which are found almost exclusively
along the Milky Way plane, the symmetrical nebulae seemed to be collected at the galactic poles.
In fact, these objects were found to be absent from a region called the zone of avoidance, which
closely coincides with the visible regions of the Milky Way. Some astronomers assumed that
these objects were part of the Milky Way, whereas others thought of them as island universes,
systems of stars comparable to the Milky Way in size but millions of light-years away.
The debate raged for nearly three decades before the great American astronomer Edwin
Hubble resolved the controversy in 1924 in favor of the island-universe theory. Using the newly
completed 100-inch reflecting telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory, Hubble discovered
cepheid variables in the outer regions of the Andromeda and Triangulum nebulae and found
that their apparent brightnesses were extremely low despite their large intrinsic brightnesses. He
concluded that these nebulous patches were very remote and well beyond the boundaries of the
Milky Way. The galaxies, as we now call them, came to be recognized as separate celestial
290 Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology
entities, systems of stars whose dimensions and stellar content rival those of the Milky Way
Galaxy.
Distribution of Galaxies
Galaxies, like stars, are found throughout the sky, but only a few, such as the Andromeda
galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds, are bright enough to be seen with the naked eye or a
small-aperture telescope. At fainter magnitudes the total number of detectable galaxies
increases dramatically.
It was noticed early on that galaxies are almost completely absent from a band of the sky
centered on the plane of the Milky Way. This zone of avoidance is caused by clouds of
obscuring material that block our view to the more distant galaxies. As the astronomer looks
outward from the plane of the Milky Way, more and more galaxies per square degree are
observed because there is less and less obscuring material. One would expect, then, that the
highest number of galaxies per square degree would be observed in a direction perpendicular to
the plane of the Milky Way where the amount of obscuring material is at a minimum; this is
indeed the case.
Galaxies tend to occur in clusters. The membership of clusters can range from only a few
galaxies up to several thousand. The Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds, and the Andromeda
galaxy all belong to one such cluster, which astronomers refer to as the Local Group. Some of
these clusters, usually those having large numbers of galaxies, have spherical symmetry and
central concentration; they are called regular clusters or globular clusters. Other clusters
Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology 291
possess little or no spherical symmetry or central concentration and are referred to as irregular
clusters or open clusters (Table 15.1).
Astronomers have also found that the clusters of galaxies themselves are not uniformly
distributed but tend to be grouped into second-order clusters, clusters of clusters, or
superclusters. These systems may have diameters of between 30 and 50 million parsecs and
total masses of 10
15
solar masses.
Table 15.1. General Properties of Selected Clusters of Galaxies
______________________________________________________________________________
Number of Angular Diameter Distance
Cluster Galaxies (degrees) (parsecs)
______________________________________________________________________________
Local Group 17 ----- 4.0 10
5
Virgo 2500 12 1.1 10
7
Perseus 500 4 5.8 10
7
Coma 1000 6 6.8 10
7
Hercules 75 1 1.1 10
8
Corona Borealis 400 0.5 1.9 10
8
Bootes 150 0.3 3.8 10
8
Ursa Major 200 0.2 3.8 10
8
______________________________________________________________________________
Classes of Galaxies
Galaxies are usually grouped into four general classes: the ellipticals, the normal spirals,
the barred spirals, and the irregulars. Of the several detailed classification schemes for galaxies
that have been proposed, the simplest is that suggested by Edwin Hubble.
In the Hubble system, elliptical galaxies are classified according to their degree of
ellipticity, or flattening, which is defined as 10(a-b)/a, where a and b are the major and minor
292 Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology
axes of the image of the galaxy. The numbers designating the degree of ellipticity range from 0
to 7. A capital letter E is placed in front of the degree of flattening to denote an elliptical galaxy.
Thus an elliptical galaxy having a spherical shape would be classified as EO; an extremely flat
one would be designed E7.
Normal spirals are designated by S and barred spirals by SB. To these designations the
letters a, b, and c are added to denote the relative size of the nucleus and the degree of tightness
to which the spiral arms are wound. Thus type Sa indicates a galaxy with a large nucleus, no
bar, and tightly wound arms, whereas type Sc is the designation given to a galaxy with no bar, a
small nucleus, and loosely wound arms. Galaxies that are intermediate between Sa and Sc are
classified as type Sb. If a bar is present, the corresponding subtypes are SBa, SBb, and SBc.
Irregular galaxies are classified as either Irr I or Irr II. The Irr II galaxies show prominent
dark nebulosity; Irr I galaxies do not. Neither type has a trace of the rotational or circular
symmetry present in the ellipticals and spirals.
Distances to Galaxies
The distance to the galaxies, even to the nearby systems, are so vast that the methods of
trigonometric parallax used for determining fundamental stellar distances are totally inadequate.
As a result, to obtain distances to galaxies, astronomers must resort to indirect methods that are
accurate to only a few percent at best and in many cases are only order-of-magnitude estimates.
The most reliable methods of galactic distance determination involve the use of distance
indicators, objects whose intrinsic brightnesses are known and which have been identified in
other galaxies. Some of the objects used by astronomers in this regard are listed in Table 15.2.
Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology 293
From the known luminosity of a given distance indicator and the measured apparent brightness B
of the same type of object that has been located in another galaxy, astronomers can determine the
distance to the galaxy by solving the equation.
distance =
L
4B
.
For example, RR Lyrae stars have been detected in the Andromeda galaxy, and the apparent
brightness of these objects has been found to be about 4 10
18
w/m
2
. Since the luminosity of
RR Lyrae stars is known to be 2 10
28
watts, the corresponding distance to M31 is about
2 10
22
m or some 680,000 parsecs. Of course, the basic assumption in such an analysis is that
the physical properties, in particular the luminosity, of the objects employed as distance
indicators do not vary appreciably from galaxy to galaxy. No evidence to the contrary has yet
been found.
In 1929 Edwin Hubble found that the radial velocity V
r
of a galaxy measured from the
Doppler shift of the lines in its spectrum was directly proportional to the distance of the galaxy,
or
radial velocity of a galaxy = H distance to a galaxy.
where H is the Hubble constant. If there are no observable distance indicators in a given galaxy,
it is thus still theoretically possible to obtain an estimate of the distance to the galaxy from a
determination of V
r
. Unfortunately, the procedure requires that the value of H be accurately
294 Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology
known, and measurements of the value of H have ranged from 50 to 150 km/sec/million parsecs,
or by differ by a factor of 3. The currently accepted value for the Hubble constant H is
70 (km/sec)/million parsecs.
Table 15.2. Galactic Distance Indicators
______________________________________________________________________________
Approximate
Approximate Power Approximate
Limiting Absolute Output Distance of Detection
Object Magnitude (watts) (parsecs)
______________________________________________________________________________
Cepheid variables 6 1.0 10
30
7 10
6
RR Lyrae stars 0 4 10
28
3 10
5
H II regions 9 1.6 10
31
3 10
7
Red giants and supergiants 3 6.0 10
28
2 10
6
O and B supergiants 9 1.6 10
31
3 10
7
Globular clusters 9 1.6 10
31
3 10
7
Novae 9 1.6 10
31
3 10
7
Supernovae 19 1.6 10
35
3 10
9
______________________________________________________________________________
Linear Dimensions of Galaxies
Once the distance r to a galaxy has been determined, it is possible to calculate its linear
diameter d from the apparent angular diameter a (in arcseconds) = 206.265 d/r. Angular
diameters of galaxies are difficult to determine accurately owing to the diffuse nature of these
objects, but based on the currently accepted values for galactic angular diameters, the
corresponding linear diameters range from a few hundred parsecs for the dwarf ellipticals up to
50,000 parsecs for the large spirals and ellipticals (Table 15.3).
Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology 295
Table 15.3. Linear Dimensions and Luminosities of Galaxies
______________________________________________________________________________
Linear Diameter Luminosities
Type (parsecs) Absolute Magnitude (L/L
)
______________________________________________________________________________
Ellipticals 700 to 2 10
5
10 to 23 10
6
to 10
11
Spirals 7 10
3
to 5 10
4
15 to 20 10
8
to 10
10
Irregulars 3 10
3
to 10
4
13 to 18 10
7
to 10
9
______________________________________________________________________________
Luminosities of Galaxies
If the apparent magnitude of a galaxy is known, the absolute magnitude can be obtained
from the distance modulus formula. Again the diffuse, extended nature of a galaxy makes an
accurate determination of an apparent magnitude difficult, which in turn restricts the accuracy of
the absolute magnitude. Absolute magnitudes of galaxies range from 1 to 23, which makes
galaxies between 10
6
and 10
11
times as luminous as the sun.
Spectra of Galaxies
Because they are vast systems made up of individual stars, the galaxies display composite
absorption line spectra that range from type A to K for the spirals, G to K for the ellipticals, and
A to F for the irregulars. The ellipticals are generally of later spectral types because they are
made up almost entirely of late-type stars.
Some peculiar galaxies such as the Seyfert galaxies display spectra that contain broad,
bright emission lines. These objects are often strong radio emitters as well, and are not well
understood at present. It is felt, however, that Seyfet galaxies may be closely related to quasars
and the nuclei of normal galaxies.
296 Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology
The fact that all the exterior galaxies exhibit a redshift in their spectral lines is thought to be
an indication that these objects are receding from the earth. The velocity of recession also
increases with galactic distance, the constant of proportionality being the previously mentioned
Hubble constant.
Masses of Galaxies
The masses of galaxies are obtained by measuring their gravitational effects on other
galaxies or on individual stars and objects within a given galaxy. If a galaxy is relatively near,
spectroscopic means can be used to estimate the orbital velocities of stars in its various regions.
If the distance to the galaxy is known and some sort of mass distribution is assumed, then the
mass of the galaxy can be computed.
Let us consider the edge-on galaxy shown in Fig. 15.14. By measuring the Doppler shift at
points A and B, it is possible to determine the overall radial velocity of the galaxy, V
r
, as well as
the rotational velocity, V
rot
, at point A. If the distance to the galaxy is known or can be
determined, then the linear distance a can be obtained from the measured angular distance
between points A and B. We now assume that the stars at point A are moving in circular orbits
on the average, and that Vrot represents the average orbital velocity of these stars. The period P
of the motion is then equal to the orbit circumference at A divided by the rotational velocity at A,
or P = 2a/V
rot
. By making the simple assumption that the mass of the galaxy is concentrated at
the center, Keplers third law, M
g
= a
3
/p
2
, may be used to calculate the mass of the galaxy, M
g
.
This calculation is very similar to that performed for the Milky Way Galaxy. This is, of course,
Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology 297
a highly simplified version of the problem. In practice, the astronomer must consider such
factors as the galaxys space orientation and mass distribution.
Masses may also be calculated from observed motions of binary galaxies and galaxies
within clusters. The methods employed in these cases are statistical in nature and yield only
average masses.
Masses of galaxies calculated form the above techniques are found to range from 10
7
solar
masses for the tiny dwarf systems to 10
13
solar masses for some of the giant elliptical galaxies.
Evolution of Galaxies
The various morphological forms of galaxies can be arranged in a nearly continuous
sequence of structural types starting with the ellipticals and ending with the irregulars. This fact
immediately suggests that the different types of galaxies may represent various stages of
evolution. According to one theory, galaxies are born as EO ellipticals, then flatten, develop
spiral arms, and evolve into the spiral and barred spiral galaxies. There are several difficulties
with this theory, and an alternate idea suggests a reverse evolutionary sequence based on the gas,
dust, and stellar population types present in the galaxies. In the latter theory, galaxies are
thought to begin as irregulars, evolve through the various stages of spirals and end up as
ellipticals. It is now believed, however, that the Hubble types dont represent any kind of
evolutionary sequence at all; and, in fact, it seems that all the galaxies have retained their present
basic structures from the time of their formation.
298 Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology
ACTIVE GALAXIES AND QUASARS
In the 1960s astronomers discovered a remarkable class of objects which were powerful
emitters of radio waves but which appeared as star-like images when observed at visual
wavelengths. These quasi-stellar radio sources or quasars were also found to be remarkable in
that they all exhibited large red-shifts in their spectral lines, thus implying from the Hubble law
that these objects are at very large distances. Further observations indicate that the quasars are
producing energy at a rate as much as 40 times that of a large galaxy from a volume of space
about the size of the solar system.
Other active objects such as BL Lacertae objects, Seyfert galaxies, quasi-stellar objects, and
radio galaxies have also been discovered which exhibit one or more quasar-like characteristics.
It is now believed that all these objects are various manifestations of the basic system in which a
several billion solar mass black hole located at the center of a galaxy gravitationally draws matter
from the surrounding galaxy. As the matter flows toward the solar system-sized black hole it is
compressed into a plasma similar to the Cygnus X-1 system. In some cases just before the in
falling material reaches the event horizon of the black hole, it is ejected outward in the form of
enormous jets of gaseous material.
In recent years astronomers have speculated that such nuclear activity may have been a
hallmark of the early cosmological history of galaxy evolution.
COSMOLOGY
If one could stand off at a distance from Earth that is farther than the distances to the gas,
dust, and star clouds of the Milky Way, the distances to the exterior galaxies, and even the
Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology 299
distances to the most remote quasars, one presumably could obtain an overview of the entirety of
all that we see in the physical universe. While we are not physically able to make such a
journey, we can nonetheless deduce at least in part what such an overview would hold in store for
us. The astrophysical attempt to get such a big picture is referred to as cosmology.
In the course of our measurements and observations of celestial objects, we have found a
number of general characteristics of the universe that provide us with some clues as to what the
overview of the universe is currently like, and, most interestingly, what that overview has been
like in the past and what it might be like in the future. The most striking observation about the
universe is that it seems to be expanding in all directions. If we peer outside of our own Milky
Way and look at other similar aggregates of stars, called galaxies, we find that the spectral line
patterns of each and every one of them is displaced toward longer wavelengths than their
terrestrial laboratory wavelengths would dictate. Such a displacement can be explained only in
terms of a Doppler shift arising from a velocity of recession. Moreover, the more distant
galaxies have red shifts, which indicate larger velocities of recession. In other words, the more
distant the galaxy, the faster it is receding from us.
If we observe elemental abundances, we find that certain elements and isotopes, most
notably the isotope deuterium, ought not to exist at their observed abundance if they were created
in some sort of stellar nucleosynthesis process. As quickly as a deuterium isotope is created, for
example, it should immediately be transmutated into helium under the same physical conditions
that created it. Nonetheless, deuterium, and fairly large amounts of it, exist in nature. Thus,
some other mechanism for element production must exist besides that found to occur at the
centers of stars.
300 Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology
A scan of the heavens also reveals that a background of radiant energy exists that permeates
the interstellar medium, much as the sky glow from the lights of a big city permeates the
atmosphere above that city If a blackbody were to be placed in this background radiation field,
it would heat up or cool off to an equilibrium temperature of about 3 K. This all-pervasive
radiation field is thus often referred to as the 3-K cosmic microwave background, and seems to
be a fundamental characteristic of the universe as a whole.
Finally, if one carefully measures the distances and directions of the millions of galaxies in
space, one finds that the galaxies are not uniformly distributed, but instead possess a lumpy,
filamentary structure throughout space. To explain these and other observed characteristics of
the universe as a whole, astrophysicists have developed an overview of the universe that is at
differing levels both simple and complex. It is a view that is popularly referred to as the
Big Bang.
Put very simply, the Big Bang theory should be prefaced with a basic philosophical
acknowledgment that science currently has no way of describing the universe prior to the Big
Bang, nor can it even describe the Big Bang in the opening flash of its existence. In our
discussion of quantum mechanics, we learned that there is a fundamental limit to our ability to
perform accurate measurements on the physical world. This limit is expressed in the form of the
uncertainty principle. If we extrapolate our presently expanding universe backward in
relativistic space-time, we come to a point at which the universe has a diameter so small that the
entire universe lies within this fundamental uncertainty zone and, therefore, outside of our ability
to describe it. To be sure, this diameter, referred to by cosmologists as the Planck length is an
Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology 301
exceedingly small 4.1 10
35
meters, or about 10
20
times smaller than the diameter of a proton.
The light travel time across this cutoff diameter is equal to
time =
distance
velocity
=
4.1 10
35
meters
3.0 10
8
meters/sec
= 1.4 10
43
seconds .
Thus, during the first 1.4 10
43
sec of the existence of the Big Bang, the matter and energy
contained in our entire universe was so packed as to render our physics powerless to analyze it.
This cutoff time of 1.4 10
43
sec, where the Big Bang makes the transition from a physically
indescribable to a physically describable state is called the Planck time. We can gain a rough
idea of how long ago this occurred measuring the rates at which galaxies are moving away from
us as well as their present distances. An estimate for the age of the Big Bang and hence for the
universe itself can be had by calculating the time it takes a galaxy moving at its observed velocity
of recession to traverse its presently observed distance. Thus, the giant elliptical galaxy M87 in
the constellation of Virgo has a distance of 13 10
6
parsecs or about 40 10
22
meters. It is also
moving away from us at a rate of 1050 km/sec or 1.05 10
6
m/sec. Hence, the time it took M87
to traverse its 40 10
22
meter distance moving at its present speed of 1.50 106 m/sec is
302 Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology
time =
distance
velocity
=
40 10
22
meters
1.05 10
6
meters/sec
= 38 10
16
seconds .
which corresponds to about 12 billion years. As one might expect, such assumptions are too
simplistic. We know, for example, that the expansion rate of the universe is slowing because of
the self-gravitation of the mass that lies within it. Thus, the velocities of recession of the
galaxies whose light left much earlier in the cosmological history of the universe, say, several
billion years ago, are found to be higher than those such as M87 whose light left there much
more recently. According, astrophysicists estimate that the universe is probably 15 to 20 billion
years old.
Although we have no way of scientifically describing the opening instant of the Big Bang,
we can describe the physical properties o the universe after the Planck time and to some degree
recreate those conditions in high-energy particle accelerators here on Earth. The universe in the
infinitesimal time intervals after the Planck time of the Big Bang was a universe of pure energy
locked up in an almost unimaginably high-temperature, rapidly expanding space-time.
Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology 303
Astrophysicists have estimated that the temperature of the radiation-dominated universe cooled
from 10
32
k to 10
13
K in the first second of its existence, and it is much of this energy that we
now see spread throughout the present volume of the universe as the 3-K cosmic microwave
background.
Amidst this cauldron of energy where atoms meet galaxies and quarks meet quasars, the
four basic interactions in nature--gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear, and weak
nuclear--were indistinguishable from each other because the virtual particles invoked to explain
these interactions all behave like photons at such high temperatures. As the temperature of the
universe dropped, the photonic properties of these virtual particles changed into those we
presently observe. First gravitons precipitated out of this photonic fireball at about 10
32
K
at the instant of Planck time. The strong nuclear interactions produced gluons at 10
27
at
10
35
sec, followed by the weakons of weak nuclear interactions at 10
15
K at 10
-12
sec, thus leaving
the photons as the sole keepers of electromagnetic interactions. The next second colliding
gamma-ray photons were transformed into subatomic particles having relativistically equivalent
masses, a process that has been observed on a far less grandiose scale in particle accelerators and
is referred to as pair production.
In the first second after the Big Bang, the temperature of the rapidly expanding universe
cooled off to the point where many of the particles, particularly protons and electrons, were left
behind. The conditions that had both created and annihilated them were no longer present and
so those particles that happened to exist when the conditions changed could no longer be
destroyed, nor could new particles be created. Although the gamma rays could no longer
participate in a large amount of pair production, their level of intensity was nonetheless able to
304 Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology
prevent the left behind protons and neutrons from combining with one another into heavier
nuclei.
This situation changed when the universe was about three minutes old and had cooled off to
a temperature of less than one billion K. Under these conditions, protons and neutrons could
collide and stick together as deuterium nuclei without fear of being immediately broken apart
by the ever-present gamma rays. Once deuterium nuclei could form, they could then participate
in nuclear reactions with each other as well as with protons and neutrons to form helium nuclei
and, to a lesser extent, those of the light elements, lithium, barium, and boron. As the expansion
and cooling of the universe rapidly continued, the conditions necessary for such reactions were
expanded and cooled out of existence, leaving behind these nuclei frozen in the abundances we
observe for them today.
Finally, after a million years or so, the continuing expansion of the universe reached a point
where the temperature had dropped to 3000 K. By now, the photons no longer possessed
sufficient energy to even keep electrons away from hydrogen and helium nuclei and there were
wholesale combinations of electrons and nuclei into atoms. Hydrogen and helium are both
virtually transparent to the photons in a 3000-K radiation field, so the universe suddenly became
one of atoms and photons that could now move freely among those newly formed atoms.
Astrophysicists often refer to this event as the era of decoupling or recombination. Upon the
formation of atoms, the next 1 to 2 billion years saw the gravitational collapse of those atoms
into the wispy, bubbly, filamentary structure of galaxies we observe today. It is out of this
structure that stars have been cycling and recycling through their lives over the past 13 to
18 billion years.
Chapter 15: Galaxies and Cosmology 305
The final fate of this vast expense of gas, dust, stars, and galaxies is very much dependent
on the total mass that exists within it. Too little mass and the self-gravity of the galaxies cannot
slow the expansion enough to prevent the universe from expanding forever. Too much mass
and, just as an upward thrown ball is gravitationally yanked back to the earth, the self-gravity will
stop the expansion, causing the universe to collapse onto itself in an event cosmologists have
called the Big Crunch. Unfortunately, we can only place a lower limit to the total mass that
might be present in the universe, and, therefore, can make no definite statements concerning what
may be in store for us billions of years down our cosmological time line.
305
GLOSSARY
Atype star One of a class of stars with a temperature between 8,000 and 13,000K and
spectrum characterized by strong hydrogen lines. (p. 238)
aberration of starlight The apparent displacement of a stars observed position due to the
motion of the earth around the sun. (p. 156)
absolute temperature A scale of temperature in which the zero point is the lowest possible
temperature, 273C. (p. 129)
absolute zero The temperature at which all molecular motion ceases; 0 K or 273C.
(p. 129)
absorption line A narrowwavelength region of greatly reduced intensity in a continuous
spectrum. (p. 126)
absorption spectrum A series of darkabsorption lines superimposed on a continuous
spectrum. (p. 126)
acceleration A change in the magnitude and/or direction of a velocity. (p. 86)
accretion The process by which small particles collide and stick together to form larger
masses.
active sun The sun at a time when it exhibits relatively large numbers of sunspots,
prominences, flares, and other forms of atmospheric activity. (p. 231)
306 Glossary
airglow A constant background of light caused by fluoresence in the upper layers of the
earths atmosphere. (p. 164)
albedo A measure of the ability of a planet, satellite, or meteoroid to reflect sunlight.
almanac A tabulation of astronomical events.
alpha particle An atomic particle consisting of two protons and two neutrons; the nucleus
of a helium atom.
altitude The shortest angular distance between an object and the horizon as seen by a
given observer.
amplitude The maximum displacement distance of a wave motion from its average or
equilibrium position; the range of variability, such as light from a star. (p. 109)
angular diameter The angle subtended by an objects diameter as viewed from a given
distance to the object. (p. 78)
annular eclipse A solar eclipse in which the moons angular diameter is less than the suns,
resulting in a donutlike appearance for the sun during the eclipses total phase. (p. 176)
aperture The hole through which light enters a telescope or camera.
apparent magnitude The brightness of an object as seen from the earth expressed on the
magnitude scale. (p. 116)
arcminute An angle equal to 1/60 of a degree. (p. 78)
arcsecond An angle equal to 1/60 of an arcminute. (p. 78)
association (stellar) A loose collection of stars that have a common origin. (p. 256)
asteroid One of several thousand relatively large bodies that usually have all or part of their
orbital paths between Mars and Jupiter. (p. 212)
Glossary 307
asteroid belt Region of the solar system between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter in which
almost all of the asteroids can be found. (p. 212)
astrology A branch of human activity and study in which configurations of the sun, moon,
and planets are believed to influence human affairs. (p. 21)
astrometry The branch of astronomy dealing with the precise determination of celestial
positions.
astronomical unit (AU) The mean distance between the earth and the sun; one
astronomical unit equals 1.495985 10
11
meters. (p. 102)
astronomy The branch of science dealing with the nature of the universe and its
components beyond the atmosphere of the earth.
astrophysics The branch of astronomy dealing with the physics of celestial objects.
atmosphere A gaseous envelope surrounding a planet or star.
atom The smallest division of an element that will retain the properties of the
element. (p. 119)
atomic mass unit (amu) A unit of mass roughly equal to the mass of a hydrogen atom or
1.67 10
27
kg. (p. 119)
atomic number The number of protons or electrons in one atom of an element in its normal
state. (p. 120)
aurora A glow in the upper atmosphere of the earth emitted by atoms and ions. (p. 165)
autumnal equinox That point on the celestial equator where the sun crosses it moving from
north to south; the time at which the sun crosses this point.
308 Glossary
Btype star One of a class of stars with a temperature between 12,000 and 25,000K and a
spectrum characterized by lines of hydrogen and neutral helium. (p. 238)
Baileys beads Small beads of sunlight visible around the mountainous lunar disk just
before and just after the total phase of a solar eclipse. (p. 176)
Balmer lines Absorption or emission lines in the visible region of the electromagnetic
spectrum that arise, respectively, from transitions up from or down to the second electronic
energy level of the hydrogen atom. (p. 127)
barium star A G, K, or earlier M star having overabundances of the heavier metals such as
barium and zirconium. (p. 244)
barred spiral A spiral galaxy in which the spiral arms begin at the ends of a bar passing
through the nucleus. (p. 292)
barycenter The point between two mutually revolving objects for which the product of the
mass and the distance to the barycenter is equal for both objects. (p. 100)
Be star A Btype star with emission lines in its spectrum. (p. 250)
beta particle A highly energetic electron or positron emitted by a radioactive substance.
Big Bang theory A cosmological model in which the observed expansion of the universe
is set in motion by a huge primeval explosion. (p. 300)
binary star A double star system whose components orbit each other, each one trapped by
the others gravity. (p. 239)
black dwarf One of the possible endpoints of a stars evolution in which a star no longer
generates energy and has assumed a stable configuration. (p. 274)
black hole One of the possible endpoints of a stars evolution in which a stars mass
becomes so compacted through gravitational collapse that neither energy nor matter can
escape from it. (p. 99)
Glossary 309
blackbody An idealized object that is capable of absorbing and reemitting all radiant
energy that falls on it.
Bodes law A numerical progression that reproduces the approximate spacing of the planets
in order from the sun. (p. 212)
bolide A fireball that explodes with an audible sound. (p. 216)
brightline spectrum An emission spectrum consisting of a series of bright lines
superimposed on a dark continuum. (p. 124)
C star See carbon star. (p. 244)
carbon cycle A series of nuclear reactions in which carbon nuclei act as a catalyst in the
fusion of hydrogen into helium. (p. 226)
carbon star A star whose spectrum is dominated by molecular bands of carbon compounds
such as CN, CH, and C
2
. (p. 244)
Cassegrain telescope A reflecting telescope in which the light is brought to a focus through
a small hole in the center of the objective mirror by means of a convex secondary
mirror. (p. 139)
Cassinis division The most notable gap in the ring system surrounding the planet Saturn.
celestial equator The great circle on the celestial sphere 90 from the celestial poles; the
intersection of the celestial sphere and the plane of the earths equator. (p. 76)
celestial mechanics The branch of astronomy dealing with the motions and gravitational
influences of celestial objects.
celestial poles The points of intersection of the earths polar axis with the celestial
sphere. (p. 76)
310 Glossary
celestial sphere An imaginary sphere of large radius centered on the earth and onto which
the positions of celestial objects are projected for the purpose of measurement. (p. 74)
center of gravity or center of mass The point in a single body or within a system of bodies
that behaves as though the entire mass of the configuration were concentrated at that
point. (p. 96)
cepheid variable A class of F and G supergiant stars whose brightness and temperature
vary with a regular periodicity because of internal pulsations. (p. 245)
Chandrasekhar limit The largest mass (1.4 solar masses) that a white dwarf star can have
without undergoing gravitational collapse.
chromosphere The layer of solar atmosphere between the photosphere and the
corona. (p. 229)
circumpolar stars Stars which are always above the horizon as seen from a given latitude.
cluster Any physical grouping of stars or galaxies.
cluster variable A class of pulsating variable stars having periods of less than one day; an
RR Lyrae star. (p. 246)
colormagnitude diagram Plot of apparent magnitude versus color index for a star
cluster. (p. 279)
coma The diffuse gaseous material that surrounds the nucleus of a comet head. (p. 209)
comet A conglomeration of dust, ice, and frozen gases that orbits the sun. (p. 208)
comparison spectrum An emission spectrum from a known substance placed beside the
spectrum of a celestial object.
Glossary 311
conic section The curve of intersection between a right circular cone and a plane; can be a
circle, ellipse, parabola, or hyperbola.
conjunction The closest apparent approach of one celestial object to another as seen from
the earth. (p. 8)
constellation One of 88 defined zones in the sky names for various people., animals, or
objects. (p. 72)
continental drift The theory that the continents on the earth are moving away from each
other at a very slow rate. (p. 162)
continuous spectrum The distribution by wavelength of the energy emitted by an
incandescent object. (p. 124)
convection The transport of energy by moving currents of material.
core The central regions of a celestial object.
Coriolis effect The apparent deflection observed from the earths surface of a projectile
moving above the rotating earth. (p. 158)
corona The outer atmospheric layers of the sun. (p. 230)
coronagraph An instrument for observing the suns outer atmospheric layers at times other
than total eclipse. (p. 227)
corpuscular radiation Charged atomic particles continuously emitted by the sun.
correspondence principle The statement that any new or revised scientific theory must not
only account for the discrepancy between experimental results and the predictions of the
old theory, but also must be successful where the old theory was successful. (p. 45)
cosmic rays Highenergy atomic particles (mostly protons) that strike the earths
atmosphere. (p. 262)
312 Glossary
cosmogony The branch of astronomy that deals with the origin and evolution of the solar
system or of the universe.
cosmology The branch of astronomy that deals with the largescale properties and structure
of the universe. (p. 299)
crater A circular depression on the surface of an object caused by either internal volcanic
activity or meteoric impacts.
crescent Any phase of the moon or planets in which the observer sees less than 50 percent
of the illuminated portions of the disk. (pp. 45)
crust The outermost solid layers of a planet, satellite, or meteoroid.
dark nebula A cloud of interstellar dust that obscures the light from the stars behind it.
declination The angular distance, measured along an hour circle, between an object and the
celestial equator; an astronomical latitude. (p. 76)
degenerate matter Matter in which the electrons are compacted into their lowest possible
energy levels.
density The amount of mass contained in a unit volume of an object or a substance.
deuterium An isotope of hydrogen having a proton and a neutron in its nucleus; heavy
hydrogen.
deuteron The nucleus of a deuterium atom.
differential rotation Rotational motion in which different parts of the object or system
move at different rates from one another.
diffraction A process by which light waves are spread out as they pass an opaque edge.
Glossary 313
diffraction pattern A series of alternating bright and dark areas (fringes) produced by the
diffraction and subsequent selfinterference of light waves.
diffuse nebula An irregular luminous cloud of interstellar material.
disk The apparent surface of a celestial object.
disk of Galaxy The flat, circular regions of the Milky Way Galaxy. (p. 286)
dispersion The process by which light waves are sorted out according to wavelength.
diurnal Occurring on a daily basis.
Doppler effect (shift) The change in the observed wavelength of radiation due to relative
motion between the wave source and the observer. (p. 133)
dwarf Term applied to a star on the main sequence, especially at the low luminosity end.
dynamo theory Theory that the magnetic field of a planet arises because of its rotation
about a liquid metallic core of significant size.
earthshine (or earthlight) The sunlight reflected from the earth that dimly illuminates the
dark portions of the moon near times of new moon.
eccentricity A measure of the shape of an ellipse; the ratio of the distance between the foci
to the major axis.
eclipse The cutting off of the light of a celestial object by another body passing in front of
it.
eclipsing binary A binary star with light variations produced by one member eclipsing the
other.
ecliptic The apparent annual path of the sun among the stars; the circle of intersection
between the earths orbital plane and the celestial sphere. (p. 76)
314 Glossary
effective temperature The temperature to which a blackbody of equal size must be raised
in order to produce the observed luminosity of the given object.
electromagnetic radiation Radiant energy produced by oscillating electric or magnetic
charges or fields. (p. 109)
electromagnetic spectrum The sum total of all known wavelengths of electromagnetic
radiation including gamma rays, X rays, ultraviolet rays, visible light, infrared, and radio
waves. (p. 110)
electron A subatomic particle with a negative electronic charge that occupies the outer
regions of an atom. (p. 119)
element Any substance that cannot be broken down further by normal chemical
reactions. (p. 120)
ellipse A conic section; the curve of intersection of a circular cone and a plane cutting
through it. (p. 100)
elliptical galaxy A galaxy having an elliptical shape but no trace of spiral
structure. (p. 291)
elongation The apparent angular separation between an object and the sun as seen from the
earth. (p. 104)
emission line A bright line in a spectrum caused by electrons making transitions to lower
energy levels, thereby releasing energy in the form of photons. (p. 124)
emission nebula A nebula that radiates visible light by fluorescing the ultraviolet light from
stars within or near the nebula. (p. 261)
emission spectrum A spectrum consisting of emission lines. (p. 124)
encounter A chance close approach of two nonorbiting objects that produces gravitational
effects on both objects.
Glossary 315
energy The ability to do work. (p. 107)
energy levels of atoms The possible energies of electronic configurations of atoms above
the least energetic configuration or ground state. (p. 125)
ephemeris A table listing the positions of a celestial object at specified times.
epicycle In the geocentric planetary system, a small circular orbit whose center moves along
the circumference of a deferent. (p. 27)
epoch A date specified as a time reference for astronomical observations.
equation of state An equation that expresses the relationship among the pressure,
temperature, and density of a substance.
equator The great circle on the earths surface located 90 from the celestial poles. (p. 73)
equatorial system of coordinates A celestial coordinate system using the celestial equator
as its primary reference plane. (p. 74)
equinox One of two points of intersection on the celestial sphere between the ecliptic and
the celestial equator. (p. 76)
eruptive variable A variable star whose light changes are sudden and erratic. (p. 248)
escape velocity The minimum velocity needed for a given object to escape the gravitational
field of a second object. (p. 98)
eyepiece A small lens used to examine the images produced by the primary lens or mirror
of a telescope.
excitation The increasing of the energy of an atoms electronic configuration through
collisions or by absorption of radiant energy. (p. 126)
exosphere The outermost layer of the earths atmosphere. (p. 165)
316 Glossary
extinction The dimming of light as it passes through material that will scatter or absorb it.
extragalactic Outside of the boundaries of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Ftype star One of a class of stars with a temperature between 6000 and 8000K and a
spectrum characterized by lines of singly ionized metals. (p. 238)
faculae Bright regions on the sun near the solar limb. (p. 232)
filament The dark silhouette of a prominence on the solar disk. (p. 232)
fireball An unusually bright meteor. (p. 216)
first quarter The lunar phase that occurs when the moon is 90 east of the sun as seen from
the earth. (p. 4)
fission The breaking up or smashing of heavier nuclei into lighter ones with an attendant
release of energy. (p. 122)
flare A sudden, temporary increase in the brightness of a localized region on the sun
accompanied by a burst of highenergy particles. (p. 253)
flare star A variable star, usually a red dwarf, that suddenly and unpredictably increases its
brightness for brief periods of time. (p. 248)
flash spectrum The spectrum of the solar chromosphere that manifests itself for a brief
instant just as totality begins. (p. 229)
flocculi Bright regions in the magnetic fields surrounding sunspots that are visible on
spectroheliograms of the sun; plages.
fluorescence The absorbtion of light or energy at short wavelengths and its subsequent
reemission at other, longer wavelengths.
focal length The distance between a lens or mirror and its focus. (p. 138)
Glossary 317
focus The point in an optical system where the image is formed. (p. 138)
forbidden lines Spectral lines not usually observed in a laboratory because they result from
electronic transitions that are highly unlikely. (pp. 261262)
force Any agent in nature that will produce or prevent the motion of an object. (p. 88)
Fraunhofer line An absorption line in the spectrum of the sun or a star. (p. 123)
Fraunhofer spectrum An array of absorption lines in the spectrum of the sun or a
star. (p. 123)
freefree transition An interaction between an ion or atom and a passing electron in which
energy of motion is exchanged and radiant energy is either absorbed or emitted without the
electron being captured.
frequency The number of oscillations in a wave motion passing a given point per unit time.
fringes The set of light and dark regions caused by the diffraction and subsequent
interference of light waves as they pass an opaque edge.
full moon The lunar phase that occurs when the moon is exactly opposite the sun as seen
from the earth. (pp. 45)
fusion The nuclear melting of lighter elements into heavier ones with an attendant
conversion of mass into energy. (p. 122)
Gtype star One of a class of stars with a temperature between 4500 and 6000K and a
spectrum characterized by lines of neutral and singly ionized metals; a solartype
star. (p. 238)
galactic cluster A loose collection of stars located in the disk of the Milky Way. (p. 254)
318 Glossary
galactic equator The circle of intersection of the plane of the Milky Way disk with the
celestial sphere.
galactic rotation The rotational motion of the Milky Way Galaxy about its center. (p. 287)
Galaxy The Milky Way star system.
galaxy One of a multitude of remote star systems containing billions of stars. (p. 289)
Galilean satellites The four largest satellites of Jupiter, which were discovered by
Galileo. (p. 192)
gamma rays That part of the electromagnetic spectrum having wavelengths shorter than
0.1 nanometers; the most energetic region of the electromagnetic spectrum. (p. 112)
gas giant One of the large, lowdensity planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or
Neptune. (p. 191)
gegenshein A faint, diffuse glow in the sky opposite the sun; the counterglow. (p. 220)
geocentric Having the earth at the center. (p. 27)
geodesy The branch of earth science that deals with the measurement of the earths size and
shape.
geomagnetic Of or referring to the earths magnetic field.
giant branch A sequence on the HR diagram occupied by stars that have ended the
mainsequence phases of their evolution. (p. 242)
giant star A star having a large luminosity or radius.
gibbous Any phase of the moon or planets in which the observer views between 50 and
100 percent of an objects illuminated surface. (p. 45)
Glossary 319
globular cluster One of the large, tightly packed spherical systems of stars that occupy a
roughly spherical distribution relative to the center of a galaxy. (p. 253)
globule A small, compact dark nebula believed to be a star in the process of
formation. (p. 272)
Gondwanaland A hypothesized primordial land mass in the Southern Hemisphere that
broke up to form some of our modern continents and islands. (p. 162)
granulation The pattern of convective cells in the solar photosphere responsible for the
suns mottled or granular appearance. (p. 227)
gravitation The fundamental property of a mass by which it exerts a force of attraction on
any other mass.
gravitational collapses The collapse of a mass configuration by selfgravity.
gravitational redshift The longward shift to wavelength experienced by a photon as it
attempts to leave the surface of a given mass.
great circle Any circle on the surface of a sphere whose center coincides with that of the
sphere,
greatest elongation The maximum angular separation between the sun and either Mercury
or Venus as seen from the earth. (p. 103)
greenhouse effect The trapping of a planets radiant energy by its atmosphere. (p. 184)
Greenwich meridian The meridian that passes through Greenwich, England, and by
international agreement is the zero point for longitude measurement; the prime
meridian. (p. 74)
Greenwich time The standard time at the Greenwich meridian.
Gregorian calendar The calendar introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII and which is
the most commonly used calendar today.
320 Glossary
ground state The lowest possible energy for an atoms electronic configuration.
H I region A region of neutral hydrogen in space. (p. 261)
H II region A region of ionized hydrogen in space. (p. 261)
H line The strong Fraunhofer line of ionized calcium located at 396.8 nanometers.
halflife The time required for onehalf of the atoms in a radioactive substance to decay.
halo (atmospheric) A ring of light around the sun or moon produced from the refraction of
light by highaltitude ice crystals.
halo (galactic) The stars, star clusters, and other material spherically distributed about the
nucleus of a galaxy.
harmonic law Keplers law of planetary motion, which states that the ratio of the cube of
the mean distance to the square of the sidereal period is constant for every planet. (p. 102)
harvest moon The full moon that occurs nearest the time of the autumnal equinox.
heavy element An element whose atomic number is greater than that of the element
helium or 2.
heliocentric Having the sun at the center.
helium flash An explosive ignition of the helium in the core of a red giant that starts the
fusion of helium into carbon.
HertzsprungRussell (HR) diagram A plot of the absolute magnitudes of a group of
stars against their temperature, spectral class, or color index. (p. 242)
highvelocity star A star having a large space motion relative to the sun as a result of its
not sharing the galactic orbital motion of the sun.
Glossary 321
horizon A great circle on the celestial sphere 90 from the observers zenith.
horizontal branch A sequence of stars on the HR diagram the member so which have
absolute magnitudes roughly equal to zero and which are believed to have passed through
the redgiant stage of evolution.
horizontal parallax A parallax angle obtained by using the earths equatorial radius as a
baseline.
hour circle A semicircle on the celestial sphere whose endpoints are located at the celestial
poles. (p. 76)
HR diagram See HertzsprungRussell diagram. (p. 242)
Hubble constant The constant of proportionality in the Hubble law; its value is of the order
of 50 km/sec/megaparsec. (p. 293)
Hubbles law The statement that the observed radial velocity of a receding galaxy is
proportional to its distance. (p. 293)
hydrostatic equilibrium A condition in an object in which inward gravitational forces are
exactly balanced by the forces pushing outward.
hyperbola The geometric figure generated by slicing a right circular cone parallel to its axis
with a plane; the shape of an encounter orbit. (p. 101)
igneous rock A rock formed from molten material.
image The rendition of an object by an optical system.
image tube A device that enhances the brightness of an image through the use of
photoelectric processes. (p. 153)
322 Glossary
Index Catalogue (IC) A supplement to the New General Catalogue (NGC) of diffuse
objects.
index of refraction A measure of the ability of a substance to refract light rays; the ratio of
the speed of light in a vacuum to its speed in a given substance.
inertia The property of matter by which an object resists any attempt to change its velocity.
inferior conjunction A conjunction of an inferior planet and the sun when the planet is
between the earth and sun.
inferior planet A planet whose orbital radius is less than that of the earth; the planets
Mercury or Venus.
infrared radiation That part of the electromagnetic spectrum from 750 nanometers to
about 1 mm; wavelengths longer than the ones we perceive as red heat waves. (p. 111)
insolation The amount of solar radiation that falls on a unit area of the earths surface per
unit time.
interferometer An optical device that measures small angular distances using the principle
of interference of light waves.
interplanetary medium The distribution of gas and dust in interplanetary space. (p. 205)
interstellar dust Microscopic solid grains in interstellar space. (p. 264)
interstellar gas The diffuse gas in interstellar space. (p. 259)
interstellar lines Absorption lines produced by interstellar gas superimposed on stellar
spectra. (p. 265)
interstellar medium The distribution of gas and dust in interstellar space. (p. 259)
Glossary 323
interstellar reddening The reddening of starlight caused by scattering from the dust
particles in the interstellar medium. (p. 265)
ion An atom that has a nonzero net electronic charge.
ionization The process by which a neutral atom gains or loses electrons.
ionosphere The upper layer of the earths atmosphere characterized by a high percentage of
ionized oxygen and nitrogen. (p. 165)
iron meteorite (iron) A class of meteorite composed of 90 percent iron, 9 percent nickel,
and 1 percent other materials. (p. 218)
irregular galaxy A galaxy that lacks symmetry. (p. 291)
irregular variable A variable star whose light variations are not periodic. (p. 247)
island universe An outdated term for a galaxy.
isotopes Atoms of the same element that have the same atomic numbers but different
atomic weights. (p. 120)
isotropy The property of space such that one direction is the same as any other.
Jovian planet Any of the gas giant planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune. (p. 191)
Julian calendar A calendar invented by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C.
Juno Third asteroid to be discovered.
Kline A rather strong Fraunhofer line at 393.3 nanometers due to ionized calcium.
Ktype star One of a class of stars with a temperature between 3500 and 4500K and a
spectrum characterized by weak molecular bands and absorption lines from neutral
metals. (p. 238)
324 Glossary
Keplers laws The three basic laws governing the motions of the planets put forth by
Kepler early in the seventeenth century. (p. 40)
kiloparsec One thousand parsecs.
kinetic energy The energy associated with an objects motion.
kinetic theory A description of fluids that seeks to explain fluid properties in terms of
molecular motions.
Kirkwoods gaps Gaps in the orbital spacing of the asteroids that arise from gravitational
perturbations of the planets, especially Jupiter. (p. 215)
Lagrangian points Five points in the plane of two orbiting bodies at which the net forces
from the two bodies are zero.
latitude The shortest angular distance between a location on the earths surface and the
earths equator as seen from the earths center. (p. 73)
law A statement describing the behavior of a phenomenon in nature. (p. 44)
law of equal areas Keplers second law of planetary motion: the line joining the sun and a
planet (radius vector) sweeps out a constant orbital area per unit time. (p. 101)
law of the red shifts Hubbles law. (p. 293)
leap year A 366day calendar year employed every fourth year divisible by four in order to
keep the civil calendar in phase with the solar year.
libration Small periodic changes in the relative orientation between an observer on the
earth and the moon that allows one to see more than a hemisphere of the lunar surface.
light That part of the electromagnetic spectrum (between 400 nanometers and
750 nanometers) which can be seen with the human eye. (pp. 110111)
Glossary 325
light curve A plot of an objects apparent brightness versus time.
lightyear The distance light travels in 1 year, or 9.5 10
12
km. (p. 110)
limb The edge of a celestial objects apparent disk.
limb darkening The phenomenon whereby the center of the disk of a celestial object is
brighter than its limb regions.
line broadening An effect in which spectral lines are spread out over a range of
wavelengths owing to a variety of physical processes.
line of apsides The line joining the near and far points of an orbit; the major axis of an
orbit.
line profile A detailed plot of intensity versus wavelength for a spectral line.
linear diameter The actual diameter of an object in units of distance or length.
Local Group A small cluster of some twenty galaxies to which the Milky Way Galaxy
belongs.
local standard of rest A coordinate system that shares the average motion of the sun and
nearby stars about the galactic center.
longitude The angular distance between the meridian of a given location and the
Greenwich meridian as seen from the earths center. (p. 74)
longperiod variable A variable star whose brightness changes occur with periods longer
than 70 days. (p. 247)
lowvelocity star A star having a very small space motion relative to the sun and hence
believed to be a part of the general galactic rotation.
326 Glossary
luminosity The total amount of energy given off by an object per unit time, or the objects
power output. (p. 108)
luminosity class The classification assigned to a star given spectral type on the basis of its
luminosity.
luminosity function The relative numbers of stars having various absolute magnitudes per
unit volume of space.
lunar Of or pertaining to the moon.
Lyman series The series of spectral lines of hydrogen that arise from electronic transitions
into and out of the lowest energy level of the hydrogen atom. (p. 217)
Mtype star One of a class of stars with a temperature lower than 3500K and a spectrum
characterized by molecular bands of titanium oxide. (p. 238)
Magellanic Clouds A pair of irregular galaxies which are satellite galaxies of the Milky
Way Galaxy. (p. 288)
magnetic field A region of space within which magnetic forces can be detected.
magnetic poles One of two points on a body at which the magnetic forces are strongest.
magnetosphere A region around a planet in which its magnetic field strongly affects the
motions of incident charged particles.
magnification The apparent size of an object seen through an optical system compared to
its size when viewed with the unaided eye. (p. 145)
magnitude A scale of measuring brightness in which each magnitude jump represents a
2.5factor increase or decrease in brightness. (p. 114)
main sequence A sequence of stars on the HR diagram to which the vast majority of stars
belong. (p. 242)
Glossary 327
major axis The longest line that can be drawn between two points on a closed orbit.
major planet Any one of the nine planets in the solar system.
mantle The layer of material between a planets core and its crust.
mare (plural maria) A dark sealike planar area on the moons surface.
mascons Localized concentrations of mass, especially just below the lunar surface.
mass A measure of the amount of matter in an object defined by its inertial or gravitational
properties.
mass function In a singleline spectroscopic binary, the observed ratio of the cube of the
product of the second objects mass and the sine of its angle of orbital inclination to the
square of the sum of the two masses.
massluminosity relation The correlation between stellar mass and stellar luminosity,
especially for stars on the main sequence.
mass number The total number of protons and neutrons contained in the nucleus of an
atom. (p. 120)
massradius relation The correlation between stellar mass and stellar radius, especially for
white dwarf stars or stars on the main sequence.
mean density The ratio of the total mass to the total volume for a given object.
mean solar day The interval between successive passages of the sun across the celestial
meridian, assuming that the apparent eastward motion of the sun is constant throughout the
year.
megaparsec One million parsecs.
328 Glossary
meridian A great circle on the earths surface that passes through the north and south
poles. (pp. 7374)
meson A subatomic particle having a mass between that of a proton and an electron.
mesophere The layer of the ionosphere that lies immediately above the stratosphere.
Messier catalogue A catalogue of about 110 diffuse objects compiled by Charles Messier
in the eighteenth century. (p. 289)
metal In astronomy a loose term denoting any element that is not hydrogen or helium.
metastable level An energy level in an atom from which there is a very low probability that
an electron will make a photongenerating transition.
meteor The luminous event in which a meteoroid is burned up in the earths atmosphere; a
falling or shooting star. (p. 216)
meteor shower A celestial event in which an uncommon number of meteors appear to
radiate from a specific point in the sky. (p. 216)
meteor stream A group of meteoroids uniformly distributed along a highly elliptical orbit,
usually that of an old comet. (p. 216)
meteor swarm A group of meteoroids clustered about a single point moving along a highly
elliptical orbit, usually that of an old comet. (p. 216)
meteorite The portion of a meteoroid that survives passage through the earths atmosphere
and strikes the earth. (p. 218)
meteoroid Any solid interplanetary particle that is not a major planet or satellite of a major
planet. (p. 216)
micrometeorite An extremely small meteoroid that because of its small size can filter
through the earths atmosphere to the ground without burning up. (p. 219)
Glossary 329
microwaves That part of the radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum having
wavelengths roughly between 1 mm and 30 cm.
Milky Way Galaxy The vast spiralshaped assemblage of stars to which the sun belongs
and which we see as a dim band of light encircling the celestial sphere. (p. 283)
minor axis The shortest line that can be drawn from one point on an orbit through the
geometric center of the orbit to a second point on the orbit.
minor planet One of several tens of thousands of objects in the solar system having
diameters larger than l km but that are neither one of the nine principal planets nor one of
their satellites.
Mira variables A red giant variable Mtype star whose light variation occurs over periods
of more than 70 days; the star Mira (o Ceti) is the prototype. (p. 247)
model atmosphere A theoretical calculation of the physical conditions in any layer of the
atmosphere of an object, especially a star.
model interior A theoretical calculation of the physical conditions in any layer of the
interior of an object, especially a star.
molecular band A set of emission or absorption lines arising from a molecule that are so
closely spaced that they blend into a single broad spectral feature.
molecule The smallest division of a compound that will retain all of the chemical properties
of that compound. (p. 120)
momentum The product of an objects mass and velocity.
monochromatic Consisting of a single color or wavelength.
moon The satellite of the earth; any lesser body in orbit about a planet.
N galaxy A galaxy having an extremely bright nucleus.
330 Glossary
nanometer A length of 10
9
meters; one billionth of a meter. (p. 68)
neap tide The lowest tides in a given month; neap tides occur around the time of quarter
moon.
nebula A cloud of interstellar material.
neutrino A subatomic particle that has no mass or charge.
neutron A subatomic particle that has about the same mass as a proton but has no
electronic charge. (p. 119)
neutron star One of the final stages of stellar evolution in which protons and electrons
have all been gravitationally crushed into neutrons. (p. 276)
New General Catalogue A catalogue of diffuse objects that was compiled by Dreyer in
1888 and succeeded the Messier catalogue. (p. 289)
new moon The lunar phase that occurs at a conjunction of the sun and moon. (p. 15)
Newtonian telescope A reflecting telescope in which the light rays are brought to a focus
point at the sides of the main tube through the use of a small, flat secondary
mirror. (p. 138)
Newtons laws The three basic statements in Newtons description of motion. (p. 90)
north polar sequence A group of stars near the north celestial pole used to define the zero
point of the magnitude scale.
nova A star that undergoes a large, sudden increase in its total energy output, from either an
internal or surface nuclear explosion. (p. 248)
nuclear fission The process in which atomic nuclei are broken apart into smaller nuclides
with an attendant conversion of mass into energy. (p. 122)
Glossary 331
nuclear fusion The process in which lighter atomic nuclei are melted into heavier
nuclides with an attendant conversion of mass into energy. (p. 122)
nucleosynthesis The building up of atomic nuclei by nuclear reactions.
nuclide An atomic nucleus.
nucleus The central region of an atom, comet, or galaxy.
nutation A nodding perturbation on the precessional motion of earth[s axis of rotation due
to the gravitational pull of the moon on the earths equatorial bulge.
Otype star One of a class of stars having a temperature higher than 35,000K and a
spectrum characterized by lines of ionized helium and highly ionized metals. (p. 238)
objective The main lightgathering lens or mirror of a telescope.
oblate spheroid A solid figure formed by rotating an ellipse about its minor axis.
oblateness A measure of the flattening of an oblate spheroid, which is the ratio of the
difference between the major and minor axes to the major axis.
obliquity of the ecliptic The acute angle between the ecliptic and the celestial equator
(23).
obscuration Absorption of starlight by interstellar dust.
occulation An eclipse of a more distant celestial object by the moon or one of the planets.
ocular An eyepiece.
Oorts constants Constants that characterize the rotation of the Milky Way Galaxy in the
solar neighborhood.
opacity The ability of a substance to resist the flow of radiation through it.
332 Glossary
open cluster A loose collection of stars numbering from a few dozen up to a few hundred
that lies in the galactic disk; a galactic cluster. (p. 252)
opposition The planetary configuration in which the earth lies between the sun and the
planet; the planet thus appears to be opposite the sun in the sky as viewed from the
earth. (p. 104)
optical binary (or double) A pair of stars that are along the same line of sight but are at
different distances and hence are not a physical pair.
optical depth A measure of the reduction in the intensity of a beam of radiant energy as it
passes through an absorbing medium.
orbit The path of one celestial object about another.
ozone An extremely reactive form of molecular oxygen composed of three oxygen atoms
instead of the normal two.
parabola A curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone and a plane parallel to
the cones surface. (p. 101)
parallax angle The apparent displacement of a nearby object relative to a background as a
result of a change in the observers position. (p. 236)
parsec The distance to a star that exhibits a parallax angle of 1 arcsecond when viewed
from a baseline separation of one astronomical unit; 3.1 10
13
km; 3.26 lightyears.
(p. 236)
partial eclipse An eclipse in which the object being eclipsed is not completely obscured.
penumbra (shadows) A portion of an objects shadow partially illuminated by the light
source.
penumbra (sunspots) The lighter outer regions of a sunspot.
Glossary 333
penumbral eclipse An eclipse in which an object passes only through the eclipsing objects
penumbra.
perfect gas law The statement that the pressure of the gas is proportional to the product of
its density and temperature.
periastron The point of closest approach in the relative orbit of a binary star system.
perigee The point of closest approach to the earth of an object in earth orbit.
perihelion The point of closest approach to the sun of an object orbiting the sun.
period The interval of time required for a phenomenon or event to repeat itself.
periodic comet A comet that returns to the vicinity of the sun at more or less regular
intervals.
periodluminosity relation An observed relationship between the period of light variation
and the luminosity for certain types of variable stars, especially the cepheid variables.
perturbation A smallscale departure from the idealized behavior of a system, especially a
twobody gravitating system, due to external forces.
phases The apparent changes of shape of an object as its illuminated surface is viewed from
various angles.
photoelectric effect An effect in which electrons are emitted from a surface exposed to
light. (p. 152)
photoelectric photometer A device that measures the intensity of radiation using the
photoelectric effect. (p. 152)
photometry The branch of astronomy that deals with the measurement of the brightnesses
of celestial objects.
334 Glossary
photomultiplier A photoelectric cell in which the flow of electrons is amplified by
successive usages of the photoelectric effect.
photon A bundle or particle of radiant energy characterized by a wavelength and an
energy; the unit of electromagnetic energy. (p. 117)
photosphere The layer of solar or stellar atmosphere that marks the visible disk of the sun
or star. (p. 228)
plages Bright regions in the magnetic fields surrounding sunspots visible on spectra
heliograms of the sun; flocculi. (p. 232)
planet One of the nine largest nonluminous objects orbiting the sun; a nonluminous object
orbiting a distant star.
planetarium An optical instrument that can project representations of the night sky and its
associated phenomena onto a domed ceiling.
planetary nebula A bright spherical nebula that surrounds a hot central star and appears as
a planetary disk in a telescope. (p. 250)
planetesimals One of a number of small bodies a few hundred meters across believed to
have formed into protoplanets in the primeval solar system.
planetoid A minor planet.
Plancks law A mathematical expression of the distribution of energy with wavelength for
a blackbody radiator. (p. 128)
plasma A gas consisting entirely of ionized atoms.
polar axis The axis in an equatorial telescope mounting that is aligned parallel to the
earths axis of rotation.
Glossary 335
polarization The alignment of the vibration planes of an electromagnetic wave into a single
preferred plane.
Population I stars Stars similar to the sun in their chemical composition. (p. 280)
Population II stars Stars having significantly lower metal abundances than the
sun. (p. 280)
position angle The orientation of one object relative to a second nearby object.
positron A subatomic particle having a positive charge and a mass equal to that of the
electron; an antielectron.
potential energy Stored energy that can be converted into other forms of energy. (p. 108)
precession The slow, conical motion of the earths axis of rotation due to the gravitational
effects of the sun and moon on the earths equatorial bulge. (p. 174)
primary minimum The deepest drop of the light curve of an eclipsing binary system.
prime focus The focal point of the primary mirror of a reflecting telescope. (p. 138)
prime meridian The Greenwich meridian, 0 longitude. (p. 74)
primeval atom In cosmological theory, the single mass from which the universe originated.
principle of equivalence The statement that any point in spacetime can be transformed
into a frame of reference such that gravitational effects will disappear.
prism A triangular piece of glass that can break up light into its component colors and
create a spectrum.
prominence A region of bright gas protruding from the solar limb. (p. 232)
336 Glossary
proper motion The apparent angular change of position of a star per year due to its
intrinsic motion.
proton A subatomic particle that carries a positive charge and is, along with the neutron, a
basic constituent of atomic nuclei. (p. 119)
protonproton chain A series of thermonuclear reactions in which protons are built up
into helium nuclei with an attendant conversion of mass into energy. (p. 226)
pulsar A radio source, believed to be a neutron star, that emits highly regular, very short
period bursts of radio emissions. (p. 252)
pulsating variable A variable star whose light variations arise from successive expansions
and contractions of the star. (p. 245)
quadrature A planetary configuration in which the angular separation between the planet
and the sun is 90 as seen from the earth. (p. 104)
quarter moon Either of the two lunar phases in which the moon is 90 from the
sun. (p. 45)
quasars Starlike radio sources whose spectra show extremely large redshifts; quasistellar
objects. (p. 298)
quiet sun A term applied to the sun when its activity cycle is at a minimum.
radar astronomy The branch of astronomy that deals with observation of objects by
reflecting radio waves from their surfaces.
radial velocity The component of an objects velocity that is directly toward or away from
the observer. (p. 133)
radiant The point on the celestial sphere from which a meteor shower appears to radiate.
Glossary 337
radiation pressure The pressure exerted by electromagnetic radiation on the body it
strikes.
radio telescope An instrument designed to collect and observe radio waves.
radio waves The region of the electromagnetic spectrum that has wavelengths longer than
1 mm. (p. 111)
radiation A mechanism by which energy is transported through space; the energy that is so
transferred.
radioactivity The spontaneous breakdown of slightly unstable atomic nuclei.
Rayleigh scattering The process by which molecules scatter light rays.
red giant A large, cool star of high luminosity. (p. 273)
Red Spot A gigantic cyclonic storm in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter. (p. 194)
reddening (interstellar) The reddening of starlight passing through interstellar dust; the
dust scatters blue light more effectively than red light.
redshift The shift to longer wavelengths of the light from celestial objects, especially
remote galaxies.
reflecting telescope (reflector) A telescope that employs a concave mirror as its principal
lightgathering element. (p. 138)
reflection nebula An interstellar dust cloud illuminated by stars in or near it.
refracting telescope A telescope that employs a lens or lens system as its principal
lightgathering element. (p. 138)
relativity A description of motion that deals with the behavior of objects moving at very
high velocities or in very strong gravitational fields.
338 Glossary
resolution The degree to which fine details are delineated in an image.
resolving power The ability of an instrument to observe fine detail. (p. 143)
retrograde motion The apparent backward motion of a planet relative to the stars as a
result of the relative motions of the earth and planet.
revolution The orbital motion of one object about another.
right ascension The angular distance between the hour circle of the vernal equinox point
eastward to the hour circle of the object. (p. 77)
rille A crevasse or trenchlike depression on the lunar surface.
Roche limit The smallest distance at which an orbiting object can maintain itself against
the tidal forces of its primary.
rotation The spinning motion of an object about an axis passing through itself.
RR Lyrae stars Pulsating variable stars having periods of less than a day, usually found in
globular star clusters. (p. 246)
RussellVogt theorem A theorem in astrophysics which states that the entire structure of a
star is uniquely determined from its mass and composition.
Stype star A cool star whose spectrum is characterized by molecular bands of the heavy
metal oxides such as ZrO. (p. 244)
saros A cycle of similar eclipses recurring about every 18 years. (p. 175)
satellite An object that revolves around a much larger object; a moon.
scientific method An investigative approach in which results of experiments and
observation are used to formulate hypotheses that are then tested with further
experimentation. (p. 43)
Glossary 339
seeing The quality of steadiness in the earths atmosphere; unsteadiness blurs telescopic
images. (p. 144)
seismic Related to vibrations in the outer layers of the earths interior.
semimajor axis Half the length of an ellipses major axis.
semiregular variable A pulsating variable star having a period that is not quite
constant. (p. 247)
separation The angular distance between two celestial objects, especially the two members
of a binary system.
Seyfert galaxy A galaxy having a bright nucleus, but not as prominent as the nuclei of N
galaxies. (p. 298)
shell star A star surrounded by a thin, detached sphere of gas. (pp. 249250)
sidereal Of or pertaining to the stars.
sidereal period The amount of time needed for one object to orbit another using the stars as
a reference. (p. 102)
solar antapex The point on the celestial sphere from which the sun has come.
solar apex The point on the celestial sphere toward which the sun is moving.
solar constant The amount of solar radiation striking the earths surface per unit area per
unit time; 1360 watts/square meter. (p. 224)
solar day The interval of time for the earth to make one complete rotation with respect to
the sun between two successive crossings of the celestial meridian by the sun.
solar eclipse An eclipse of the sun by the moon. (p. 175)
340 Glossary
solar motion The motion of the sun relative to the local standard of rest.
solar parallax The angle subtended by the earths equatorial radius at a distance of 1 AU.
solar system The entire system of planets, satellites, minor planets, comets, and meteoroids
that orbit the sun.
solar wind A highspeed outward flow of gas from the sun. (p. 230)
solstice The points on the celestial sphere where the sun reaches its maximum angular
distances north and south of the celestial equator.
space motion (or velocity) The velocity of a star relative to the sun.
spacetime A relativistic view of space in which time is regarded as a fourth dimension.
specific gravity The ratio of the density of an object to that of water.
spectral class (or type) The classification of a star based on the appearance of its line
spectrum. (p. 238)
spectral sequence An arrangement of spectral classes in order of increasing or decreasing
temperature. (p. 238)
spectrograph An instrument used to record the spectrum of an object.
spectroheliogram A photograph of the sun taken in monochromatic light, usually at the
wavelength of a strong hydrogen or calcium absorption line. (p. 229)
spectroscopic binary A binary star whose orbital motion manifests itself as a variable
radial velocity.
spectroscopic parallax The parallax (or distance) obtained for a star by comparing its
apparent magnitude with its absolute magnitude as deduced from the stars spectral
characteristics.
Glossary 341
spectrum The radiant energy from an object spread out into its component wavelengths by
some dispersive device such as a prism or grating. (p. 123)
spectrum variable A star whose spectral characteristics vary in time.
speed The magnitude of a velocity.
spherical aberration A defect in an optical system in which light rays for an axis striking
near the edges of the lens or mirror come to a different focus than light rays striking near its
center.
spicule A narrow, upward jet of material in the solar chromosphere. (p. 229)
spiral arms Curved cylindrical regions of gas, dust, and stars that wind outward in a plane
from the nucleus of a spiral galaxy.
spiral galaxy A galaxy that has spiral arms. (p. 289)
sporadic meteor A random meteor not associated with a meteor shower. (p. 217)
spring tide The highest tides that can occur in a given month; spring tides occur around the
time of new moon or full moon.
standard time The local mean solar time of a standard meridian that is extended to large
areas on both sides of the meridian for convenient timekeeping; a variation of zone time.
star A selfluminous sphere of gas.
star cluster An assemblage of stars held together by the mutual gravity of its
members. (p. 252)
steadystate theory In cosmology, an outdated theory in which the density of matter in an
expanding universe is kept constant through the continuous creation of matter.
342 Glossary
Stefans law The statement that the total amount of radiation emitted from a blackbody per
unit area of surface is proportional to the fourth power of the objects temperature. (p. 130)
stellar evolution The life cycle of a star, including all of the physical changes that occur
during that cycle.
stellar model A theoretical calculation of the interior conditions for a star.
stellar parallax The angle subtended by 1 AU at the distance to a given star.
stony meteorite (stone) A meteorite made up of 90 percent silicates. (p. 218)
stonyiron meteorite A type of meteorite composed of about 50 percent silicates and
50 percent iron and nickel; a siderolite. (p. 218)
stratosphere The layer of the earths atmosphere lying above the troposphere and below
the ionosphere. (p. 164)
Strmgren sphere A region of ionized gas in space surrounding a hot star.
subdwarf A star that lies below the main sequence on the HR diagram.
subgiant A star that lies between the main sequence and the giant branch on the HR
diagram.
summer solstice The point on the celestial sphere at which the sun attains its largest
positive declination.
sunspot A dark, cool region of high magnetic field intensity in the solar
photosphere. (p. 232)
supergiant A star of extremely large size and luminosity. (p. 242)
superior conjunction A conjunction of an inferior planet and the sun in which the planet is
on the far side of the sun.
Glossary 343
superior planet A planet whose orbit lies outside that of the earth.
supernova A catastrophic outburst of a star in which large amounts of its mass are ejected
into space; its energy output can increase by millions of times. (p. 248)
surface gravity The acceleration due to gravity at the surface of an object. (p. 96)
synchrotron radiation Radiation emitted by highspeed charged particles, especially
electrons, as they are accelerated in a magnetic field.
synodic month The interval of time between successive appearances of the same lunar
phase.
synodic period The amount of time it takes for a celestial configuration to repeat itself.
syzygy A configuration of the moon when the earth, sun, and moon are in a line; a new or
full moon.
T Tauri stars Irregular variable stars believed to be in a phase of their evolution just prior
to becoming mainsequence stars. (p. 247)
tangential velocity The component of an objects velocity that is perpendicular to the
observers line of sight.
tektites Rounded glassy objects believed by some scientists to be of extraterrestrial
origin. (p. 219)
telescope An optical device that enhances the astronomers view of the heavens. (p. 135)
telluric Terrestrial in origin.
temperature A measure of the internal energy of a body.
terminator The line between the lit and unlit positions of a reflecting body.
344 Glossary
terrestrial planets The small, compact planets nearest the sun, including Mercury, Venus,
Earth, and Mars; Pluto is sometimes included in this group. (p. 179)
thermal energy The energy associated with the motions of atoms or molecules in a given
object or substance.
thermal equilibrium A state of balance between the amount of heat flowing into and out of
a given system.
thermocouple An electrical device used by astronomers to measure the intensity of infrared
radiation.
thermodynamics The branch of physics that deals with the properties of heat and heat
transfer.
thermonuclear Of or pertaining to a hightemperature fusion reaction.
tidal force The stretching of an object due to the gravitational forces of a nearby
object. (p. 178)
total eclipse An eclipse in which the light from one object is completely blotted out by a
second object.
totality The interval of time during a total eclipse in which the light from one object is
completely blotted out by another solid body.
transit The passage of a small body in the solar system across the disk of a larger one.
transition A change of the electronic configuration in an atom.
triangulation A method of distance determination by which the distance to an inaccessible
point is obtained by computing the elements of a triangle involving the point.
trigonometry The branch of mathematics that deals with analytical solutions of triangles.
Glossary 345
triplealpha (3) process A sequence of nuclear reactions in which three helium nuclei
are fused into a carbon nucleus.
Trojan asteroids The set of minor planets that move about the sun in Jupiters orbit 60
ahead of and 60 behind the planet itself. (p. 214)
Tropic of Cancer The parallel of latitude on he earth over which the sun stands at the
summer solstice; 23N latitude.
Tropic of Capricorn The parallel of latitude on the earth over which the sun stands at the
summer solstice; 23S latitude.
tropical year The interval of time required for the sun to make successive passages through
the vernal equinox point.
troposphere The lowest, densest layer of the earths atmosphere. (p. 164)
turbulence The irregular, random motions in a gas or liquid.
ultraviolet That part of the electromagnetic spectrum lying roughly between
100 nanometers and 400 nanometers. (p. 112)
umbra (shadows) The completely dark central portion of an objects shadow.
umbra (sunspots) The dark central portions of a sunspot.
universal time The local mean time of the Greenwich meridian.
universality, principle of An assumption that the laws of nature are invariant in time or
with ones location in the universe. (p. 45)
universe The sum total of all that we see in the heavens.
UV Ceti stars Red flare stars. (p. 248)
346 Glossary
Van Allen belts A set of doughnutshaped regions about the earth in which highenergy
charged particles have been trapped by the earths magnetic field. (p. 166)
variable star A star whose spectral characteristics or brightness varies with time.
variation of latitude Smallscale changes in the latitudes of places on the earth due to a
change in the orientation of the earths axis of rotation relative to the surface of the earth.
velocity The time rate of change of an objects position in some specified direction.
(p. 84)
velocity of escape See escape velocity. (p. 98)
vernal equinox The point on the celestial sphere where the sun crosses the celestial equator
passing from south to north; the day on which this passage occurs. (p. 76)
visible region That part of the electromagnetic spectrum between 400 nanometers and
750 nanometers which can be seen with the human eye. (p. 110111)
visual binary (star) A binary star in which both components can be resolved optically.
volume A measure of the total space occupied by a given object.
Vulcan A planet hypothesized in the nineteenth century to be between Mercury and the
sun. (p. 202)
W Ursae Majoris star An eclipsing binary whose components are nearly in contact with
one another.
walled plain A large lunar crater with small outside walls.
wandering of the poles The change in the orientation of the earths axis of rotation relative
to its surface that is responsible for the variation of latitude effect.
Glossary 347
waning moon The set of lunar phases between full and new moon when the amount of
illuminated surface is decreasing in time. (p. 5)
wavelength The distance between successive crests (or troughs). (p. 109)
waxing moon The set of lunar phases between new and full moon when the amount of
illuminated surface is increasing in time. (p. 4)
weight The total gravitational force exerted on a given mass by a given object.
white dwarf A final stage of a stars evolution in which it has collapsed to an object
roughly the size of the earth and can generate no more nuclear energy. (p. 251)
Widmansttten figures A unique crystalline structure that can be seen on the face of a cut
and polished iron meteorite. (p. 218)
Wiens law The relationship that states that for any blackbody, the product of the
temperature and the wavelength at which the largest energy output occurs is a constant.
winter solstice The point on the celestial sphere where the sun is farthest sough of the
celestial equator.
WolfRayet star A star whose spectrum is characterized by broad emission bands of
oxygen and nitrogen that arise from ejected gaseous shells. (p. 250)
X rays Radiation from that part of the electromagnetic spectrum lying between 1 A and
1000 A. (p. 112)
year The time required for the earth to complete one orbit of the sun.
Zeeman effect The splitting of the spectral lines of an atom due to the effect of a magnetic
field on the atoms electronic energy levels.
zenith The point on the celestial sphere directly overhead.
348 Glossary
zeroage main sequence The sequence of positions on the HR diagram reached by
protostars of various masses at the onset of nuclear fusion processes in their cores.
zodiac An imaginary band on the celestial sphere approximately 16 wide which is centered
on the ecliptic and within which the sun, moon, and all of the planets (except Pluto)
move. (p. 8)
zodiacal light A faint glow of light along the zodiac believed to be due to sunlight reflected
and scattered by interplanetary dust. (p. 219)
zone of avoidance An irregular band roughly coincident with the outlines of the Milky
Way within which a very few exterior galaxies can be seen (p. 290)
zone time The time kept in a strict 15wide longitude zone that is equal to the local mean
time for the zones central meridian.