Star Brightness worksheet.docx

Star Brightness WORKSHEET These lab activities have evolved over years of use in Clemson University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy general astronomy laboratory. Contributors include Tom Collins, Mark Leising, Neil Miller, Peter Milne, Grant Williams, Donna Mullenax, Jessica Crist, Keith Davis, Amber Porter, Lea Marcotulli, and David Connick. Please direct all questions, complaints, and corrections to David Connick (dconnic@clemson.edu) who is responsible for all errors and omissions. NAME: Marc DeJesus Remember to answer all questions with a sentence statement. Single word answers are never acceptable unless filling in a blank number in a table or open space. Support your answers with your data. Table 1 The Twenty Brightest Stars Star M (total) Constellation m Distance (ly) N or S Temp (K) Achernar - 4.67 Eridanus .54 139 S 19000 Acrux (alpha1) - 6.86 Crux 1.27 and 1.55 322 N 30000 Aldebaran - 0.56 Taurus .99 and 13.6 66.6 N 4000 Altair 2.25 Aquila +.93 and +9.72 16.7 N 7830 Antares -3.10 Scorplus 5.4 and 1.07 550 S 20900 Arcturus -0.66 Bootes +.15 and +3.49 36.7 N 4530 Betelgeuse -6.81 Orion .56 and 14.5 500 N 3500 Canopus -5.80 Carina -.62 and +14.8 309 S 10100 Capella -0.94 Auriga .07 and 17.1 42.8 N 4800 Deneb -7.13 Cygnus +1.33 1400 N 9380

and +11.7 Fomalhaut 1.61 Piscis Austrinus 1.23 and 24.6 25.1 S 8730 Hadar -7.35 Centaurus +.63 and +3.95 390 S 26200 Pollux 0.64 Gemini 1.22 and 13.7 33.8 N 4660 Procyon 2.53 Canis Minor +.40 and +10.8 11.4 N 6650 Regulus -1.55 Leo 1.4 and 8.24 79.3 N 12700 Rigel -7.49 Orion +.28 and +6.8 860 S 11100 Rigil Kent 4.17 Alpha 1 0.00 and 1.33 4.36 S 5790 Sirius 1.21 Canis Major -1.44 and +8.5 8.58 S 9400 Spica -5.95 Virgo 1.05 and 1.33 250 S 26200 Vega 0.29 Lyra +.02 and +12 25 N 9790 1) Are there more bright stars in the northern half of the celestial sphere, or in the South? Explain. There are 11 stars in the north and 9 in the south. This is because the declamation is positive 2) Which star appears to be the brightest star? (most negative m) Sirius is the brightest star 3) Which is intrinsically brightest?(most negative M) Rigel is the most intrinsically brightest star

So when looking at the constellation drawing on Starry night it is apparent which star connects to what story. The star Betelgeuse aligns with Orion’s shoulder and the star Rigel is at Orion’s ankle. Table 2 Twenty Stars in Ursa Major When searching, you can use the common name in parenthesis to more easily find the stars. Star Catalog (Common name) Temp (Kelvin) Distance (light years) Alpha (Dubhe) 7930 123 Beta (Merak) 9400 79.7 Gamma (Phecda) 17200 83.2 Delta (Megrez) 8730 80.5 Epsilon (Alioth) 17200 82.6 Zeta (Mizar) 9400 85.8 Eta (Alkaid) 33700 104 Theta 6520 44 Iota 8000 48 Kappa 9500 360 Lambda 9360 134 Mu 3400 249 Nu 4440 421 Xi 6000 24 Omicron 5500 184 Pi 1 5870 46.8 Rho 3490 315 Sigma 1 4200 498 Upsilon 7000 116 Phi 9040 436 16) Name the seven stars that form the Big Dipper

Dubhe,Merak,Phecda,Megrez,Alioth,Mizar, and Alkaid 17) Mizar and Alcor are called the horse and rider. For the fainter Alcor to "ride" Mizar, they would need to be close together. Are they close (say, within a few light years)? Yes, they are relatively close to each other, specifically 4.1 Light years. 18) Are the Ursa Major stars at the same distance from Earth? No, all the stars in Ursa Major are different distances from Earth 19) If the stars aren't close together, why are they part of the same constellation? Because constellations range vast and wide and when viewing them from the Earth they seem much closer than they actually are 20) Which group of stars would you expect to be closer on average, the bright ones or the random ones from the big dipper(UMa)? I would expect the bright stars to be closer because they are bright so in theory they are closer to us 21) Which group of stars would you expect to be hotter, the bright ones or the random ones from the big dipper (UMa)? I would say the Ursa Major stars are hotter because they're almost all 5 digits 22) The average temperature of the Ursa Major stars is __9294___ °K. The average distance is __175.73_____ light years. 23) Are the bright stars or UMa stars hotter on average? The bright stars are hotter on average 24) Are the bright stars or UMa stars closer on average? The Uma stars are closer on average