spectrum of this star, the H alpha line is observed to have a wavelength of 656.034 nm when measured from the ground. a. Determine the radial velocity of Barnard’s star. b. Determine the transverse velocity of Barnard’s star. c. Calculate the speed of Barnard’s star through space.
Stellar evolution
We may see thousands of stars in the dark sky. Our universe consists of billions of stars. Stars may appear tiny to us but they are huge balls of gasses. Sun is a star of average size. Some stars are even a thousand times larger than the sun. The stars do not exist forever they have a certain lifetime. The life span of the sun is about 10 billion years. The star undergoes various changes during its lifetime, this process is called stellar evolution. The structure of the sun-like star is shown below.
Red Shift
It is an astronomical phenomenon. In this phenomenon, increase in wavelength with corresponding decrease in photon energy and frequency of radiation of light. It is the displacement of spectrum of any kind of astronomical object to the longer wavelengths (red) side.
Barnard’s star is an orange star in the constellation Ophiuchus. It has the largest known proper motion (10.3577"/yr) and the fourth-largest parallax angle (0.54901"). In the spectrum of this star, the H alpha line is observed to have a wavelength of 656.034 nm when measured from the ground.
a. Determine the radial velocity of Barnard’s star.
b. Determine the transverse velocity of Barnard’s star.
c. Calculate the speed of Barnard’s star through space.
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