Foundations of Astronomy (MindTap Course List)
14th Edition
ISBN: 9781337399920
Author: Michael A. Seeds, Dana Backman
Publisher: Cengage Learning
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Chapter 11, Problem 3RQ
To determine
The three ways of triggering the contraction of giant molecular clouds.
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Explain why the sky is blue and how that relates to reflection nebulae.
. The radius of the nebula is about 0.401 light-years. The gas is expanding away from the star at a rate of about 37
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. Considering that distance = velocity x time, calculate how long ago the gas left the star if its speed has been constant the whole time. Make sure you use consistent units for time, speed, and distance. Answer in years.
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Chapter 11 Solutions
Foundations of Astronomy (MindTap Course List)
Ch. 11 - Prob. 1RQCh. 11 - Prob. 2RQCh. 11 - Prob. 3RQCh. 11 - Prob. 4RQCh. 11 - During free-fall collapse, what keeps the...Ch. 11 - Prob. 6RQCh. 11 - Prob. 7RQCh. 11 - Prob. 8RQCh. 11 - Prob. 9RQCh. 11 - Prob. 10RQ
Ch. 11 - Prob. 11RQCh. 11 - Prob. 12RQCh. 11 - Prob. 13RQCh. 11 - Describe the three ways thermal energy can be...Ch. 11 - Prob. 15RQCh. 11 - Prob. 16RQCh. 11 - How does the CNO cycle differ from the...Ch. 11 - Prob. 18RQCh. 11 - Prob. 19RQCh. 11 - Prob. 20RQCh. 11 - Prob. 21RQCh. 11 - Prob. 22RQCh. 11 - Prob. 23RQCh. 11 - Prob. 24RQCh. 11 - Prob. 1PCh. 11 - Prob. 2PCh. 11 - Prob. 3PCh. 11 - Prob. 4PCh. 11 - If a protostellar disk is 200 AU in radius and the...Ch. 11 - Prob. 6PCh. 11 - Prob. 7PCh. 11 - Prob. 8PCh. 11 - Prob. 9PCh. 11 - Prob. 10PCh. 11 - Prob. 11PCh. 11 - Prob. 12PCh. 11 - If the Orion Nebula is 8 pc in diameter and has a...Ch. 11 - Prob. 14PCh. 11 - Prob. 1SOPCh. 11 - Prob. 2SOPCh. 11 - Prob. 1LTLCh. 11 - Prob. 2LTLCh. 11 - Prob. 3LTLCh. 11 - Prob. 4LTLCh. 11 - Prob. 5LTLCh. 11 - Prob. 6LTL
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- Look at the four stages shown in Figure 21.8. In which stage(s) can we see the star in visible light? In infrared radiation? Figure 21.8 Formation of a Star. (a) Dense cores form within a molecular cloud. (b) A protostar with a surrounding disk of material forms at the center of a dense core, accumulating additional material from the molecular cloud through gravitational attraction. (c) A stellar wind breaks out but is confined by the disk to flow out along the two poles of the star. (d) Eventually, this wind sweeps away the cloud material and halts the accumulation of additional material, and a newly formed star, surrounded by a disk, becomes observable. These sketches are not drawn to the same scale. The diameter of a typical envelope that is supplying gas to the newly forming star is about 5000 AU. The typical diameter of the disk is about 100 AU or slightly larger than the diameter of the orbit of Pluto.arrow_forwardDescribe the characteristics of the various kinds of interstellar gas (HII regions, neutral hydrogen clouds, ultra-hot gas clouds, and molecular clouds).arrow_forwardWhy do nebulae near hot stars look red? Why do dust clouds near stars usually look blue?arrow_forward
- Give several reasons the Orion molecular cloud is such a useful “laboratory” for studying the stages of star formation.arrow_forwardDescribe the evolution of a star with a mass similar to that of the Sun, from the protostar stage to the time it first becomes a red giant. Give the description in words and then sketch the evolution on an HR diagram.arrow_forwardConsider the following five kinds of objects: open cluster, giant molecular cloud, globular cluster, group of O and B stars, and planetary nebulae. A. Which occur only in spiral arms? B. Which occur only in the parts of the Galaxy other than the spiral arms? C. Which are thought to be very young? D. Which are thought to be very old? E. Which have the hottest stars?arrow_forward
- You can use the equation in Exercise 22.34 to estimate the approximate ages of the clusters in Figure 22.10, Figure 22.12, and Figure 22.13. Use the information in the figures to determine the luminosity of the most massive star still on the main sequence. Now use the data in Table 18.3 to estimate the mass of this star. Then calculate the age of the cluster. This method is similar to the procedure used by astronomers to obtain the ages of clusters, except that they use actual data and model calculations rather than simply making estimates from a drawing. How do your ages compare with the ages in the text? Figure 22.10 NGC 2264 HR Diagram. Compare this HR diagram to that in Figure 22.8; although the points scatter a bit more here, the theoretical and observational diagrams are remarkably, and satisfyingly, similar. Figure 22.12 Cluster M41. (a) Cluster M41 is older than NGC 2264 (see Figure 22.10) and contains several red giants. Some of its more massive stars are no longer close to the zero-age main sequence (red line). (b) This ground-based photograph shows the open cluster M41. Note that it contains several orange-color stars. These are stars that have exhausted hydrogen in their centers, and have swelled up to become red giants. (credit b: modification of work by NOAO/AURA/NSF) Figure 22.13 HR Diagram for an Older Cluster. We see the HR diagram for a hypothetical older cluster at an age of 4.24 billion years. Note that most of the stars on the upper part of the main sequence have turned off toward the red-giant region. And the most massive stars in the cluster have already died and are no longer on the diagram. Characteristics of Main-Sequence Starsarrow_forwardWould you expect to find any white dwarfs in the Orion Nebula? (See The Birth of Stars and the Discovery of Planets outside the Solar System to remind yourself of its characteristics.) Why or why not?arrow_forwardIf most stars become white dwarfs at the ends of their lives and the formation of white dwarfs is accompanied by the production of a planetary nebula, why are there more white dwarfs than planetary nebulae in the Galaxy?arrow_forward
- Are supergiant stars also extremely massive? Explain the reasoning behind your answer.arrow_forwardWhen a region of a molecular cloud collapses, a protostar is formed. How do the temperature and density change as a protostar gets smaller and smaller? Group of answer choices The temperature decreases and the density decreases. The temperature decreases and the density increases. The temperature increases and the density decreases. The temperature increases and the density increases.arrow_forward1) a) Calculate the Jeans length for the dense core of a giant molecular cloud with T=10 K, n = 1010/m³, and µ=2. b) Estimate the adiabatic sound speed for this core, using y=5/3. c) Use this speed to find the amount of time required for a sound wave to cross the cloud t3=2Rj/vs. d) Compare your answer with the free-fall scale and comment your results.arrow_forward
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