21ST CENT.ASTRONOMY(LL)W/CODE WKBK PKG.
6th Edition
ISBN: 9780393874921
Author: PALEN
Publisher: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
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Chapter 17, Problem 28QP
To determine
The way in which astronomers know that an even earlier generation of stars existed before the oldest observed stars.
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Iron is unique among the elements in terms of its nuclear properties, and this gives it a decisive role in stellar evolution. Explain.
True or False
8. Almost all stars are in binary systems. The book says: "So far you have been considering the deaths of stars as if they were all single objects that never interact, but more than half of all stars are members of binary star systems."From this, I would not necessarily say that almost all stars are in binary systems based on this alone, but some other information I am finding says up to 85%. However, the numbers seem to be all over the map outside the course material, and I can not find a solid figure in it from what I have looked at.
If it helps, Stars and Galaxies, 10th Edition by Seeds and Beckman is my reference material.
Chapter 17 Solutions
21ST CENT.ASTRONOMY(LL)W/CODE WKBK PKG.
Ch. 17.1 - Prob. 17.1CYUCh. 17.2 - Prob. 17.2CYUCh. 17.3 - Prob. 17.3CYUCh. 17.4 - Prob. 17.4CYUCh. 17 - Prob. 1QPCh. 17 - Prob. 2QPCh. 17 - Prob. 3QPCh. 17 - Prob. 4QPCh. 17 - Prob. 5QPCh. 17 - Prob. 6QP
Ch. 17 - Prob. 7QPCh. 17 - Prob. 8QPCh. 17 - Prob. 9QPCh. 17 - Prob. 10QPCh. 17 - Prob. 11QPCh. 17 - Prob. 12QPCh. 17 - Prob. 13QPCh. 17 - Prob. 14QPCh. 17 - Prob. 15QPCh. 17 - Prob. 16QPCh. 17 - Prob. 17QPCh. 17 - Prob. 18QPCh. 17 - Prob. 19QPCh. 17 - Prob. 20QPCh. 17 - Prob. 21QPCh. 17 - Prob. 22QPCh. 17 - Prob. 23QPCh. 17 - Prob. 24QPCh. 17 - Prob. 25QPCh. 17 - Prob. 26QPCh. 17 - Prob. 27QPCh. 17 - Prob. 28QPCh. 17 - Prob. 29QPCh. 17 - Prob. 30QPCh. 17 - Prob. 31QPCh. 17 - Prob. 32QPCh. 17 - Prob. 33QPCh. 17 - Prob. 34QPCh. 17 - Prob. 35QPCh. 17 - Prob. 36QPCh. 17 - Prob. 37QPCh. 17 - Prob. 38QPCh. 17 - Prob. 39QPCh. 17 - Prob. 40QPCh. 17 - Prob. 41QPCh. 17 - Prob. 42QPCh. 17 - Prob. 43QPCh. 17 - Prob. 44QPCh. 17 - Prob. 45QP
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Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, physics and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.Similar questions
- Are supergiant stars also extremely massive? Explain the reasoning behind your answer.arrow_forwardWhat elements are stars mostly made of? How do we know this?arrow_forwardImagine that you are observing the light from a distant star that is located in a galaxy 100 million lightyears away from you. By analysis of the starlight received, you are able to tell that the image we see is of a 10- million-year-old star. You are also able to predict that the star will have a total lifetime of 50 million years, at which point it will end in a catastrophic supernova. a) How old does the star appear to be to us here on Earth now? b) How long will it be before we receive the light from the supernova event? c) Has the supernova already occurred? If so, when did it occur?arrow_forward
- The star cluster shown in the image in Figure UN 20-3 contains cool red giants and main-sequence stars from hot blue stars all the way down to red dwarfs. Discuss the likelihood that planets orbiting any of these stars might be home to life. (Hint: Estimate the age of the cluster.)arrow_forwardNew stars form in regions where the density of gas and dust is relatively high. Suppose you wanted to search for some recently formed stars. Would you more likely be successful if you observed at visible wavelengths or at infrared wavelengths? Why?arrow_forwardThe star cluster shown in this image contains a few red giants as well as main-sequence stars ranging from spectral type B to M. Discuss the likelihood that exoplanets orbiting any of these stars might be home to life. (Hint: Estimate the age of the cluster.)arrow_forward
- Describe the two “recycling” mechanisms that are associated with stars (one during each star’s life and the other connecting generations of stars).arrow_forwardA friend of yours who did not do well in her astronomy class tells you that she believes all stars are old and none could possibly be born today. What arguments would you use to persuade her that stars are being born somewhere in the Galaxy during your lifetime?arrow_forwardH II regions can exist only if there is a nearby star hot enough to ionize hydrogen. Hydrogen is ionized only by radiation with wavelengths shorter than 91.2 nm. What is the temperature of a star that emits its maximum energy at 91.2 nm? (Use Wien’s law from Radiation and Spectra.) Based on this result, what are the spectral types of those stars likely to provide enough energy to produce H II regions?arrow_forward
- Describe several characteristics that distinguish population I stars from population II stars.arrow_forwardYou can estimate the age of the planetary nebula in image (c) in Figure 22.18. The diameter of the nebula is 600 times the diameter of our own solar system, or about 0.8 light-year. The gas is expanding away from the star at a rate of about 25 mi/s. Considering that distance=velocitytime , 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. Figure 22.18 Gallery of Planetary Nebulae. This series of beautiful images depicting some intriguing planetary nebulae highlights the capabilities of the Hubble Space Telescope. (a) Perhaps the best known planetary nebula is the Ring Nebula (M57), located about 2000 lightyears away in the constellation of Lyra. The ring is about 1 light-year in diameter, and the central star has a temperature of about 120,000 °C. Careful study of this image has shown scientists that, instead of looking at a spherical shell around this dying star, we may be looking down the barrel of a tube or cone. The blue region shows emission from very hot helium, which is located very close to the star; the red region isolates emission from ionized nitrogen, which is radiated by the coolest gas farthest from the star; and the green region represents oxygen emission, which is produced at intermediate temperatures and is at an intermediate distance from the star. (b) This planetary nebula, M2-9, is an example of a butterfly nebula. The central star (which is part of a binary system) has ejected mass preferentially in two opposite directions. In other images, a disk, perpendicular to the two long streams of gas, can be seen around the two stars in the middle. The stellar outburst that resulted in the expulsion of matter occurred about 1200 years ago. Neutral oxygen is shown in red, once-ionized nitrogen in green, and twice-ionized oxygen in blue. The planetary nebula is about 2100 light-years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus. (c) In this image of the planetary nebula NGC 6751, the blue regions mark the hottest gas, which forms a ring around the central star. The orange and red regions show the locations of cooler gas. The origin of these cool streamers is not known, but their shapes indicate that they are affected by radiation and stellar winds from the hot star at the center. The temperature of the star is about 140,000 °C. The diameter of the nebula is about 600 times larger than the diameter of our solar system. The nebula is about 6500 light-years away in the constellation of Aquila. (d) This image of the planetary nebula NGC 7027 shows several stages of mass loss. The faint blue concentric shells surrounding the central region identify the mass that was shed slowly from the surface of the star when it became a red giant. Somewhat later, the remaining outer layers were ejected but not in a spherically symmetric way. The dense clouds formed by this late ejection produce the bright inner regions. The hot central star can be seen faintly near the center of the nebulosity. NGC 7027 is about 3000 light-years away in the direction of the constellation of Cygnus. (credit a: modification of work by NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration; credit b: modification of work by Bruce Balick (University of Washington), Vincent Icke (Leiden University, The Netherlands), Garrelt Mellema (Stockholm University), and NASA; credit c: modification of work by NASA, The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); credit d: modification of work by H. Bond (STScI) and NASA)arrow_forwardYou 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_forward
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