Astronomy
1st Edition
ISBN: 9781938168284
Author: Andrew Fraknoi; David Morrison; Sidney C. Wolff
Publisher: OpenStax
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Textbook Question
Chapter 20, Problem 6E
Describe the properties of the dust grains found in the space between stars.
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Chapter 20 Solutions
Astronomy
Ch. 20 - Identify several dark nebulae in photographs in...Ch. 20 - Why do nebulae near hot stars look red? Why do...Ch. 20 - Describe the characteristics of the various kinds...Ch. 20 - Prepare a table listing the different ways in...Ch. 20 - Describe how the 21-cm line of hydrogen is formed....Ch. 20 - Describe the properties of the dust grains found...Ch. 20 - Why is it difficult to determine where cosmic rays...Ch. 20 - What causes reddening of starlight? Explain how...Ch. 20 - Why do molecules, including H2 and more complex...Ch. 20 - Why can’t we use visible light telescopes to study...
Ch. 20 - The mass of the interstellar medium is determined...Ch. 20 - Where does interstellar dust come from? How does...Ch. 20 - Figure 20.2 shows a reddish glow around the star...Ch. 20 - If the red glow around Antares is indeed produced...Ch. 20 - Even though neutral hydrogen is the most abundant...Ch. 20 - The terms H II and H2 are both pronounced “H two.”...Ch. 20 - Suppose someone told you that she had discovered H...Ch. 20 - Describe the spectrum of each of the following: A....Ch. 20 - According to the text, a star must be hotter than...Ch. 20 - From the comments in the text about which kinds of...Ch. 20 - One way to calculate the size and shape of the...Ch. 20 - New stars form in regions where the density of gas...Ch. 20 - Thinking about the topics in this chapter, here is...Ch. 20 - Stars form in the Milky Way at a rate of about 1...Ch. 20 - The 21-cm line can be used not just to find out...Ch. 20 - Astronomers recently detected light emitted by a...Ch. 20 - We can detect 21-cm emission from other galaxies...Ch. 20 - We have said repeatedly that blue light undergoes...Ch. 20 - Suppose that, instead of being inside the Local...Ch. 20 - Suppose that, instead of being inside the Local...Ch. 20 - A molecular cloud is about 1000 times denser than...Ch. 20 - Would you expect to be able to detect an H II...Ch. 20 - Suppose that you gathered a ball of interstellar...Ch. 20 - At the average density of the interstellar medium,...Ch. 20 - Consider a grain of sand that contains 1 mg of...Ch. 20 - H II regions can exist only if there is a nearby...Ch. 20 - In the text, we said that the five-times ionized...Ch. 20 - Dust was originally discovered because the stars...Ch. 20 - How would the density inside a cold cloud (T=10K)...Ch. 20 - The text says that the Local Fluff, which...
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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
- Would 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_forwardSuppose you want to search for brown dwarfs using a space telescope. Will you design your telescope to detect light in the ultraviolet or the infrared part of the spectrum? Why?arrow_forwardAre supergiant stars also extremely massive? Explain the reasoning behind your answer.arrow_forward
- Describe the spectrum of each of the following: A. starlight reflected by dust, B. a star behind invisible interstellar gas, and C. an emission nebula.arrow_forwardFigure 20.2 shows a reddish glow around the star Antares, and yet the caption says that is a dust cloud. What observations would you make to determine whether the red glow is actually produced by dust or whether it is produced by an H II region? Figure 20.2 Various Types of Interstellar Matter. The reddish nebulae in this spectacular photograph glow with light emitted by hydrogen atoms. The darkest areas are clouds of dust that block the light from stars behind them. The upper part of the picture is filled with the bluish glow of light reflected from hot stars embedded in the outskirts of a huge, cool cloud of dust and gas. The cool supergiant star Antares can be seen as a big, reddish patch in the lower-left part of the picture. The star is shedding some of its outer atmosphere and is surrounded by a cloud of its own making that reflects the red light of the star. The red nebula in the middle right partially surrounds the star Sigma Scorpii. (To the right of Antares, you can see M4, a much more distant cluster of extremely old stars.) (credit: modification of work by ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2)arrow_forwardCompare the scale (size) of a typical dusty disk around a forming star with the scale of our solar system.arrow_forward
- Prepare a table listing the different ways in which dust and gas can be detected in interstellar space.arrow_forwardConsider a grain of sand that contains 1 mg of oxygen (a typical amount for a medium-sized sand grain, since sand is mostly SiO2). How many oxygen atoms does the grain contain? What is the radius of the sphere you would have to spread them out over if you wanted them to have the same density as the interstellar medium, about 1 atom per cm3? You can look up the mass of an oxygen atom.arrow_forwardWhat causes reddening of starlight? Explain how the reddish color of the Sun’s disk at sunset is caused by the same process.arrow_forward
- Why do you think astronomers have suggested three different spectral types (L, T, and Y) for the brown dwarfs instead of M? Why was one not enough?arrow_forwardThe current precision of the Doppler shifts in the absorption lines in stellar spectra is ~3 km s-'. Show that it would not be possible to detect the presence of the Earth from a distant solar system using the Doppler method. State one method that might allow the Earth to be detected. (The Earth's mass is 1/333 000 that of the Sun. 1 AU = 1.49× 10"m.) 2.arrow_forwardDescribe each of the following nebulae and how they can be observed: HIlI region Cold hydrogen gas Dust cloudsarrow_forward
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