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# Other Worlds: An Introduction to the Solar System
## Thinking Ahead
Surrounding the Sun is a complex system of worlds with a wide range of conditions: eight major planets, many dwarf planets, hundreds of moons, and countless smaller objects. Thanks largely to visits by spacecraft, we can now envision the members of... |
# Other Worlds: An Introduction to the Solar System
## Overview of Our Planetary System
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe how the objects in our solar system are identified, explored, and characterized
2. Describe the types of small bodies in our solar system, thei... |
# Other Worlds: An Introduction to the Solar System
## Composition and Structure of Planets
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the characteristics of the giant planets, terrestrial planets, and small bodies in the solar system
2. Explain what influences the temperat... |
# Other Worlds: An Introduction to the Solar System
## Dating Planetary Surfaces
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain how astronomers can tell whether a planetary surface is geologically young or old
2. Describe different methods for dating planets
How do we know the a... |
# Other Worlds: An Introduction to the Solar System
## Origin of the Solar System
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the characteristics of planets that are used to create formation models of the solar system
2. Describe how the characteristics of extrasolar systems... |
# Earth as a Planet
## Thinking Ahead
Airless worlds in our solar system seem peppered with craters large and small. Earth, on the other hand, has few craters, but a thick atmosphere and much surface activity. Although impacts occurred on Earth at the same rate, craters have since been erased by forces in the planet’... |
# Earth as a Planet
## The Global Perspective
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the components of Earth’s interior and explain how scientists determined its structure
2. Specify the origin, size, and extent of Earth’s magnetic field
Earth is a medium-size planet wi... |
# Earth as a Planet
## Earth’s Crust
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Denote the primary types of rock that constitute Earth’s crust
2. Explain the theory of plate tectonics
3. Describe the difference between rift and subduction zones
4. Describe the relationship between f... |
# Earth as a Planet
## Earth’s Atmosphere
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Differentiate between Earth’s various atmospheric layers
2. Describe the chemical composition and possible origins of our atmosphere
3. Explain the difference between weather and climate
We live at ... |
# Earth as a Planet
## Life, Chemical Evolution, and Climate Change
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Outline the origins and subsequent diversity of life on Earth
2. Explain the ways that life and geological activity have influenced the evolution of the atmosphere
3. Descr... |
# Earth as a Planet
## Cosmic Influences on the Evolution of Earth
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain the scarcity of impact craters on Earth compared with other planets and moons
2. Describe the evidence for recent impacts on Earth
3. Detail how a massive impact cha... |
# Cratered Worlds
## Thinking Ahead
The Moon is the only other world human beings have ever visited. What is it like to stand on the surface of our natural satellite? And what can we learn from going there and bringing home pieces of a different world?
We begin our discussion of the planets as cratered worlds with tw... |
# Cratered Worlds
## General Properties of the Moon
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Discuss what has been learned from both manned and robotic lunar exploration
2. Describe the composition and structure of the Moon
The Moon has only one-eightieth the mass of Earth and abo... |
# Cratered Worlds
## The Lunar Surface
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Differentiate between the major surface features of the Moon
2. Describe the history of the lunar surface
3. Describe the properties of the lunar “soil”
### General Appearance
If you look at the Moon... |
# Cratered Worlds
## Impact Craters
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Compare and contrast ideas about how lunar craters form
2. Explain the process of impact crater formation
3. Discuss the use of crater counts to determine relative ages of lunar landforms
### Volcanic Ve... |
# Cratered Worlds
## The Origin of the Moon
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the top three early hypotheses of the formation of the Moon
2. Summarize the current “giant impact” concept of how the Moon formed
### Ideas for the Origin of the Moon
It is characteris... |
# Cratered Worlds
## Mercury
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Characterize the orbit of Mercury around the Sun
2. Describe Mercury’s structure and composition
3. Explain the relationship between Mercury’s orbit and rotation
4. Describe the topography and features of Mercur... |
# Earthlike Planets: Venus and Mars
## Thinking Ahead
The Moon and Mercury are geologically dead. In contrast, the larger terrestrial planets—Earth, Venus, and Mars—are more active and interesting worlds. We have already discussed Earth, and we now turn to Venus and Mars. These are the nearest planets and the most ac... |
# Earthlike Planets: Venus and Mars
## The Nearest Planets: An Overview
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain why it’s difficult to learn about Venus from Earth-based observation alone
2. Describe the history of our interest in Mars before the Space Age
3. Compare the b... |
# Earthlike Planets: Venus and Mars
## The Geology of Venus
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the general features of the surface of Venus
2. Explain what the study of craters on Venus tells us about the age of its surface
3. Compare tectonic activity and volcanoes... |
# Earthlike Planets: Venus and Mars
## The Massive Atmosphere of Venus
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the general composition and structure of the atmosphere on Venus
2. Explain how the greenhouse effect has led to high temperatures on Venus
The thick atmosphere... |
# Earthlike Planets: Venus and Mars
## The Geology of Mars
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Discuss the main missions that have explored Mars
2. Explain what we have learned from examination of meteorites from Mars
3. Describe the various features found on the surface of M... |
# Earthlike Planets: Venus and Mars
## Water and Life on Mars
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the general composition of the atmosphere on Mars
2. Explain what we know about the polar ice caps on Mars and how we know it
3. Describe the evidence for the presence o... |
# Earthlike Planets: Venus and Mars
## Divergent Planetary Evolution
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Compare the planetary evolution of Venus, Earth, and Mars
Venus, Mars, and our own planet Earth form a remarkably diverse triad of worlds. Although all three orbit in roug... |
# The Giant Planets
## Thinking Ahead
Beyond Mars and the asteroid belt, we encounter a new region of the solar system: the realm of the giants. Temperatures here are lower, permitting water and other volatiles to condense as ice. The planets are much larger, distances between them are much greater, and each giant wo... |
# The Giant Planets
## Exploring the Outer Planets
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Provide an overview of the composition of the giant planets
2. Chronicle the robotic exploration of the outer solar system
3. Summarize the missions sent to orbit the gas giants
The giant p... |
# The Giant Planets
## The Giant Planets
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the basic physical characteristics, general appearance, and rotation of the giant planets
2. Describe the composition and structure of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
3. Compare and con... |
# The Giant Planets
## Atmospheres of the Giant Planets
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Discuss the atmospheric composition of the giant planets
2. Describe the cloud formation and atmospheric structure of the gas giants
3. Characterize the giant planets’ wind and weather... |
# Rings, Moons, and Pluto
## Thinking Ahead
All four giant planets are accompanied by moons that orbit about them like planets in a miniature solar system. Nearly 200 moons are known in the outer solar system—too many to name individually or discuss in any detail. Astronomers anticipate that additional small moons aw... |
# Rings, Moons, and Pluto
## Ring and Moon Systems Introduced
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Briefly describe the system of moons around each of the jovian planets
2. Describe the basic composition of each jovian planet’s ring system
The rings and moons (see the moons in... |
# Rings, Moons, and Pluto
## The Galilean Moons of Jupiter
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the major features we can observe about Callisto and what we can deduce from them
2. Explain the evidence for tectonic and volcanic activity on Ganymede
3. Explain what may... |
# Rings, Moons, and Pluto
## Titan and Triton
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain how the thick atmosphere of Titan makes bodies of liquid on its surface possible
2. Describe what we learned from the landing on Titan with the Huygens probe
3. Discuss the features we o... |
# Rings, Moons, and Pluto
## Pluto and Charon
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Compare the orbital characteristics of Pluto with those of the planets
2. Describe information about Pluto’s surface deduced from the New Horizons images
3. Note some distinguishing characterist... |
# Rings, Moons, and Pluto
## Planetary Rings (and Enceladus)
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the two theories of planetary ring formation
2. Compare the major rings of Saturn and explain the role of the moon Enceladus in the formation of the E ring
3. Explain how... |
# Comets and Asteroids: Debris of the Solar System
## Thinking Ahead
Hundreds of smaller members of the solar system—asteroids and comets—are known to have crossed Earth’s orbit in the past, and many others will do so in centuries ahead. What could we do if we knew a few years in advance that one of these bodies woul... |
# Comets and Asteroids: Debris of the Solar System
## Asteroids
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Outline the story of the discovery of asteroids and describe their typical orbits
2. Describe the composition and classification of the various types of asteroids
3. Discuss wh... |
# Comets and Asteroids: Debris of the Solar System
## Asteroids and Planetary Defense
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Recognize the threat that near-Earth objects represent for Earth
2. Discuss possible defensive strategies to protect our planet
Not all asteroids are in t... |
# Comets and Asteroids: Debris of the Solar System
## The “Long-Haired” Comets
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Characterize the general physical appearance of comets
2. Explain the range of cometary orbits
3. Describe the size and composition of a typical comet’s nucleus
... |
# Comets and Asteroids: Debris of the Solar System
## The Origin and Fate of Comets and Related Objects
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the traits of the centaur objects
2. Chronicle the discovery and describe the composition of the Oort cloud
3. Describe trans-N... |
# Cosmic Samples and the Origin of the Solar System
## Thinking Ahead
Imagine you are a scientist examining a sample of rock that had fallen from space a few days earlier and you find within it some of the chemical building blocks of life. How could you determine whether those “organic” materials came from space or w... |
# Cosmic Samples and the Origin of the Solar System
## Meteors
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain what a meteor is and why it is visible in the night sky
2. Describe the origins of meteor showers
As we saw in Comets and Asteroids: Debris of the Solar System, the ices... |
# Cosmic Samples and the Origin of the Solar System
## Meteorites: Stones from Heaven
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain the origin of meteorites and the difference between a meteor and a meteorite
2. Describe how most meteorites have been found
3. Explain how primit... |
# Cosmic Samples and the Origin of the Solar System
## Formation of the Solar System
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the motion, chemical, and age constraints that must be met by any theory of solar system formation
2. Summarize the physical and chemical changes ... |
# Cosmic Samples and the Origin of the Solar System
## Comparison with Other Planetary Systems
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe how the observations of protoplanetary disks provides evidence for the existence of other planetary systems
2. Explain the two primary m... |
# Cosmic Samples and the Origin of the Solar System
## Planetary Evolution
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the geological activity during the evolution of the planets, particularly on the terrestrial planets
2. Describe the factors that affect differences in elev... |
# The Sun: A Garden-Variety Star
## Thinking Ahead
“Space weather” may sound like a contradiction. How can there be weather in the vacuum of space? Yet space weather, which refers to changing conditions in space, is an active field of research and can have profound effects on Earth. We are all familiar with the ups a... |
# The Sun: A Garden-Variety Star
## The Structure and Composition of the Sun
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain how the composition of the Sun differs from that of Earth
2. Describe the various layers of the Sun and their functions
3. Explain what happens in the diff... |
# The Sun: A Garden-Variety Star
## The Solar Cycle
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the sunspot cycle and, more generally, the solar cycle
2. Explain how magnetism is the source of solar activity
Before the invention of the telescope, the Sun was thought to be an... |
# The Sun: A Garden-Variety Star
## Solar Activity above the Photosphere
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the various ways in which the solar activity cycle manifests itself, including flares, coronal mass ejections, prominences, and plages
Sunspots are not the on... |
# The Sun: A Garden-Variety Star
## Space Weather
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain what space weather is and how it affects Earth
In the previous sections, we have seen that some of the particles coming off the Sun—either steadily as in the solar wind or in great b... |
# The Sun: A Nuclear Powerhouse
## Thinking Ahead
The Sun puts out an incomprehensible amount of energy—so much that its ultraviolet radiation can cause sunburns from 93 million miles away. It is also very old. As you learned earlier, evidence shows that the Sun formed about 4.5 billion years ago and has been shining... |
# The Sun: A Nuclear Powerhouse
## Sources of Sunshine: Thermal and Gravitational Energy
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Identify different forms of energy
2. Understand the law of conservation of energy
3. Explain ways that energy can be transformed
Energy is a challengi... |
# The Sun: A Nuclear Powerhouse
## Mass, Energy, and the Theory of Relativity
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain how matter can be converted into energy
2. Describe the particles that make up atoms
3. Describe the nucleus of an atom
4. Understand the nuclear forces t... |
# The Sun: A Nuclear Powerhouse
## The Solar Interior: Theory
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the state of equilibrium of the Sun
2. Understand the energy balance of the Sun
3. Explain how energy moves outward through the Sun
4. Describe the structure of the sola... |
# The Sun: A Nuclear Powerhouse
## The Solar Interior: Observations
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain how the Sun pulsates
2. Explain what helioseismology is and what it can tell us about the solar interior
3. Discuss how studying neutrinos from the Sun has helped u... |
# Analyzing Starlight
## Thinking Ahead
Everything we know about stars—how they are born, what they are made of, how far away they are, how long they live, and how they will die—we learn by decoding the messages contained in the light and radiation that reaches Earth. What questions should we ask, and how do we find ... |
# Analyzing Starlight
## The Brightness of Stars
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain the difference between luminosity and apparent brightness
2. Understand how astronomers specify brightness with magnitudes
### Luminosity
Perhaps the most important characteristic o... |
# Analyzing Starlight
## Colors of Stars
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Compare the relative temperatures of stars based on their colors
2. Understand how astronomers use color indexes to measure the temperatures of stars
Look at the beautiful picture of the stars in the... |
# Analyzing Starlight
## The Spectra of Stars (and Brown Dwarfs)
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe how astronomers use spectral classes to characterize stars
2. Explain the difference between a star and a brown dwarf
Measuring colors is only one way of analyzing st... |
# Analyzing Starlight
## Using Spectra to Measure Stellar Radius, Composition, and Motion
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Understand how astronomers can learn about a star’s radius and composition by studying its spectrum
2. Explain how astronomers can measure the motion ... |
# The Stars: A Celestial Census
## Thinking Ahead
How do stars form? How long do they live? And how do they die? Stop and think how hard it is to answer these questions.
Stars live such a long time that nothing much can be gained from staring at one for a human lifetime. To discover how stars evolve from birth to dea... |
# The Stars: A Celestial Census
## A Stellar Census
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain why the stars visible to the unaided eye are not typical
2. Describe the distribution of stellar masses found close to the Sun
Before we can make our own survey, we need to agree o... |
# The Stars: A Celestial Census
## Measuring Stellar Masses
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Distinguish the different types of binary star systems
2. Understand how we can apply Newton’s version of Kepler’s third law to derive the sum of star masses in a binary star syste... |
# The Stars: A Celestial Census
## Diameters of Stars
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the methods used to determine star diameters
2. Identify the parts of an eclipsing binary star light curve that correspond to the diameters of the individual components
It is ea... |
# The Stars: A Celestial Census
## The H–R Diagram
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Identify the physical characteristics of stars that are used to create an H–R diagram, and describe how those characteristics vary among groups of stars
2. Discuss the physical properties o... |
# Celestial Distances
## Thinking Ahead
How large is the universe? What is the most distant object we can see? These are among the most fundamental questions astronomers can ask. But just as babies must crawl before they can take their first halting steps, so too must we start with a more modest question: How far awa... |
# Celestial Distances
## Fundamental Units of Distance
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Understand the importance of defining a standard distance unit
2. Explain how the meter was originally defined and how it has changed over time
3. Discuss how radar is used to measure d... |
# Celestial Distances
## Surveying the Stars
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Understand the concept of triangulating distances to distant objects, including stars
2. Explain why space-based satellites deliver more precise distances than ground-based methods
3. Discuss ast... |
# Celestial Distances
## Variable Stars: One Key to Cosmic Distances
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe how some stars vary their light output and why such stars are important
2. Explain the importance of pulsating variable stars, such as cepheids and RR Lyrae-type ... |
# Celestial Distances
## The H–R Diagram and Cosmic Distances
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Understand how spectral types are used to estimate stellar luminosities
2. Examine how these techniques are used by astronomers today
Variable stars are not the only way that we ... |
# Between the Stars: Gas and Dust in Space
## Thinking Ahead
Where do stars come from? We already know from earlier chapters that stars must die because ultimately they exhaust their nuclear fuel. We might hypothesize that new stars come into existence to replace the ones that die. In order to form new stars, however... |
# Between the Stars: Gas and Dust in Space
## The Interstellar Medium
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain how much interstellar matter there is in the Milky Way, and what its typical density is
2. Describe how the interstellar medium is divided into gaseous and solid ... |
# Between the Stars: Gas and Dust in Space
## Interstellar Gas
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Name the major types of interstellar gas
2. Discuss how we can observe each type
3. Describe the temperature and other major properties of each type
Interstellar gas, depending ... |
# Between the Stars: Gas and Dust in Space
## Cosmic Dust
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe how we can detect interstellar dust
2. Understand the role and importance of infrared observations in studying dust
3. Explain the terms extinction and interstellar reddenin... |
# Between the Stars: Gas and Dust in Space
## Cosmic Rays
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Define cosmic rays and describe their composition
2. Explain why it is hard to study the origin of cosmic rays, and the current leading hypotheses about where they might come from
In... |
# Between the Stars: Gas and Dust in Space
## The Life Cycle of Cosmic Material
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain how interstellar matter flows into and out of our Galaxy and transforms from one phase to another, and understand how star formation and evolution affec... |
# Between the Stars: Gas and Dust in Space
## Interstellar Matter around the Sun
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe how interstellar matter is arranged around our solar system
2. Explain why scientists think that the Sun is located in a hot bubble
We want to conclud... |
# The Birth of Stars and the Discovery of Planets outside the Solar System
## Thinking Ahead
Bruno was tried for heresy by the Roman Inquisition and burned at the stake in 1600.
We’ve discussed stars as nuclear furnaces that convert light elements into heavier ones. A star’s nuclear evolution begins when hydrogen is... |
# The Birth of Stars and the Discovery of Planets outside the Solar System
## Star Formation
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Identify the sometimes-violent processes by which parts of a molecular cloud collapse to produce stars
2. Recognize some of the structures seen in ... |
# The Birth of Stars and the Discovery of Planets outside the Solar System
## The H–R Diagram and the Study of Stellar Evolution
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Determine the age of a protostar using an H–R diagram and the protostar’s luminosity and temperature
2. Explain... |
# The Birth of Stars and the Discovery of Planets outside the Solar System
## Evidence That Planets Form around Other Stars
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Trace the evolution of dust surrounding a protostar, leading to the development of rocky planets and gas giants
2. E... |
# The Birth of Stars and the Discovery of Planets outside the Solar System
## Planets beyond the Solar System: Search and Discovery
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the orbital motion of planets in our solar system using Kepler’s laws
2. Compare the indirect and d... |
# The Birth of Stars and the Discovery of Planets outside the Solar System
## Exoplanets Everywhere: What We Are Learning
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain what we have learned from our discovery of exoplanets
2. Identify which kind of exoplanets appear to be the mo... |
# The Birth of Stars and the Discovery of Planets outside the Solar System
## New Perspectives on Planet Formation
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain how exoplanet discoveries have revised our understanding of planet formation
2. Discuss how planetary systems quite d... |
# Stars from Adolescence to Old Age
## Thinking Ahead
The Sun and other stars cannot last forever. Eventually they will exhaust their nuclear fuel and cease to shine. But how do they change during their long lifetimes? And what do these changes mean for the future of Earth?
We now turn from the birth of stars to the ... |
# Stars from Adolescence to Old Age
## Evolution from the Main Sequence to Red Giants
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain the zero-age main sequence
2. Describe what happens to main-sequence stars of various masses as they exhaust their hydrogen supply
One of the best... |
# Stars from Adolescence to Old Age
## Star Clusters
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain how star clusters help us understand the stages of stellar evolution
2. List the different types of star clusters and describe how they differ in number of stars, structure, and a... |
# Stars from Adolescence to Old Age
## Checking Out the Theory
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain how the H–R diagram of a star cluster can be related to the cluster’s age and the stages of evolution of its stellar members
2. Describe how the main-sequence turnoff of... |
# Stars from Adolescence to Old Age
## Further Evolution of Stars
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain what happens in a star’s core when all of the hydrogen has been used up
2. Define “planetary nebulae” and discuss their origin
3. Discuss the creation of new chemical... |
# Stars from Adolescence to Old Age
## The Evolution of More Massive Stars
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain how and why massive stars evolve much more rapidly than lower-mass stars like our Sun
2. Discuss the origin of the elements heavier than carbon within stars
... |
# The Death of Stars
## Thinking Ahead
Do stars die with a bang or a whimper? In the preceding two chapters, we followed the life story of stars, from the process of birth to the brink of death. Now we are ready to explore the ways that stars end their lives. Sooner or later, each star exhausts its store of nuclear e... |
# The Death of Stars
## The Death of Low-Mass Stars
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the physical characteristics of degenerate matter and explain how the mass and radius of degenerate stars are related
2. Plot the future evolution of a white dwarf and show how it... |
# The Death of Stars
## Evolution of Massive Stars: An Explosive Finish
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the interior of a massive star before a supernova
2. Explain the steps of a core collapse and explosion
3. List the hazards associated with nearby supernovae
T... |
# The Death of Stars
## Supernova Observations
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the observed features of SN 1987A both before and after the supernova
2. Explain how observations of various parts of the SN 1987A event helped confirm theories about supernovae
Supern... |
# The Death of Stars
## Pulsars and the Discovery of Neutron Stars
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Explain the research method that led to the discovery of neutron stars, located hundreds or thousands of light-years away
2. Describe the features of a neutron star that all... |
# The Death of Stars
## The Evolution of Binary Star Systems
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe the kind of binary star system that leads to a nova event
2. Describe the type of binary star system that leads to a type Ia supernovae event
3. Indicate how type Ia supe... |
# The Death of Stars
## The Mystery of the Gamma-Ray Bursts
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Give a brief history of how gamma-ray bursts were discovered and what instruments made the discovery possible
2. Explain why astronomers think that gamma-ray bursts beam their ener... |
# Black Holes and Curved Spacetime
## Thinking Ahead
For most of the twentieth century, black holes seemed the stuff of science fiction, portrayed either as monster vacuum cleaners consuming all the matter around them or as tunnels from one universe to another. But the truth about black holes is almost stranger than ... |
# Black Holes and Curved Spacetime
## Introducing General Relativity
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Discuss some of the key ideas of the theory of general relativity
2. Recognize that one’s experiences of gravity and acceleration are interchangeable and indistinguishable... |
# Black Holes and Curved Spacetime
## Spacetime and Gravity
### Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1. Describe Einstein’s view of gravity as the warping of spacetime in the presence of massive objects
2. Understand that Newton’s concept of the gravitational force between two massiv... |
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