Stars and Their Purpose
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Unusual Orbits in the Andromeda Galaxy Post-16
Unusual orbits in the Andromeda galaxy Post-16 Topics covered: spectra, Doppler effect, Newton’s law of gravitation, galaxy rotation curves, arc lengths, cosmological units, dark matter Teacher’s Notes In this activity students will use real scientific data to plot the rotation curve of M31 (Andromeda), our neighbouring spiral galaxy. They will use Kepler’s third law to predict the motion of stars around the centre of M31. They will then measure the wavelengths of hydrogen emission spectra taken at a range of radii. The Doppler equation will be used to determine whether these spectra come from the approaching or receding limb of the galaxy and the velocity of rotation at that point. They will plot a velocity vs radius graph and compare it with their predicted result. A flat rotation curve indicates the presence of dark matter within Andromeda. Equipment: calculator, ruler, graph paper (if needed) Questions to ask the class before the activity: What is the Universe composed of? Answer: energy, luminous matter, dark matter, dark energy. What is a spectrum and how so we get spectral lines? Answer: a ‘fingerprint’ of an object made of light. The spectrum of visible light is composed of the colours of the rainbow. Absorption lines arise from electrons absorbing photons of light and jumping an energy level or levels; emission lines occur when electrons fall down to a lower energy level and emit a photon in the process. What can a spectrum tell us? Answer: the composition of an object such as a star, its temperature, its pressure, the abundance of elements in the star, its motion (velocity). -
Messier Objects
Messier Objects From the Stocker Astroscience Center at Florida International University Miami Florida The Messier Project Main contributors: • Daniel Puentes • Steven Revesz • Bobby Martinez Charles Messier • Gabriel Salazar • Riya Gandhi • Dr. James Webb – Director, Stocker Astroscience center • All images reduced and combined using MIRA image processing software. (Mirametrics) What are Messier Objects? • Messier objects are a list of astronomical sources compiled by Charles Messier, an 18th and early 19th century astronomer. He created a list of distracting objects to avoid while comet hunting. This list now contains over 110 objects, many of which are the most famous astronomical bodies known. The list contains planetary nebula, star clusters, and other galaxies. - Bobby Martinez The Telescope The telescope used to take these images is an Astronomical Consultants and Equipment (ACE) 24- inch (0.61-meter) Ritchey-Chretien reflecting telescope. It has a focal ratio of F6.2 and is supported on a structure independent of the building that houses it. It is equipped with a Finger Lakes 1kx1k CCD camera cooled to -30o C at the Cassegrain focus. It is equipped with dual filter wheels, the first containing UBVRI scientific filters and the second RGBL color filters. Messier 1 Found 6,500 light years away in the constellation of Taurus, the Crab Nebula (known as M1) is a supernova remnant. The original supernova that formed the crab nebula was observed by Chinese, Japanese and Arab astronomers in 1054 AD as an incredibly bright “Guest star” which was visible for over twenty-two months. The supernova that produced the Crab Nebula is thought to have been an evolved star roughly ten times more massive than the Sun. -
Preliminary Catalogue of Isaac Roberts's Collection of Photographs of Celestial Objects
ASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN. Nr. 4154. Band 174. 2. Preliminary catalogue of Isaac Roberts’s collection of photographs of celestial objects. By Dorotha Isaac-Roberts. The Isaac Roberts collection of celestial photographs The number of the copies of the forthcoming paper comprises 2485 original negatives of stars, star-clusters, being very limited, the observatories and astronomers, official nebulae and other celestial objects together with many posi. or amateur, who are specially interested in photographic tives on glass and on paper, taken by the late Dr. Isaac astronomy will please send in their names to the address Roberts or, under his incessant supervision, by his assistant given below, early in 1907, in order that the various parts W. S. Franks, F. R. A. S., at Dr. Roberts’s Private Obser- of the complete catalogue may be sent to them in course vatory, Kennessee, Maghull, near Liverpool (1885-1 890) and, of time. from 1890 to 1904, at Starfield, Crowborough, Sussex. Positives- on-glass reproduced from the Isaac Roberts Of the above mentioned negatives, negatives will be lent for the purpose of micrometric mea- I) 1412 were taken with the zo-in Reflector (focal surements, if, application be made and provided that the length = 98.0 ins) and with an exposure of the plate of documents be returned after completion of the measurements. ninety minutes in general. In the preliminary catalogue given below, the numbers 2) 648 with the 5-in Cooke lens (f. 1. = 19.22 ins) of Dr. Dreyer’s New General Catalogue of Nebulae and which was mounted on the tube of the zo-in Reflector; or, Clusters of Stars and of Dr. -
Facilitator Information – Galaxies
Facilitator Information (All you need to know about galaxies to survive the day) What is a galaxy? Galaxies are large collections of stars and gas and dust. They have millions to billions of stars, all held into a cluster by gravitational attraction. Most galaxies are flat, but there are different shapes — some are spirals, some are elliptical, and some are irregular. Our Galaxy The Milky Way is a galaxy, a slowly rotating cluster of more than 200,000,000,000 stars! Our Milky Way Galaxy looks a little like a pinwheel. It is a spiral galaxy, about 100,000 light years across. Spiral galaxies have: a bulge in the center (called the nuclear bulge) that contains the nucleus; a wide, flat disk with distinct spiral arms containing stars; and a surrounding halo of stars. There are several “spiral arms” in our Milky Way: Sagittarius, Cygnus, Perseus, and Orion. Where are we in the Milky Way Galaxy? We are in one of the spiral arms, about 30,000 light years from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy — or about two-thirds of the way from the center. Can you see the Milky Way? Yes! On a very dark night, away from bright lights, you can see a faint, hazy — or milky — band in the sky. This is the Milky Way. The hazy appearance is because there so many stars that are very distant; your eye cannot distinguish the stars as separate points of light. By using binoculars or a telescope, you can see the individual stars. The Milky Way is like a big, flat disk in space. -
The Andromeda Galaxy's Most Important Merger
The Andromeda Galaxy’s most important merger ~ 2 Gyrs ago as M32’s likely progenitor Richard D’Souza* & Eric F. Bell Although the Andromeda Galaxy’s (M31) proximity offers a singular opportunity to understand how mergers affect galaxies1, uncertainty remains about M31’s most important mergers. Previous studies focused individually on the giant stellar stream2 or the impact of M32 on M31’s disk3,4, thereby suggesting many significant satellite interactions5. Yet, models of M31’s disk heating6 and the similarity between the stellar populations of different tidal substructures in M31’s outskirts7 both suggested a single large merger. M31’s outer low- surface brightness regions (its stellar halo) is built up from the tidal debris of satellites5 and provides decisive guidance about its important mergers8. Here we use cosmological models of galaxy formation9,10 to show that M31’s massive11 and metal-rich12 stellar halo, containing intermediate-age stars7, dramatically narrows the range of allowed interactions, requiring a 10 single dominant merger with a large galaxy (M*~2.5x10 M¤, the third largest member of the Local Group) ~2 Gyr ago. This single event explains many observations that were previously considered separately: its compact and metal-rich satellite M3213 is likely to be the stripped core of the disrupted galaxy, M31’s rotating inner stellar halo14 contains most of the merger debris, and the giant stellar stream15 is likely to have been thrown out during the merger. This interaction may explain M31’s global burst of star formation ~2 Gyr ago16 in which ~1/5 of its stars were formed. -
Stars and Galaxies
Stars and Galaxies STUDENT PAGE Se e i n g i n to t h e Pa S t A galaxy is a gravitationally bound system of stars, gas, and dust. Gal- We can’t travel into the past, but we axies range in diameter from a few thousand to a few hundred thou- can get a glimpse of it. Every sand light-years. Each galaxy contains billions (10 9) or trillions (1012) time we look at the Moon, for of stars. In this activity, you will apply concepts of scale to grasp the example, we see it as it was a distances between stars and galaxies. You will use this understanding little more than a second ago. to elaborate on the question, Do galaxies collide? That’s because sunlight reflected from the Moon’s surface takes a little more EX P LORE than a second to reach Earth. We see On a clear, dark night, you can see hundreds of bright stars. The next table the Sun as it looked about eight minutes shows some of the brightest stars with their diameters and distances from ago, and the other stars as they were a the Sun. Use a calculator to determine the scaled distance to each star few years to a few centuries ago. (how many times you could fit the star between itself and the Sun). Hint: And then there’s M31, the Androm- you first need to convert light-years and solar diameters into meters. One eda galaxy — the most distant object light-year equals 9.46 x 1015 meters, and the Sun’s diameter is 1.4 x 109 that’s readily visible to human eyes. -
Extragalactic Astronomy: the U Nivcre Bey Nd Our Galaxy
U1IJT RESUPE EU 1J3 199 021 775 dacon Eenneth Char TITLE Extragalactic Astronomy: The U nivcre Bey nd Our Galaxy. American Astronomical Society, Princeton, N.J. SFONS AGENCY National Aeronautics and Space Administra ashingtonl D.C.; National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. REPOBT NO NASA-i:T-129 PUB DATE Sep 76 NOTE 44p.; FOF ltEd aocunents, _e SE 021 773-776 AVAII,AULE Superintendent of Documents, U.S. G-vernment Prin ing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402(5 ock Number 033-000-00657-8, $1.30) E.-RS PE10E 1F-$0.03 HC-$2.06 Plus Postige. DESCilIPTORS *Astronomy; Curriculum; *Instructional Materials; Science Education; *Scientific iesearch; Secondary Education; *Secondary School Science; *Space Sciences TIF NASA; National Aeronautics and Space Administration BSTRACT This booklet is part of an American Astronomical Society curriculum project designed to provide teaching materials to teachers or secondary school chemistry, physics, and earth science. The material is presented in three parts: one section provides the fundamental content of extragalactic astronomy, another section discusses modern discoveries in detail, and the last section summarizes the earlier discussions within the structure of the Big Bang Theory of Evolution. Each of the three sections is followed by student exercises and activities, laboratory projects, and questions and answers. The glossary contains unfamiliar terms used in the text and a collection of teacher aids such as literature references and audiovisual materials. (111) ***** *** * ** ** ***************** ********** Document., acquired by IC include many informal unpublished aterials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort * * to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal * * reproducibility are often encountered and tbis affects the quality * * of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available * * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). -
Open Clusters
Open Clusters Open clusters (also known as galactic clusters) are of tremendous importance to the science of astronomy, if not to astrophysics and cosmology generally. Star clusters serve as the "laboratories" of astronomy, with stars now all at nearly the same distance and all created at essentially the same time. Each cluster thus is a running experiment, where we can observe the effects of composition, age, and environment. We are hobbled by seeing only a snapshot in time of each cluster, but taken collectively we can understand their evolution, and that of their included stars. These clusters are also important tracers of the Milky Way and other parent galaxies. They help us to understand their current structure and derive theories of the creation and evolution of galaxies. Just as importantly, starting from just the Hyades and the Pleiades, and then going to more distance clusters, open clusters serve to define the distance scale of the Milky Way, and from there all other galaxies and the entire universe. However, there is far more to the study of star clusters than that. Anyone who has looked at a cluster through a telescope or binoculars has realized that these are objects of immense beauty and symmetry. Whether a cluster like the Pleiades seen with delicate beauty with the unaided eye or in a small telescope or binoculars, or a cluster like NGC 7789 whose thousands of stars are seen with overpowering wonder in a large telescope, open clusters can only bring awe and amazement to the viewer. These sights are available to all. -
Just What Are Those Sky Chart "M" and "NGC" Numbers? by Barry D
Just what are those Sky Chart "M" and "NGC" Numbers? By Barry D. Malpas – Special to the Williams-Grand Canyon News – 2014 November One of the pastimes for some early sky observers was to locate new comets. Charles Messier (1730-1817) was a French comet hunter during the late 1700s, and discovered 13 new comets between 1760 and 1785. His interest in astronomy, and comets in particular, was influenced by seeing the great comet of 1744, and the comet of 1759 (of which Edmond Halley had believed the comets of 1531, 1607, and 1682 were the same and had predicted the comet’s 1759 apparition which is now known as Halley's Comet.) At this time telescopes were relatively small. The understanding of supernovae, or galaxies, was not yet in the current knowledge, as such objects only appeared as blurry smudges that did not move across the sky. In order not to waste time and become frustrated with viewing fuzzy objects that resembled, but were not, comets, Messier compiled a list of 110 of these celestial blurs which we now refer to as Messier, or "M Objects." The Messier Catalog has become a very popular list of "Deep Sky Objects" among amateur astronomers around the world because it consists of most of the galaxies, nebulae and star clusters easily observable with binoculars or small telescopes in the northern skies. Now, however, the objects in the list are the source of interest, as opposed to the reason the compilation was originally intended by Messier. At large astronomical get-togethers, known as "star parties", there is often a "Messier Marathon" competition to view the most Messier Objects during one observing night. -
The Meridian
The Meridian The newsletter of the Quad Cities Astronomical Society February 2011 http://www.qcas.org Jens-Wendt Observatory – Quad Cities Astronomical Society – Located at Sherman Park in Dixon, Iowa Monsignor Menke Observatory – St. Ambrose University – Located at Wapsipinicon River Environmental Education Center in Dixon, Iowa Secretary’s Notes - D. Hendricks Jeff Struve Jim Rutenbeck Tom Bullock Craig Cox Dale Hendricks Dana Taylor Bill Mahoney Karl Adlon Cecil Ward Jay Cunningham David Anderson* Dale asked for member's contact information - address, home phone, cell phone and email addresses. There was more than a little confusion and communication leading to cancellation of the January meeting due to bad weather. Treasurer's Notes - Craig Cox Current balance - $1,955.88 Jim Rutenbeck's company, 3M, will make a donation of $250 as matching funds for a donation/work that was done for a civic activity. Others need to check with their employers to determine if this a common business policy. Nice to have the extra money in the coffers. Thanks to Craig for taking a day of vacation to attend the meeting. Eastern Iowa Star Party - dates were discussed for this activity considering moon phases, dates of other club and society meetings. We settled on 29-30 September and 1 October. Presentation by Karl Adlon: Constellation of the Month - Gemini - Castor and Pollux - Karl began his discussion/presentation on Gemini by showing "What's Up This Time of Year". He also highlighted the value of Sky and Telescope's "Pocket Sky Atlas". All members should have a copy of this excellent astronomy resource. -
Caldwell Catalogue - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Caldwell catalogue - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Log in / create account Article Discussion Read Edit View history Caldwell catalogue From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Main page Contents The Caldwell Catalogue is an astronomical catalog of 109 bright star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies for observation by amateur astronomers. The list was compiled Featured content by Sir Patrick Caldwell-Moore, better known as Patrick Moore, as a complement to the Messier Catalogue. Current events The Messier Catalogue is used frequently by amateur astronomers as a list of interesting deep-sky objects for observations, but Moore noted that the list did not include Random article many of the sky's brightest deep-sky objects, including the Hyades, the Double Cluster (NGC 869 and NGC 884), and NGC 253. Moreover, Moore observed that the Donate to Wikipedia Messier Catalogue, which was compiled based on observations in the Northern Hemisphere, excluded bright deep-sky objects visible in the Southern Hemisphere such [1][2] Interaction as Omega Centauri, Centaurus A, the Jewel Box, and 47 Tucanae. He quickly compiled a list of 109 objects (to match the number of objects in the Messier [3] Help Catalogue) and published it in Sky & Telescope in December 1995. About Wikipedia Since its publication, the catalogue has grown in popularity and usage within the amateur astronomical community. Small compilation errors in the original 1995 version Community portal of the list have since been corrected. Unusually, Moore used one of his surnames to name the list, and the catalogue adopts "C" numbers to rename objects with more Recent changes common designations.[4] Contact Wikipedia As stated above, the list was compiled from objects already identified by professional astronomers and commonly observed by amateur astronomers. -
108 Afocal Procedure, 105 Age of Globular Clusters, 25, 28–29 O
Index Index Achromats, 70, 73, 79 Apochromats (APO), 70, Averted vision Adhafera, 44 73, 79 technique, 96, 98, Adobe Photoshop Aquarius, 43, 99 112 (software), 108 Aquila, 10, 36, 45, 65 Afocal procedure, 105 Arches cluster, 23 B1620-26, 37 Age Archinal, Brent, 63, 64, Barkhatova (Bar) of globular clusters, 89, 195 catalogue, 196 25, 28–29 Arcturus, 43 Barlow lens, 78–79, 110 of open clusters, Aricebo radio telescope, Barnard’s Galaxy, 49 15–16 33 Basel (Bas) catalogue, 196 of star complexes, 41 Aries, 45 Bayer classification of stellar associations, Arp 2, 51 system, 93 39, 41–42 Arp catalogue, 197 Be16, 63 of the universe, 28 Arp-Madore (AM)-1, 33 Beehive Cluster, 13, 60, Aldebaran, 43 Arp-Madore (AM)-2, 148 Alessi, 22, 61 48, 65 Bergeron 1, 22 Alessi catalogue, 196 Arp-Madore (AM) Bergeron, J., 22 Algenubi, 44 catalogue, 197 Berkeley 11, 124f, 125 Algieba, 44 Asterisms, 43–45, Berkeley 17, 15 Algol (Demon Star), 65, 94 Berkeley 19, 130 21 Astronomy (magazine), Berkeley 29, 18 Alnilam, 5–6 89 Berkeley 42, 171–173 Alnitak, 5–6 Astronomy Now Berkeley (Be) catalogue, Alpha Centauri, 25 (magazine), 89 196 Alpha Orionis, 93 Astrophotography, 94, Beta Pictoris, 42 Alpha Persei, 40 101, 102–103 Beta Piscium, 44 Altair, 44 Astroplanner (software), Betelgeuse, 93 Alterf, 44 90 Big Bang, 5, 29 Altitude-Azimuth Astro-Snap (software), Big Dipper, 19, 43 (Alt-Az) mount, 107 Binary millisecond 75–76 AstroStack (software), pulsars, 30 Andromeda Galaxy, 36, 108 Binary stars, 8, 52 39, 41, 48, 52, 61 AstroVideo (software), in globular clusters, ANR 1947