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Problems on Astrophysics For a star at a distance of ‘d’ which has a mass M, radius R, luminosity L, apparent brightness b, apparent magnitude m, absolute magnitude M, parallax p, surface temperature T, and with its peak radiation at a wavelength of Ln, Lay ana CW fete) afte = u = ‘ a =C-25logb = C-2.5 logge Where C=-19 and * M=C-25 logy zl 75 Nottn mebens (poreees) ae + a@parses) Tinarese +. Distance modulus of the star =m —~M=S log d—5 (‘di Wien’s displacement law: AmT. = Wien’s constant = b “3 mK Stefan ~ Boltzmann law: L = 4xR’oT3, 6 = Boltzmann constant = 5.67x10°Wm?K4 1 ly =9.5 x 10m = 0.3067pe AU = 1.5x10"'m = 4.848 x 10°%pe = 1.5805 x 10%ly Ape = 3.26 ly = 3.1x10"m = 206265AU Photon diffusion time = = ©, where E = total energy content of the star ity relation: L« M* Lifetime of a star cc Moc M oe 1 m" Lo M3 Mz 2 9@ Gravitationa energy or self energy of a star = - 2" based on constant density 2 CS Sas. smodel and =- 1.24 x3" based on 8 Average temperature of a star = =0.5 jear density model +124 GMmy 10 eR CM KR ‘or a whitedwarf, RM? = constant = 7.258x10"SI unit ae of a whitedwarf in terms of solar mass = Rwy = 7185( ¥2)} (in kim) ‘Te Jradins of a neutron star = Rys = 9.9( SO)5 (in km) Te] Schwarzehitd radius of a blackhole = in m) nce of 1.5x10''m 1. Calculate the apparent brightness of the Sun which is at a from the earth, given Lo = 3.9x10°W [Ans: 1380Wm?| Solution: b = —Z— = —_3.2x10% Box __s9xto* _ 39x08 _ a Solution: b 4nd? 4m(1.5x10")? 4m(1.5x10)? 4nx2.25 28.27, 132.6Wm" Meu lds. Cie Seas olar contin?) 2. The star i bias, (e; ae Nabe A 3.27pe from the earth. If its apparent brightness is 9.454x10""Wm?, calculate its luminosity [Ans: 1.209x10°W] Solution: d = 3.27pc = 3.27x3.1x10"m L = 4nd? b = 47t (3.27x3.1x10"*) (9,454x10") = 470(10.137)? x 9.454 x 1022 4m x 102.76 x 9.454 x 10” 21x10" W 3. The star Sirius A has a luminosity of 1.0179x10°°W and apparent brightness of 1.221x107 Wi”, caleulate its distance from the earth 1.0179x10% —_1.0179x1 30 4m(1.221x1077 ) 15.34 6635.59x10 d= V6635 59x10" = 81.459x10''m ger % (3.!x/0 = 2,628e 4. Apparent magnitude of the star Wolf 359 and 61 are +1345 and +7.49 respectively. Calculate their relati tess Solution: my =C — 2.5 logbw, mc =C —2.5 logbe for Wolf 359 & 61 Cygai A respectively or log Ge) = MMe at = 88 9 394 be Subtracting, my —me = 2.5 log (- 10°° = 242.1029 ie Cygni appears around 240 times as bright as Wolf 5. If the apparent and absolute magnitudes of the star Fomalhaut are +1.17 and +1.74 respectively, determine its distance from the earth Solution: m—M = 5 log d 5 or logd BOBS = MTC Uas _ 8 = = 0.8860 d= 10° = 7,6913pc = 7.6913 x 3. 26 ly = 25.0736 ly ie ‘ight from Fomalhaut takes around 25 years to reach the earth ~ 6. If the distance modulus of the star Altair is — 1.44, caleulate its distance from the earth Solution: distance modulus = 5 log d~ 5, -1.44=5 logd—5, log d= = 1097? = 5,152pe = 5.152 x3. 26 ly = 16.8 ly 7. If the parallax of the star Proxima Centauri is 0.772aresec, calculate its distance from the earth Solution: d = > = 1.2953pe = 1.2953 x 3.20 ly = 4.223 ly . 8. Distance of the star Tau Ceti is 11.90ly. Calculate its Parallax wat Solution: d= 11.90 ly = 11.90 x 0.3067pe~3.65pc, p= 4 = Fp W2aresee 9. Surface temperature of the sun is around 600K. If the solar radius is 7x10°m, caleulate the rate at which Sun radiates energy. Stefan constant = 5.67x10°Wm7K* yao 2x10 W] YaRro- Tet = (Ans: 10. A star with an apparent magnitude of +12 is located at a distance of SOLY. What is its absolute magnitude? What is its luminosity in terms of solar luminosity? 2 33 4 Given: Ipe = 3.26LY me mo =-26.74 [Ans: L=7.5x10™Lo} Emo G 257" ° nMe ST logd~ =) ro a Mable Sy ARBRE Soh FP anay.on ame Fae lox \.sf05- 11. A bright red star Beteleguese in the constellation of Orion is 10‘times as bright as the sun and its surface temperature is 3000K. Compare the radius of this star with solar radius. Given: (T,)o = 6000K [Ans: Ry = 400Ro] 12, How many 100W bulbs match the luminosity of the Sun? If a company manufactures 100million such bulbs in a year, how many years will it take manufacture the required number of bulbs. Given: Lo = 4x10"°W. [Ans: 4x10™bulbs, 4x10" years] 13. Proxima Centauri has a parallax of 0.785 aresecond. How long does it take light from it to reach the earth? [Ans: 4.15years] 14, Apparent magnitude of a star is +3.3 and its parallax is 0.025aresec. Find its absolute magnitude. [Ans:0.2897] 15. Estimate the temperature of a star whose radiation peaks at 6563A°. Given: Wien constant = 3x10°mK. [Ans: 4571.1K] 16. Luminosity and surface temperature of the sun are 4x10°W and 5800K respectively, Calculate its radius given Stefan constant = 5.67x10°Wm7K>, L L “4 1 1 +. = based on constant density model 2.89x105K FCCC EEHHHHEHEEEEKCECHHEEKEEHHS 2 form an average mass star like the Sun, Enormous clouds of hydrogen along with dust particles exist in different parts of interstellar medium in a galaxy. Swaying shock waves with a gigantic span arising due to cosmic explosions like the supernovae accidentally initiates the condensation of the gas cloud. This cloud held tightly by its own gravity which is still not visible is known as a ‘protostar’. If gravity is the only force acting on a protostar, it would get crushed to a point. There must be an outward force to balance gravity. Pressure associated with the gas molecules alone is insufficient to counterbalance gravity. Over millions of years, as the protostar keeps shrinking, its central region becomes denser. The core material becomes hotter as it resists the implosion of material from above it. Eventually the core temperature becomes high enough to initiate thermonuclear cycle of hydrogen fusion. This ignition sends a burst of high energy radiation radially outwards. This however expands the protostar so much that associated cooling stops the generation of energy due to fusion, Again the protostar material starts contracting till the fusion cycle starts all over again. The gas molecules pick up enormous speeds and raise the core temperature to around 50,000K. At this high temperature, the gas molecules bombard with each other so violently that they are stripped of their electrons. After several cycles of alternating contraction and expansion spanning several thousand years. the core temperature reaches. 15 million Kelvin and hydrogen fusion finally becomes self sustaining. The protostar becomes a self luminous celestial object and the star is born. The time scale from the protostar to the normal star depends on the initial mass of the contracting cloud. A star of higher mass has a lower time scale. Once born, a star’s life is a continual struggle to stabilize itself against gravitational collapse by radiating energy. Pre main sequence stage Once born, the star attempts to attain a critical state of hydrostatic equilibrium between its outward radiation pressure and inward gravitational pull. During this attempt, the star is forced through a phase of irregular changes in its luminosity. At this stage, the star is known as ‘T Tauri variable star’. Main sequence stage Once the energy generation rate balances the star's luminosity, a thermal equilibrium is set up throughout the star. This results in a temperature gradient that enables the outward flow of energy. Then the rate of decrease of temperature with respect to radial distance becomes a constant. In the sun for example, this temperature gradient is about 0.021K per meter. Once the star establishes perfect hydrostatic equilibrium between radiation pressure and gravity and also thermal equilibrium between the energy generated at the core due to fusion and the total energy radiated from its surface, it is identified as a ‘main sequence star’ or a ‘normal star’. All normal stars can be located in the main sequence band of the HR diagram. Energy source of stars The sun and other main sequence stars have been radiating enormous amounts of energy which have remained almost constant over long periods of time. In 1920, Arthur Eddington put forth the idea of atomic energy as the source powering all stars. With advancements in nuclear physics, it was initially felt that nuclear fission could be the source of energy of stars. Spectral analysis of star light however revealed that heavy elements were not available in abundance in stars but that most main sequence stars are composed of 90% hydrogen. 9% helium, the t CCCUK HHOHOKCEHKEKESEKEHEHHHKE HHH HG: 28 remaining 1% accounting for the remaining elements. It is now believed that thermonuclear fusion of lighter nuclides into heavier ones is the source of energy of stars, as the conditions required for such reactions are naturally present in the interior of a star. The actual type of fusion reaction depends on the mass of the star at birth In lighter stars with core temperatures less than 10 million kelvin, the suggested fusion reaction is the proton-proton cyele or the p-p eyele. Four hydrogen nuclei, ie protons, fuse into a helium nucleus releasing 2 positrons and 2 electron neutrinos in accordance with the equation dp => Hey + 2B" + 2ve HQr. (1) Q represents the amount of energy released during the fusion reaction. Q has to be staggeringly large to support the incessant glow of a star throughout its life in the quence. According to Einstein's mass-energy equivalence, whenever an amount of mass ‘M’ is missing during a reaction, its equivalent energy E = Mc? is released. Here, ‘e’ is the speed of electromagnetic waves in vacuum. Energy released during the conversion of Ig of matter can lift a weight of 7 million tons from the earth's surface to a height of 1 mile above it ain aking proton mass = 1,00782Samu, mass of helium nucleus = 4.002603amu and electron mass = 0,000549amu, we get from eq.(1), total mass of reactants = 4x1.007825 = 4.031300amu and total mass of products = 4.002603 + 2x0.000549 = 4.003701amu. Loss of mass during the fusion reaction = M = 0.027599amu Energy release during the reaction = Q = 0.027599x931MeV = 25.69MeV The sun converts 564 million tons of hydrogen every second into 560 million tons of helium: The difference of 4 million tons is converted into energy of around 4x 10°"J. In other words, solar luminosity is 4x10°°W., This way the sun loses about 10” of its mass over a million years. In 1938, Wizacker and Hans Bothe suggested an alternative thermonuclear reaction for the fusion of hydrogen to helium with carbon and nitrogen as catalysts. This reaction is referred to as carbon-nitrogen cycle or CN cycle or CNO cycle and is estimated to take place at core temperatures greater than 20 million Kelvin, The energy released is the same as during a p-p cycle, Carbon, nitrogen and oxygen are replenished at the end of each cycle of fusion reaction. p-p cycle is the source of energy in lower main sequence stars and the CN cycle in the upper main sequence stars, In the middle aged sun, the p-p and CNO eycles should be taking place with equal probability. When the p-p and CNO cycles exhaust the hydrogen fuel at the core of a star, gravitational contraction supplies the energy needed to keep the star glowing. This contraction continues till the core density reaches around 10°kgm” and the corresponding core temperature is around 100 million Kelvin, Salpeter suggested that at this high temperature fusion of 3helium nuclei ie 3 alpha particles to a carbon nucleus is possible through the treple alpha or 3@ process represented by 3Hey —» Ciz+7.3MeV. This reaction is now believed to occur at the red giant stage of a me jum mass main sequence sta In supermassive stars where the core temperatures reach 10” to 10'K, a wide variety of thermonuclear fusion reactions take place till a stellar core of iron is formed, These stars then eeereeevneeoeveeseeoeseseevoeoseseeeveeeeoneveee ee 8 &@ @ SECC CECESEEOOHHHHHHCECEE EEO HHHUEE EEE _Gflelium Hash With this, the star cools along with its shell, Its radius decreases and its lumino 29 explode as supernovae, leaving behind superdense remnants blackholes, such as pulsars (neutron stars) or Evolution of a star Red Giant stage Once hydrogen in the core of the star depletes below a critical fraction, the star resumes its virial contraction in the absence of ra causes a rise in its temperature and hence pressure. The hot core ignites the hydrogen shell of the star, The burning envelope keeps expanding slowly and the star moves away from the main sequence band for the first time. The star moves upwards to the right of the main sequence band. With mounting temperature at the core, the shell loses its ability to absorb all of the eneray poured out, The shell almos ransparent to radiant energy and most of the eneray manages to reach the outer layers of the star. This raises the luminosity of the star by a factor of several hundred, but its temperature would have fallen to a mere 3000 ~ 400K. Bloated in size, the star now looks like a giant, glowing with a typical red color. This stage in the evolution of a the Red Giant stage. liation pressure. This compels the helium core to shrink and becomes star is known Helium flash When the c the critical temperature of a hundred million K. nuclear fusion of helium is initiated via the 3-alpha process, Carbon and oxygen are churned out The core OF BUMTTng helium is surrounded by ahell of burning hydrogen and a highly tenuous outer shell of non-burning hydrogen. Even in low-mass stars, the core density is very high during this stage. The energy generated is large enough to engulf the entire core. As a result, the core lodes aggressively within a few seconds. This event in the life of a star is reférred To as ains acting helium core vin e drops. In the HR diagram, the plot of the star moves back towards the main sequence band. Carbon flash : VE ceht U5 Now car ber, Helium fusion results in a carborcore, Once the availability of helium redu minimum, the core resumes its virial contFaction for a second time, while its shell keeps expanding, The/Gore explodes in-a earban Mlashy9nd carbon becomes the fuel for the next stage uclear reactions, At the endl of every stage of nuclear burning, the star hecomes a red giant,Not all stars go through all stages of thermonuclear reactions. Only heavy stars survive through more of these Tusion stages. The onset of each stage of nuclear burning with a new fuel at its core, sends the star Zooming More rapidly towards the red giant stage in the life of an evolving star is characterized by a lower energy output and the s below a of therm age. Fach subsequent fore lasts for a shorter interval of time. This continues till iron is formed at the core. Properties specific to iron do not permit further fusion reactions. Generally, in a star of mass comparable to the Sun, the core te 30 Planetary nebula and White Dwarf perature does not rise beyond carbon burning stage. The temperature of the contracting core rises to a whopping 10°’kgm™, Heat generated during contraction causes the star's envelope to balloon out gradually and cool. The severely contracted core of helium or carbon, as the case may be, is called a White Dwarf, Tis-called ‘white’ because of its whitish appearan recause OF its severely contracted size. The star's plot in the HR diagram, called the Hayashi track, crosses the main sequence band and reaches the bottom left hand comer. A white dwarf radiates typically in the UV and illuminates the expanding shell surrounding it, This brilliantly colored, highly distended shell is referred to as the ‘Planetary Nebula’, With ageing, a white dwarf cools to yellow, to red and eventually black, by slowly Fadiating away its thermal energy. Discovery of the first White Dwarf The first white dwarf to be detected is the companion of Sirius,.the brightest star in the night sky n the constellation of Canis Major. In 1844, F.W.Bessel at Konigsberg noticed the wobbly back and forth motion of Sitius, This Jed him to conclude that Sirius had a gravitationally bound celestial body as a binary companion, tugging at it. The original star was named Sirius A and the unseen companion as Sirius B, By 1844, mass of Sirius B was estimated to be around that of the Sun. Since Sirius B is 10,000 times fainter than the Sun, it could not be detected directly. It was first observed by Alvan Clark on 8" May, 1862. In 1925, American astronomer, Walter Adams identified Sirius B as a Whitedwart. Its temperature is estimated to be around 27,000K, distance as 8.7LY. radius as 0.01 solar radius and density as 2.8x10°kgm™, These characteristies are dwarf. iypical of a wh Nearly 3% of ali the stars in the milkyway galaxy are white dwarfs, White dwarf is the end stage of a dying star that has exhausted the fuel for nuclear reaction at its core, At the high temperatures that exist inside a white dwarf, the electrons are ripped away from their parent nuclei, The white dwarf exists as two merging seas of helium nuclei and electrons, generally referred to as ‘electron gas’ or ‘Fermi gas’, Since all the lower quantum states are occupied, this gas is invariably degenerate, to which the ordinary gas laws are not applicable. The electrons keep occupying higher energy levels. As the virial contraction continues, the electrons are squeezed closer together and their momentum and hence energy keeps increasing in accordance with Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. Theoretically, in the absence of radiation pressure, a white dwarf is expected to continue contracting, with its interior getting progressively hotter, till it gets crushed to @ geometrical point. But all white dwarfs discovered are found to have a non-zero radius. In 1926, Fowler, an English astrophysicist suggested that the degeneracy pressure of the electrons prevent the gravitational collapse of a white dwarf and makes it stable. A decrease in the potential energy of the collapsing white dwarf is counterbalanced by an increase in the energy of degenerate eoeceoeeeneereneeeesseeeoeeeoeeeee eee ede Seeveeese eee ReeCeHHeuUsevenY 31 electrons. When the total energy of the white dwarf, given by the algebraic sum of its gravitational potential energy and the energy of degenerate electrons reaches a minimum, it attains equilibrium. For a white dwarf of mass M and radius R, it can be shown that RM"? = constant In terms of solar mass, radius of white dwarf is given by Rwp (in km) = 7185 ( M a sed on constant density model wi Mwo Mot Rwo (in km) = 5769 (—©-)3, based on linear density model Mwo Chandrasekar mass limit By 1930, it was established that stars stop shining once they exhaust the fuel in their core, become red giants and eventually become white dwarfs. This however was found to be true only in the stars with mass comparable to that of the Sun, Indian Physicist, Subramanyam Chandrasekar fivorked ‘out the upper mas: theory of relativity and quantum principle’ 1.44 solar mass, which is refer the whitedwarfs discovered are Jess massive than_1.44 solar mass. Heavier stars will continue to crush under gravity and blast off their gaseous envelope. Theoret ‘would reduce to point masses of infil limit for a white dwarf by invoking Binstein’s special whitedwarf a ally however, their cores density Supernova explosion All stars, irrespective of mass, lead similar lives upto the end of the red giant stage. The core of the star consists of carbon and oxygen, surrounded shell of helium, As more and more carbon accumulates at the core and it keeps contracting, in the absence of radiation pressure, But before the core ean contract to a WD, its temperature reaches 600 million Kelvin, which supports nuclear fusion of carbon, This burning carbon core generates so much of heat that the outer envelope explodes in a cataclysmic event. ejecting stellar matter into space at enormous speeds of around 7000kms". This event is known as ‘Supernova explosion’ or merely the ‘Supernova’ or the ‘Exploding star’, Supemova expands into space much faster than a planetary nebula and is shorter lived. Stellar matter released into space during supernova forms a bumnil the raw material needed for the formation of new violently and has a temperature of billions of Kelvin. [t will be as together. The violence of the core collapse under gravity is so devastating that the WD stage is tars. During the explosion, the core collapses ve as several suns put mas completely bypassed. If the debris of supernova contains matter equivalent to even one solar mass. the SN shines as brilliantly as a whole galaxy, Gamow suggested the formation of elements hi neutron capture avier than iron through uring supernova explosion Weeeeoeuuvuuevseouwwowowwweuuseseeeewueeeeee 32 Discovery of first Supernoy explosion The first supernova was detected and recorded by the Chinese astronomers in 1054AD. It was sighted as a brilliant new star in the sky on 4" July. It was so bright that it was visible even during the daytime for nearly four weeks. It continued to be visible in the night sky for another two years before it finally disappeared. It was aptly called a ‘Guest Star’. In 1928, renowned American astronomer Hubble identified the famous Crab nebula, a gaseous stellar cloud in the Taurus constellation, as the remnant of 1054 supernova explosion. Crab nebula is around 3500LY away and currently has a linear diameter of OLY. Its radius is increasing at the rate of GOmillion miles a day In November, 1572, a supernova was recorded by Tycho Brahe in the constellation of c opeia, It was as bright as Venus and it gradually dis; ippeared in 1574. Discovery of neutron stars ture of @ neutron star during SN explosion. In 1967, these extremely puzzling celestial objects were accidentally discovered by a student of astronomy, Jocelyn Bell guidance of Anthony Hewish, She was scanning the night sky to record the strength of radiation received from distant stars. She happened to receive bursts of radiation from a particular point in the sky at extraordinarily precise intervals of time. Initially, they were suspected to be messages from extraterrestrials and were therefore referred to as LGM, meaning He Green Men. Subsequently, more and more such pulses of radiation of different intensity and periodicity were discovered at different points in the sky ‘pulsars’ ie stars spinning at a very rapid rate and radiating intense pulses of energy from localized points on their surface. These pulsars actually behave like cosmic lighthouses. By measuring the period of these pulses, astronomers were able to estimate the radius of a pulsar to be no more than 10 to 20km, but around a billion times denser than a WD (10!kgm”). Magnetic field associ s of the order of 107. As the pulsar spins rapidly, it drags the magnetic field along, Charged particles captured by the magnetic flux produce the intense radiation, Astronomers later testified that pulsars are nothing but the remnants of SN explosion, In 1968, Gold established that pulsars are the same as neutron stars. In 1939, Landau and Oppenheimer theoretically worked out the manufé orking at Cambridge University under the hese were later identified as ‘rotating stars’ or ed with a pulsar Even today, the expanding shell of the first SN explosion of 1054AD is seen as the Crab nebula. At the centre of this nebula, there is a pulsar rotating with a period of 0.033 second. The nebula itself is still expanding with a velocity close to 1500kms"'. Several other pulsars with varying periods and radiating at different wavelengths spanning the entire electromagnetic spectrum have been discovered. eee eoeoowooeeoeeoeeeeoeeeeeoeeeee eee ee 8 88 ee ee ee + e~eCecvvvvvvvi@—ve 33 Radius of a neutron star A star approaching the stage of a neutron star has a core temperature of nearly 10°K. Such a star would have gone through several cycles of thermonuclear fusion reactions at its core. With each such reaction, heavier elements keep forming at the core till iron is formed. Nuclear fusion comes to an end with the formation of iron core, since iron is known to have maximum binding energy per nucleon. Fusion of iron into heavier elements is endothermic and requires supply of energy which the star does not favor. Radius of a neutron star is found to vary inversely cube root of its mass. le the RysMys"is a constant As arule, more massive stars contract to neutron stars of smaller radi free electrons combine with protons to form neutrons, represented by the equation $e + tp = dnt Ve, where pis the electron neutrino Since the core of the star consists mainly of neutrons, it is referred to as a ‘neutron star’. The crushing effect of the radially inward gravitational force is balanced by the degeneracy pressure of the neutrons and the star becomes stable Based on relativisitic quantum mechanics, the radius of a neutron star in terms of solar mas be worked out to be can Mass limit of a neutron star is not very well defined since the nature of forces between neutrons is not yet clearly studied and understood. On the basis of general theory of relativity, mass limit is estimated to be around 3 solar mas: Blackhole Collapse of a star more massive than S to 10 solar mass gives rise to an exotic blackhole. The density of a blackhole is so high that the escape velocity at its surface exceeds that of light. le neither mass nor radiation can escape from the blackhole and hence the term “black”. Any material particle or photon will just disappear when it approaches a blackhole within a certain distance referred to as Schwarzchild radius. Any event taking place within this radius is referred to as ‘Event horizon’, Equating kinetic energy of a particle of ma at the surface of a blackhole of mass M and radius Rs, we get ‘m’ moving with a speed °c’ to its potential energy 14. GMm zm RS eseeaevev0eee2e2e202e200200808080808080880888 8888 8 8 Plus vorvov Prima msiver faa Light from the by the secondary may be reflected by a flat mirror before it enters the hole in the primary. The light can now be made to converge at a focus in a fork mount of the telescope. This focus is called Coude focus. This arrangement is generally used for high dispersion spectroscopic work. ' Refracting telescope or a refractor A simple refracting telescope consists of two convex lenses, the objective with a large focal length and the eyepiece of short focal length. The distance between the two lenses is adjusted to be close to the sum of their focal lengths. Refractors are generally used for visual observations, photography and spectroscopy. 10 Relative advantages of reflectors and refractors Serial no. Reflectors Refractors 1. 2s 3 “The mirror should be mechanically Ke is reflected by mit homogeneous, which is easier to achieve. Mirrors being perfectly achromatic Ql produce images of a better quality for shotos and spectroscopic work. 4, CULightis refracted through a lens. The lens should be optically homogeneous, which is more difficult to achieve. Chromatic aberration of lenses seriously degrades the images. photographic and spectroscopic work. "|, ‘mall differences in different parts of a | Objective lenses are invariably smaller and large mirror usually the definition of the final image. For the same aperture size, reflectors are used for[photographic, spectroscopic}and photoelectric photometric works and particularly for observation of faint objects like stars, distant galaxies etc. variation in temperature does not cause a serious difficulty. Refractors give wide field of well defined image. if perl defined image. <7 Refit ae more expensing) Refractors have lesser light gathering a) [Rota fractors are exclusively used for visual ‘observations and measurement 1D Reflective Opties ‘The "primary" or main light gathering component of the telescope is a concave parabolic mirror, A secondary flat mirror may also be used to change or divert the light path so that the image can be viewed at a more convenient location. -- Apa: focal plane Priory sore awa conave) /powsk che) Reflective Telescope (Newtonian design) Seconda plane Waist. Newtonian reflector: ‘The reflecting telescope was developed by Sir Isaac Newton in 1668, Most reflectors have an open tube design with the primary mirror at the bottom end of the tube. The parabolic mirror eliminates chromatic aberration by focusing light of all wavelengths to the same point. Parallel rays of light from the star enter the open top end of the tube, hit the parabolic primary mirror. The rays are then reflected to the secondary flat mirror suspended at the top of the tube by a thin vane, called "spider", and is directed out of the side of the tube for viewing or photography. In the absence of the secondary mirror, the rays of light reflected from the parabolic mirror are brought to focus at the primary focus. In this case, the observer can view the image through a central hole in the parabolic mirror. Early reflectors were made of metal which has poor reflectivity. Modern reflectors are made of glass with suitable coating for better reflectivity. Because the mirrors are exposed to the atmosphere, the coatings eventually deteriorate and must be re-coated periodically. They can provide very good visual images of both deep-sky objects and planets. Newtonian reflector is particularly preferred for photoelectric photometry. ‘A Cassegrain reflector uses a parabolic primary mirror, just like a Newtonian, but the secondary is a convex hyperbolic mirror. Light is reflected from the primary to the secondary and then back out of the bottom of the tube through a hole in the primary. The images in a cassegrain suffer from astigmatism and coma, Cassegrains are usually used for spectroscopic and photoelectric works. Resolving power: Due to the wave properties of light, the image of a star produced at the focus of a telescope is not just a point image but a difitacted image consisting of a tiny central spot of finite size, surrounded by concentric diffraction rings. Ie the image is spread over a larger area than if there were no diffraction effects. This increases the chances of the images of two nearby stars overlapping each other and the consequent loss in the details of each image. In other words, this restricts the resolving power of the telescope ie its ability to show the image of the two stars as distinctly separate. From Rayleigh’s criterion, resolving power of a telescope is given wben being the ASNne power of 8 telescope | wavelength of light incident on the objective. Thus the resolving power tarrbé increased by using a telescope of larger aperture, Limit of resolution of the telescope which is the reciprocal of its resolving power is given by 45 Dawe’s nule as arcssecond. Optical System Types Refractive Optics Refracting Telescope Objechive (Gosver 0 plone couven lew) Refractors were the first kind of telescope to be invented in the early 1600s. The first telescope consisted of a plano-convex lens at the sky end, and a plano-concave lens at the eye end. Light is refracted by a lens. The amount of bending depends on the wavelength of the light and the refractive index of the glass. Different wavelengths bend by different amounts, so it is impossible to bring all wavelengths of light to the same focus with a single lens. When this happens, light can be focused for a single wavelength, but all of the other wavelengths are out of focus, degrading the image and causing color halos. Mout Peds gar 34 Te Ry = “2 is the Schwarzchild radius of the blackhole Gravitational field of a blackhole is so high that it keeps pulling all matter and radiation into it. It is like @ void in space and therefore is referred to as a ‘hole’, although it is packed with matter and radiation to a near infinite density. Fae NY {n terms of solar mass, Schwarzchild radius of a black hole of mass M can be written as Rs = 2.95 (4) (in km) th, Although the minimum mass of a blackhole is around 4 solar mass, there is no known upper mass limit. Based on only mass, Dlackholes are In classified as_stellar_and supermassive blackholes. While stellar blackholes have mass upto afound_10 solar mass, supermassive blackholes have mass ranging from a million to 10" Solar mass. Supemiassive Dlaekholes exist at the centre of some galaxies called Active Galactic Nuclei. A supermassive blackhole with a ‘mass of a million suns has been discovered at the centre of Milkyway galaxy and is estimated to have an event horizon of around 10*km, which is about 2au.] A blackhole is not visible through any telescope operating in any range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Einstein had predicted that a photon in motion behaves like a particle with mass and. blackhole. Because of its extremely strong gravitational field, a blackhole pulls matter from a companion star if it is a member of a binary system. Stellar matter pulled by the blackhole accumulates around it in the form of a dise called the accretion disc. The accreted matter in the ionic state emits strong beams of x-rays as they accelerate spirally towards the centre of the blackhole. A blackhole is thus identified by probing its neighborhood, X-rays emitted from Cygnus X ~ | are believed to be associated with a blackhole. f ign padicdin an ta shay Coukinds , wr poled Quar decreases 3M? Now can be shown that based on the ‘linear density model of a star’, U = -1.24 Xe ra Virial theorem represents a well known and well established {result in classical physieg) In its simplest form, itis stated as: “If the potential . half in ener \db#efhaining half is a This theorem can be applied to the birth of a star from a contracting cloud of gas ‘and dust particles. Helmholtz first suggested that the energy radiated by a star due to Virial contraction could be responsible for the star’s luminosity. Sun and other main sequence stars are known to be radiating energy at a steady rate over slalies of years. If Helmholtz’ suggestion is correct, then Potential energy of the Sun = Ug = - 5 Ro Substituting G = 6.673x10"' Nm*kg”, Mo = 2x10°’kg and Ro = 7x108 m, a 73X10" (2X10 oF 7x08 According to Virial theorem, “2 = 1.15x10" has been radiated away by the Sun since its birth. Sun has been radiating energy at a constant rate = its lumingsity +Lo = 4x10"Js" Yoy, a1 =—2 = Ms" Ms = 6 Teno = 5 = gysqne = Sx10Ms = 9.3x105 years Ie Virial theorem predicts the current age of the Sun as around 10 million years, while the actual age of the Sun is around 4.5 billion years. Therefore, Virial contraction of a star cannot be the source of its luminosity. Star formation Protostar stage A star is a gigantic cloud of burning gas. There must be an enormous force holding the stellar matter together since it does not diffuse with time. Though weakest of all the four forces in nature, it is the gravitational force that binds the gas and dust particles in the cloud. It is estimated that the cloud should consist of at least around 10” particles, weighing about 10°°kg to sss (1), where G = Universal gravitational constant The negative sign indicates that the potential energy is due to the attractive force provided by the star itself and no external work is done. «.(2) and dm = p 4nr?dr....(3) ‘According to constant density model of a star, m =p $ ar srr?) (p 4nrzdr) (oer )oser6n a gp ieta (4) Substituting eq. (2) & (3) in eq.(1), dU =~ G Total work done by gravity to form the stable star of mass “M” and radius ‘R’ or the gravitational potential energy of the star “U’ is obtained by integrating eq.(4) between the limits r= 0 to r= R. 3M Substituting p = ——- in the above equation. 8 Pane? “a 3 Gnu BulT or Te & a|z 5 kR Substituting in eq.(5), L oc = © orLa« M3 Te luminosity of a star solely depends on its mass and varies directly as the cube of its mass. a Main sequence stars not only have a wide range of luminosity but also a huge range of ‘life time’. A star's lifetime is the duration for which it shines ie from the instant it is seen as a new bor star till it ceases to be visible. A star’s lifetime depends on its mass available for conversion to energy and the rate at which it is lost due to radiation. Larger the mass ‘M’ of a star, more is the energy available and this enhances its life. Larger its luminosity “L’, higher is the rate at which radiates energy and shorter is its lifetime. Te lifetime of a star oc = ra Te lifetime of a star varies inversely as the square of its mass, More massive stars have shorter life span. . a ” From mass ~ luminosity relation, L 0 M® or lifetime of a star we % Formation of a star is initiated when an enormous cloud of highly distended gas and dust particles in the interstellar medium, accidentally starts contracting under the effect of its own gravitational force. Initial radius of the condensing cloud can be considered to be infinity in comparison with that of the stable star formed out of it. In other words, the cloud has zero — potential energy. a Let a star of mass “R’ be formed out of such a cloud. According to the constant deny dels Goan ENE en by Gravitational i of a star j the work done in bringing its various ments infinite distances to form the star. This is the energy with Which the ‘ponstituents are gravitationally bound together. The star may be imagined to be formed by assembling concentric spherical shells of stellar matter with radii ranging from zero to ‘R’. Consider a stage of star formation when a spherical mass ‘m’ of radjus ‘r’ is formed. Consider a thin spherical shell of matter of mass ‘dm’ and thickness ‘dr’ being added to this. con Lived on les U pege ” + Pheren Dirresion Time The actual time taken by a photon to travel from the core of a star to the surface along its random walk is known as photon diffusion time (r). It is given by ‘otal radiant energy content of the star _ r minosity Of the star E= volume of the star x energy density of radiation .. Volume of a star of radius R = $1R3and energy density of radiation = “2 T? based on constant density model of a star of core temperature Te. Here o = Stefan’s constant and electromagnetic radiation in free space = speed of Substituting in eq.(2), E = fur’ x ¥1t= ise SR°Te 4nR2oTe, where T, is the effective temperature or surface temperature ofthe star Tey Substituting in eq.(1) and simplifying, t = 2 [irom eq.(), itis clear that the luminosity of a star is inversely proportional to photon diffusion Dine. If the photons leak out of the surface in quick succession, the star appears brighter since it radiates energy at a faster rate. In a faint star, the photons leak out slowly and less frequently’ Photon diffusion time can also be calculated directly using the formula, ] oa On og total distance covered by the photon from the core to the surface ‘speed of photon ce Let A be the mean free path of the photons, ie the average distance travelled between successive collisions. If a photon undergoes ‘n’ number of collisions while travelling from the opre to the ~~ surface of the star, then the, istance cévered s = nA and the.net distance cml = var along the random walk path. For a star of radius R net distance from the core to the surface is R = v¥nhorn=*, . nA Orn 3a ee if Substituting in eq.(1), ort \ <10%m, o = 5.67x10*Wm7K"*& To = 15x10°K and simplifying, For the sun, substituting R = we get total energy content E = R°Té = 5.5x10"J. Solar luminosity = L = 4x107*Is" E “0 Substituting, photon diffusion time, T= [ a 375x10'*second = 4.4x10°years. Jc the photons from the core of the sun take about 4 million years to reach the surface. estimated ¢ basis of constant density model. However based on the linear density model, it can be— shown that the photon diffusion time for the sun is around 120,000 years. Time taken by the photons to travel along the solar radius = © one 2.3s. ie because of random walk, the time of, travel is increased by a factor of near] respondingly the mean free path of the photon gets reduced by the same factor ie from 7x10*m to around 3mm. 2 Stabe & phobews e Fraap oc Tee eben’ Anny abode shabilsh, the » awe be be b poled fen | from where they are radiated into space. This radiation pressure counterbalances radially im gravitational contraction. |Sir Arthur Edington suggested that the x-ray and y-ray photons cannot ‘escape radially outwards fom the core of the star, since they encounter frequent collision the free electrons and other stellar matter. These Se eee the mean free path of the photon is just a few mm. at each collision 1 pl "ses energy and undergoes a change in its speed and direction. The photon therefore moves along a zig-zag path referred to as ‘random walk of photons’. Due to continuous loss of energy, the x-ray / y-ray photon released at the core degrades into an optical photon on reaching the surface ofthe stiz]The actual time taken by a photon to travel from the core to the surface of a star along the random walk is known as ‘photon diffusion time’ («j= “¥¥ “#4 Luminosity ‘L’ of a star depends on the photon diffusion time. If the photons leak from the surface in quick succession, energy is radiated at a faster rate and hence the star appears bright. In a dim star, the photons leak out less frequently TeLa + 7 Luminosity of a star is directly proportional to its total energy content E OrL x a But E = (Volume of star) x (Energy density of radiation) (nr?) (ETE) or Be R3TE ..... (2) based on Constant density model” ofthe star. Here, o = Stefan constant, c = speed of photon in free space & Tc = Core temperature of the star. Photon diffusion time T & no. of collisions encountered by it along its random walk R It can be shown that t & — .. ssss+s (3) where A= mean free path of photon, ie mean distance covered between two consecutive collisions 2.is inversely proportional to the average density p of the star. aoa MoM 2 dot « 3 oc Teno * ort & p Sea ao Swbsttting ine (3), 6 Re) (4) nerd |. RTE OR) < M Substituting eq.(2) and eq.(4) in eq.(1), L oy, 6) DHE MICAL ComPosiTion OF STARS Radiation from every star consists of spain emission spectrum with dark absorption lines in the foreground] Continuous emission Spectrum which is similar in characteristics to blackbody radiation spectriim helps in determining the effective temperature or color temperature of the star using Wein’s displacement law. (Atoms and ions of different elements are present in different proportions in the stellar chromosphere, hey will be in different levels of excitation depending on the effective temperatyre of the Star and are responsible for the lite absorption spectrum, An analysis of this spectrum helps ion the sles thet senda a \.star’s atmosphere. The intensity of these lines 1 used as a yardstick for spectral classification of stars. O stars: Spectral signature of these stars is the presence of strong lines of ionized helium. This indicates the high surface temperature range of the star. Energy required to ionize a helium atom is around 25eV and is more than that for any other element. Ionization of helium is possible only at temperatures of around 30000K to S0000K. Other elements present in the star's atmosphere are heavily ionized and their nuclei are left with only the tightly bound electrons in the inner orbits. B stars: He II lines are absent as at the lower surface temperature of the star, collisions are less frequent and inadequate to ionize helium atoms, Neutral He I lines are predominant along with - ———————— ionized oxygen lines. A stars: Neutral He I lines are absent, Strong H I Balmer lines and fainter lines of ionized metals ae ——— (ionization potential ~ 6eV) are seen. F stars: Lines of neutral metal atoms appear for the first time. Strong lines of ionized Call are seen at the violet end of the spectrum. Strong lines of ne ized i tals are also seen, G stars: Strong absorption lines due to elements in the stellar atmosphere are seen. Lines of Call are the strongest. . —_ K stars: Densely packed lines due to neutral metals are observed. eee M stars: Elements ae sill in the molecular state because of low surface temperature of the star and absorption bands due to these molecules are seen. Mass — Luminosity relation Core of a star is the source of energy where nuclear fusion of lighter elements to heavier ones takes place. Energy released per-fusi hydrogen nuc| helium of the order of 20MeY and this corresponds to the energy of x-ray and y-ray photons. In order that the star pe denoting a decrease in line intensity. 99% of stars are between the Band M spectral types. The spectral type of a star is completely described using Yerkes Luminosity classification, which is la Bright supergiant Ib Fainter supergiant 0 Bright Giant m1 Normal Giant Sub giant v Main Sequence Star vI White Dwarf ‘Chemical composition of stars of different spectral types Spectral type Chemical ‘| Surface temperature Example composition, (TeinK) 0 Strong lines offe 1) | _30,000— 50,000 | __ Zeta Puppis, B He Il lines are 10,000 — 30,000 Rigel absent. PredominantliieD (Ql nes and A He Tlines are absent. | 8,000— 10,000 Sirius | Strong @ 1)Balmer lines along with fainter lines due to ionized metals F ‘Strong line of; 6,000 — 8,000 Polaris | at the violet end'and lines of neutral metal atoms }___ — | G Strong lines due,to 4,500 — 6,000 ‘Sun elements/Ca II being . 7 the strongest K Densely packed lines | __3,500- 4,500 Arcturus due to Weutral meta M ‘Molecular 2,000 — 3,500 Barnard star absorption bands RandN Molecular bands due <2,000 to CN and carbon s Malecular bands of <2,000 __ Zirconium oxide VEAP DAG be anane, The sedi, didat shane eve 2 tress of vous GE shen. e982. Blank brightest shane . Sn a in lad (41 FO) ate ava 1s, A2IUCSL, LULLBLILESL SES have a mass of around 60 solar mass. 5. Mass is the only criterion that decides the luminosity and surface temperature of a normal star. 6. Source of stellar energy is the nuclear fusion of hydrogen to helium via the proton-proton cycle predominant at temperatures less than 10 million kelvin or the carbon-nitrogen cycle more probable at temperatures exceeding 20 million kelvin. p-p cycles the source of energy in the lower main sequence stars and the CN eycle in the upper main sequence stars. In the second generation stars, energy production is due to triple alpha process in which helium undergoes nuclear burning and converts to carbon. Chemical composition of stars Spectrum of star light consists of a continuous emission spectrum similar to that of a blackbody with a line absorption spectrum superimposed on it, similar to solar spectrum with Fraunhoffer lines. A star consists of an extremely hot and dense central mass called its photosphere and is the origin of the continuous emission spectrum, similar to any body heated to incandescence. Temperature of the outermost layer of the photosphere is the effective temperature of the star. Core of the star however is at a temperature several orders higher than its surface temperature. The photosphere is surrounded by a cooler gaseous envelope called the chromosphere. Radiation from the photosphere, on passing through the chromospheres is absorbed by the various elements present and leaves their signatures in the spectrum as dark absorption lines of characteristic wavelength. The relative location and intensity of the absorption lines is an indicator of the chemical composition and the-relative abundance of the clements in the star’s atmosphere. Strength of each line depends on the levels of excitation of the various elements in the star’s atmosphere. Spectral classification of stars Photographic study of stellar spectra was initiated in 1885 by Edward Charles Pickering and his coworkers at Harvard College under the guidance of Annie J. Cannon. In 1890, Pickering and his. team classified the visible stars into a continuous sequence based on their spectral patterns. They designated these classes by the letters O, B, A, F, G, K and M (remembered with the mnemonic ‘Oh! Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me’) from the hot blue stars to the cool red ones, in the descending order of their surface temperature. Three sub classes of R, N and $ (to continue with the mnemonic, “Right Now Sweetheart”) were later added to include stars cooler than the M type. This classification of stars is incIfided in the Henry-Draper catalogue. This catalogue in 9 volumes completed in 1924, lists position, magnitude and, spectral type of 2,25,300 stars. In every spectral class, there is a gradual variation in the line intensity. Each class is therefore further subdivided into 10 sub groups, called the Harvard Sequeney based on the rise and 1. Sob Grade ocepy 0 dram above Ihe Anand pegrenta band bebwen Faud K clas f stan 2. Giant stars are more luminous than the faint giants and are found above the sub giants between G and M stars, 3. Highly luminous supergiants over the range of O to F class of stars are found in the left hand top comer. Ex: Antares, Beteleguese, alpha Scorpil, alpha Cygni 4. White Dwarfs in the B to G class occupy the lower left hand comer. Their mass is comparable to the solar mass but they are of the size of the earth. le their density is around a million “imes the solar density. Giants and Dwarfs have the same surface temperature. But the giants are nearly a billion times more Juminous than the Dwarfs. This is because the giants have a larger radii and surface area. For example, Capella, a giant with almost the same temperature as the Sun has a diameter 16 times the solar diameter. It is now understood that main sequence stars that have exhausted their source of energy die as giants first and later as dwarfs in the cosmic graveyard. Different regions of the HR diagram represent different stages in the evolution of a star from its birth to its death. HR diagram can also be replotted with stellar luminosity against surface temperature, as shoy : Le Baar * SUPERGIANTS me Ot ommak Giannd 7 (42 S08 Gants —, otk pa een <—/Ce> Main sequence stars, also known as ‘normal stars’, have the following general characteristics: 1. All new bom stars are located along the main sequence band of the HR diagram 2. All the live stars spend most of their life time in the main sequence band. 3. Temperature and luminosity of a main sequence star is related through Stefan- Boltzmann law. diagram or the HR diagram or HRD, also known as color-magnitude diagram or CMD. HRD establishes the relationship between absolute magnitude, luminosity, spectral classification and effective temperature of stars. It also helps in the pictorial understanding of the evolution of Itis also used by scientists to roughly estimate the distance of star clusters. "gaigit supen Gund we J Noreae yl, Guar, Su Quins Boooo 10,000 7,500 600 © S000 goon 5000 From the HR diagram it is seen that 90% of the stars lie along a narrow diagonal band from the top left comer to the lower right comer. This band is referred to as the ‘Main Sequence Band’. It is so called since the stars spend most of their life time in some location of this band— This band is also known as the ‘Zero Age Band? since the nursery of all new born stars can be located along this band. Once a star begins to shine, it continues to contract and moves from the right towards the main sequence band. During contraction, a decrease in the radiating surface is compensated by an increase in the surface temperature. This maintains the luminosity of the star a constant. The Sun, which is about 5 billion years old, finds a place in the middle of the main sequence band. Heavier stars contract more rapidly and arrive at the main sequence faster than the lighter stars. Stars with masses ranging from (1/10) to around 60 solar mass are found in the main sequence band. The lower mass limit suggests-that-z~minimum-ameypt-of-matter-is- necessary io gravitationally -bind-stellar- matter-and_generate_the necessary tightemperature and pressure_at_the-core;for-the-birth-of a-star—Stars-more-massive-than-60-solar-mass. with a luminesity-ef-around_a_ million Suns,-blast-off-their_outer_layers_because-of the_tremasdous radiation pressure: Absolute magnitude of main sequence stars range from -7 to +15. There are sparsely spaced clusters of stars in specific regions in the HR diagram. They are: sshen SEF seta Shiller deat oS _ Se & comin ence pa M StU aw

5 for a star of mass “M” and radius *R’ Fars an aM 4nR3 6) Considering stellar matter to be composed of hydrogen, we can write the mean molecular weight Substituting in eq.(5), n= of the star as w= or = jimy . where my is the mass of hydrogen atom. my Substituting in eq.(6), n= aa é BMK Substituting in eq. (4),

= ame 1.24 GMmy To RR But = Substituting in eq.(7){

= Clearly,

(5) 3 6.673x1071x(2x1039)? ion (7x108)* "Average pressure of any starin terms of that of the sun can be written as = 6.718x10°Nm7 For the Sun,

ker> ro In terms. ofg6Fe ESM, core density and gare temperature, he above equation can be writen iy (ore tse) = eile Linear density model of a star leads to pe = ee

and Te = 4 From eq.(7),

Substituting and simplifying, Pc = 16

cm? x RE For the Sun, (Pe)syy ~ 10'SNm? HR (Hertzsprung — Russell) diagram In 1910, Ejnar Hertzsprung, a Danish astronomer and Henry Norris Russell, an American scientist, independently felt that the absolute brightness of a star, measured in terms of its absolute magnitude should be closely related to its color, which is indicative of its surface temperature. In 1913, they irtdependently plotted the absolute ma, isible stars against Substituting for

, Pc 1.24 GM? =— Simplifying. = “> Fe 4) Spectral analysis of star light has revealed that the Sun and other main sequence stars are composed of 90% hydrogen. At the temperatures that exist at the core of a star, these hydrogen atoms are completely ionized. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the entire star comprises of equal numbers of protons ie hydrogen nuclei and electrons stellar mass__ 2M .- total number of particles in the star = N= 2 x =< mass ofHatom my i 1.24 ia 1.24 GM Substituting in eq.(4), average temperature of the star = = =* mm oe ee 2 my SS ‘We get the average ter G = 6.673x10" Nake :perature of the Sun by substituting 2M = 2x10%kg, my = 1.67x107 "kg, k= 1.381x10JK" & R= 7x10°m, 1.24x6,673210714x2x109° x1.67x10~2? °K. which i « Toei 3eix1o-a7el0® 2.86x10°K, which is much less than = the core temperature Tc 4x1.24 GMmy 10 «RR cMmy KR ~ 0.5 Itcan be shown that Te = 4 = It is clear that Tc « (#2) ix2.86x10° = 11.46x10°K = 11.46 million Kelvin. Core temperature of the Sun = (Tc)sun Since the actual variation of stellar density with radial distance is not exactly linear, the accepted value of the core temperature of the Sun is around 15 million Kelvin. Internal pressure of a star Considering the stellar matter to behave as the molecules of an ideal gas, we have the ideal gas ‘equation obeyed by it as, PV=RT Writing R = Nak, where Nq = Avogadro number, PV = NakT Pressure of stellar matter = P = “4&2 But 7 =n, is the molecular density of stellar matter. = P=nkT In terms of the average pressure

and average temperature , the above equation can be written as

= nk 4)

Molecular density ‘n’ = =... - (5) For hydrostatic equilibrium, the above change in pressure over the depth of the shell under consideration should balance the net inward gravitational pressure. The condition for this hydrostatic equilibrium is obtained by equating equations (1) and (2) EM@)p(r) ar -dp= $2 7 dp GM, Radial pressure gradient Br pT PO) vosseee Gy £4.G) is referred to as the ‘equation of hydrostatic equilibrium’ “and is obeyed by all main sequence stars. Internal temperature of a star A star forms out of an initially very distended and enormous cloud of gas molecules, mostly hydrogen and dust particles. Swaying shock waves with gigantic span accidentally sweeps the constituents of the cloud together. Once brought close enough, the constituents are held together by mutual forces of gravitation. This cloud contracting under its own gravity is called a Protostar. As the constituents fall towards a common center, they pick up enormous speed and raise the temperature and pressure of the stellar interior to several orders above its surface temperature and pressure. This continues till the core temperature and core pressure is sufficient to initiate thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen to helium. With radial depth, pressure ie density and hence temperature increase steeply, core being the hottest since it has contracted the most. Core temperature and pressure of a star are determined by its mass and radius. Internal or core temperature Te of a star can be estimated as follow: SER consisting of N number of particles. Let be the average (emperature of the star. Each of the N particles has an average energy of 2 k when treated as the molecules of an ideal gas, (k = Boltzmann constant) 3 a" ‘Total kinetic energy of N particles = Kia = = NK .. 2 Based on linear density model of a star, gravitational potential energy of the star is given by 3GM? Uo =~ 1.24 x SF - (2) (G = gravitational constant) .. According to Virial theorem, as the ptotostar contracts, its potential energy decreases. Half this decrease in energy appears as increase in the kinetic energy of the constituent particles and the other half is radiated away. Te Keo = - 3) Uroras 1243 om’) 5 oR Substituting eq. (1) & (2) in eq.(3), 2 e Nk}-- {- Peoaanve S PsdP Let M(x) be the mass of matter contained in a sphere of radius ‘r” Mass of matter contained in the shell of thickness “dr’ at a radial distance *r’ = dm = 41 r* p(x) dr GM(am Gravitational force acting on this shell of matter and the, sphere of radius ‘1° = SOO" | where “G’ is gravitational constant. ” GM 2 Substituting for ‘dm’, inward gravitational force = Smeanripteer = dnG M(r)p(r)dr 4nGM(@)p()dr _ GM@)p(ar 4nr? re ~ + inward gravitational pressure a Let ‘P” and “(P + dP)’ be the pressure acting on the inner and outer surfaces of shell under consideration as shown in the figure. Here ‘P” is the pressure due to the material contained within the sphere of radius ‘r’ and ‘(P + dP)’ is the pressure due to the material outside the sphere of radius (#+da.) --Q) Net outward pressure acting on matter within the shell = P — (P + dP) = - dP. Negative sign indicates that pressure increases with depth ie decrease in the radial distance ‘r” | | | A sthenemy | Be sight ness + A— ntens st Ly. a bectite inegntt tide, ARE 2 pperien, Me art de. 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The wavelength ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum _in_which the earth’s atmosphere is Dim oie Wow Wenn tis Stan gem tam Ee WEGN TDs Wavalongth % x foto {i Gbctedbynecerwmarpbre foment (aa oben em oa ‘iicrowaves)ore found to pass through clouds, which make them the best wavelength for transmitting satellite communication signals. Coie the first window to be used for astronomy after the optical one, This is because certain portions of the radio spectral region can pass through the atmosphere “eee enain portions of thGafrared Apectral region are transmitted through the atmosphere, at least partially. While much can be learnt from optical observations, a lot more information can be gained from observations in other wavelength ranges that are hidden by the curtain of our atmosphere. For this, it is necessary to take the telescopes into space, much above the earth's protective atmosphere. It has been possible only over the last 35 years, with the help of rockets that can transport telescopes and spectrographs into space Luminosity (L) of a star is defined as the rate at which energy is radi Jt is measured in Watt or Js"! Electromagnetic waves ng magnetic field induces a time-varying electric field and vice-versa, These interlinked, changing electric and magnetic constitute electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic waves differ from mechanical waves in that they do not require a medium to propagate Electromagnetic waves can travel not only through air and solid materials, but also through the vacuum of space. They travel with the speed of 3x10%ms” in air (free space or vacuum). In the 1860's and 1870's, a Scottish scientist named James Clerk Maxwell developed a scientific theory to explain electromagnetic waves and summarized it mathematically which are now referred to as *Maxwell’s electromagnetic equations* Heinrich Hertz. a German physicist, applied Maxwell's theory to the production and reception of radio waves. The unit of frequency of a radio wave is named in his honor as ‘hertz’, He demonstrated through an experiment what Maxwell had only theorized - that the velocity of radio waves equals the velocity of light and how to make the electric and magnetic fields detach themselves from wires and go free as electromagnetic waves or Maxwell's waves. Earth’s protective atmosphere The Sun is a source of energy that spans the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Solar electromagnetic radiations bombard the atmosphere of the earth constantly. However, the Earth's aimosphere protects us from exposure to a range of higher energy waves that can be harmful to life. Gamma rays, x-rays, and some ultraviolet waves are highly ionizing. Exposure to these high-energy waves can alter atoms and molecule, and damage the cells in organic matter. These changes ean sometimes be helpful, as when radiation is used to kill cancer cells, and other times not, as when we get sunburns. The atmosphere is thus-essential to protecting life on Earth and keeping the planet habitable. Transmission of electromagnetic waves through windows in the carth’s atmosphere [All radiations across the electromagnetic spectrum behave in similar ways, When radiations encounter an object, they are transmitted, reflected, absorbed, refracted, polarized, difftacted, or scattered depending on the physical and chemical composition of the object and the wavelength of the radiation. Incoming solar electromagnetic radiation is reflected or absorbed mainly by the gases, water vapor, carbon dioxide and ozone in the Earth's atmosphere. Some radiations. stich as visible light is predominantly transmitted through the atmosphere. But it is necessary and important to do spectroscopic study in different portions of the EM because the optical window is a very small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum and surveys of the sky at different wavelengths have shown that there are many objects in the Universe that emit very little optical light but are extremely bright at, for example at infrared or X-ray wavelengths. Observing objects in these spectral regions gives some valuable information of the most energetic phenomena in the Universe. Also, the spectral lines of different chemical elements are concentrated in different portions of the spectrum. 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Much of the information about the solar energy received at a place on the earth is obtained by measuring the solar constant, Solar constant is nothing but the apparent brightness of the sun, It is the amount of energy rcdeived Fon The SANTO HT Hine BY GAT of the cath estimated value is 1354Wm?. {lt is given by the power received by unit area of a blackbody placed normal fo the incident solar radiation at the mean distance between the earth and the sun in the absence of earth’s atmosphere" ‘The instrument used for measuring solar constant js called a pyrheliometer. There are several methods of determining the sotar-constant, like (i) Water-stir pytheliometer, (ji) water-flow pyrheliometer, (iii) Angstrom’s pyrheliometer. Angstrom’s pyrheliometer of compensation type Description of apparatus ee It consists of two identical blackened strips of platinum, constantan or manganin, P and Q. They are mounted in such a way that the strip P receives solar radiation normally while the strip Q is protected by the double walled shield H. Back surfaces of P and Q are connected to the two junctions of a copper-constantan thermocouple. A sensitive galvanometer G measures the thermo emf generated in the thermocouple. There is a provision to electrically heat the strip Q. Q fonal 2 When no radiation is incident on P, both P and Q are at the same temperature and the galvanometer records zero deflection. When solar radiation is incident on P, it gets heated up and a temperature difference is set up between the junctions of the thermocouple. This is indicated by the deflection in the galvanometer. eae his de flgeti a ecomes steady, strip Q is heated by closing the electrical circuit shown int the agram tll thé deflection in the galvanometer reduces {o zero. In this condition, rate at which energy is received from the sun by P and electrically by Q is the same, Voltmeter and ammeter readings are noted down. Let, and ‘B’ be the. length and. ith of the strip P, Area of P exposed to solar radiation = the ‘solar constant and * aS © power OF The material of P. Then, amount of voltage applied to Q and I = current through it, electrical power received by Q= VI...(2) From eq(1) & (2), aSLB = VI or § = 1 is the solar constant in the presence of earth's atmosphere, The experiment is repeated for different elevations of the sun on the same day under identical sky conditions. If So is the actual value of solar constant in the absence ot ery aes rg, it is related to $ through the equation § = SgAS*2, where Z is the angular altitude of the sun dhd is the absorption coefficient of the atmosphere at that zenith angle of the sun. Taking logarithms, log $ = log So + see Z log A. A graph of log S along Y-axis against sec Z along X-axis is a straight line whose Y-intercept gives log So. Actual solar constant So can now be calculated. CCC CECEEU EHC EHCTEEECEKECECEBES Poosanvor 2 form an average mass star like the Sun. Enormous clouds of hydrogen along with dust particles exist in different parts of interstellar medium in a galaxy. Swaying shock waves with a gigantic span arising due to cosmic explosions like the supernovae accidentally initiates the condensation of the gas cloud. This cloud held tightly by its own gravity which is still not visible is known as a ‘protostar’. If gravity is the only force acting on a protostar, it would get crushed to a point There must be an outward force to balance gravity. Pressure associated with the gas molecules alone is insufficient to counterbalance gravity. Over millions of years. as the protostar keeps shrinking, its central region becomes denser, The core material becomes hotter as it resists the implosion of material from above it, Eventually the core temperature becomes high enough to initiate thermonuclear cycle of hydrogen fusion. This ignition sends a burst of high energy radiation radially outwards. This however expands the protostar so much that associated cooling stops the generation of energy due to fusion. Again the protostar material starts contracting till the fusion eycle starts al] over again. The gas molecules pick up enormous speeds and raise the core temperature to around 50,000K. At this high temperature. the gas molecules bombard with ach other so violently that they are stripped of their electrons, After several eycles of alternating contraction and expansion spanning several thousand years, the core temperature reaches 15 million Kelvin and hydrogen fusion finally becomes self sustaining. The protostar becomes a self luminous celestial object and the star is born. The time scale from the protostar to the normal star depends on the initial mass of the contracting cloud. A star of higher mass has a lower time scale Once born, a star’s life is a continual struggle to stabilize itself against gravitational collapse by radiating energy. Pre main sequence stage ¢ born. the star attempts to attain a critical state of hydrostatic equilibrium between its outward radiation pressure and inward gravitational pull. During this attempt, the star is forced through a phase of irregular changes in its tuminosity. At thts stage. the star is known as *T Yauri variable star’. Main sequence stage - 7 Onee,the energy generation rate balances the star's luminosity. a thermal equilibrium is set up throughout the star. This results in a temperature gradient that enables the outward flow of energy. Then the rate of decrease of temperature with respect 10 radial distance becomes a constant, In the sun for example. this temperature gradient is about 0.021K per meter. Once the star establishes perfect hydrostatic equilibrium between radiation pressure and gravity and also thermal equilibrium between the energy generated at the core due to fusion and the total energy radiated from its surface, it is identified as a ‘main sequence star’ ot a ‘normal star’. All ‘normal stars can be located in the main sequence band of the HR diagram. Energy source of stars The sun and other main sequence stars have been radiating enormous amounts of energy which have remained almost constant over long periods of time. In 1920, Arthur Eddington put forth the idea of atomic energy as the source powering all stars. With advancements in nuclear physics, it was initially felt that nuclear fission could be the source of energy of stars. Spectral analysis of star light however revealed that heavy elements were not available in abundance in stars but that most main sequence stars are composed of 90% hydrogen. 9% helivm. the 65666 COUT ECE HRW 29 explode as supernovae, leaving behind superdense remnants such as pulsars (neutron stars) or blackholes. Evolution of a star Red Giant stage Once hydrogen in the core of the star depletes below a critical fraction, the star resumes its virial contraction in the absence of radiation pressure. This compels the helium core to shrink and causes a rise in its temperature and hence pressure. The hot core ignites the hydrogen shell of the star. The burning envelope keeps expanding slowly and the star moves away from the main sequence band for the first time. The star moves upwards to the right of the main sequence band. With mounting temperature at the core, the shell loses its ability to absorb all of the energy poured out, The shell almost becomes transparent to radiant energy and most of the energy manages to reach the outer layers of the star. This raises the luminosity of the star by a factor of several hundred, but its temperature would have fallen to a mere 3000 ~ 4000K. Bloated in size, the star now looks like a giant, glowing with a typical red color. This stage in the evolution of a star is known as the Red Giant stage Helium flash When the contracting helium core attains the critical temperature of a hundred million Kelvin. nuclear fusion of helium is initiated via the 3-alpha process. Carbon and oxygen are churned out The core of burning helium is surrounded by a shell of burning hydrogen and a h outer shell of non-burning hydrogen. Even in low-mass stars, the core density is very high during this stage. The energy generated is large enough to engulf the entire core. As a result, the core explodes aggressively within a few seconds. This event in the life of a star is referred to as Helium flash. With this, the star cools along with its shell. Its radius decreases and its luminosity drops. In the HR diagram, the plot of the star moves back towards the main sequence band. ghly tenuous Carbon flash Helium fusion results in a carbon core. Once the availability of helium reduces below a minimum, the core resumes its virial contraction for a second time, while its shell keeps expanding, The core explodes in a carbon flash and carbon becomes the fuel for the next stage of thermonuclear reactions. At the end of every stage of nuclear burning. the star becomes a red giant. Not all stars go through all stages of thermonuclear reaction through more of these fusion stages. The onset of each stage of nuclear burning with a new fivel Only heavy stars survive at its core, sends the star zooming more rapidly towards the red giant stage. Each subsequent stage in the life of an evolving star is characterized by a lower energy output and therefore lasts for a shorter interval of time. This continues till iron is formed at the core. Properties specific to iron do not permit further fusion reactions. SSCCCSCHOSTTU TSO CHKCEV OO OwwUe ewe wi 34 electrons. When the total energy of the white dwarf, given by the algebraic sum of its gravitational potential energy and the energy of degenerate clectrons reaches a minimum, it attains equilibrium, For a white dwarf of mass M and radius R. it can be shown that RM" = constant In terms of solar mass, radius of white dwarf is given by , based on constant density model Moy! Rwo (in km) = 5769 (—°-)3, based on linear density model Chandrasekar mass limit By 1930, it was established that stars stop shining once they exhaust the fuel in their core, become red giants and eventually become white dwarfs. This however was found to be true only in the stars with mass comparable to that of the Sun. Indian Physicist, Subramanyam Chandrasekar worked out the upper mass limit for a white dwarf by invoking Einstein's special ity and quantum principles. He accurately predicted the maximum mass of a whitedwart as 1.44 solar mass, which is referred to as Chandrasekar Mass Limit. To date. all theory of rela the whitedwarfs discovered are less massive than 1.44 solar mass. Heavier stars will continue 10 crush under gravity and blast off their gaseous envelope. Theoretically however. their cores would reduce to point masses of infinite density. Supernova explosion All stars, irrespective of mass, lead similar lives upto the end of the red giant stage. The core of the star consists of carbon and oxygen, surrounded by a burning shell of helium. As more and more carbon accumulates at the core and it keeps contracting, in the absence of radiation pressure. But before the core can contract to a WD, its temperature reaches 600 million Kelvin, which supports nuclear fusion of carbon. This burning carbon core generates so much of heat that the outer envelope explodes in a cataclysmic event, ejecting stellar matter into space at enormous speeds of around 7000kms", This event is known as ‘Supernova explosion’ or merely the ‘Supernova’ or the ‘Exploding star’. Supernova expands into space much faster than a planetary nebula and is shorter lived. Stellar matter released into space during supernova forms the raw material needed for the formation of new stars. During the explosion, the core collapses violently and has a temperature of billions of Kelvin, It will be as massive as several suns put together. The violence of the core collapse under gravity is completely bypassed. If the debris of supernova contains devastating that the WD stage is matter equivalent to even one solar mass, the SN shines as brilliantly as a whole galaxy. Gamow suggested the formation of elements heavier than iron through neutron capture during supernova explosion, Ce EI 2 2 » ° 2 2 33 Radius of a neutron star A star approaching the stage of a neutron star has'a core temperature of nearly 10°K, Such a star would have gone through several cycles of thermonuclear fusion reactions at its core. With each such reaction, heavier elements keep forming at the core till iron is formed. Nuclear fusion comes to an end with the formation of iron core, since iron is known to have maximum binding energy per nucleon. Fusion of iron into heavier elements is endothermic and requires supply of energy which the star does not favor. Radius of a neutron star is found to vary inversely as the cube root of its mass. Ie RysMys' is a constant Asarule, more massive stars contract to neutron stars of smaller radii. Highly degenerate tree electrons combine with protons to form neutrons, represented by the equation e+ tp = dnt vo, where veis the electron neutrino Since the core of the star consists mainly of neutrons, it is referred to as a ‘neutron star’, The crushing effect of the radially inward gravitational force is balanced by the degeneracy pressure of the neutrons and the star becomes stable. Based on relativisitic quantum mechanics, the radius of a neutron star in terms of solar mass can be worked out to be Mass limit of a neutron star is not very well defined since the nature of forces between neutrons is not yet clearly studied and understood. On the basis of general theory of relativity. mass limit is estimated to be around 3 solar mi Blackhole Collapse of a star more massive than 5 to 10 solar mass gives rise to an exotic blackhole. The density of a blackhole is so high that the escape velocity at its surface exceeds that of light. Ie neither mass nor radiation can escape from the blackhole and hence the term ‘black’. Any material particle or photon will just disappear when it approaches a blackhole within a certain distance referred to as Schwarzchild radius. Any event taking place within this radius is referred to as ‘Event horizon’, Equating kinetic energy of a particle of mass *m’ moving with a speed “c* to its potential eneray at the surface of a blackhole of mass M and radius Rs, we get 1 GMm sme = 20m 2 Rs > 2 > 2» 2 2 33 Radius of a neutron star A star approaching the stage of @ neutron star has a core temperature of nearly 10°K. Such a star would have gone through several cycles of thermonuclear fusion reactions at its core. With each such reaction, heavier elements keep forming at the core till iron is formed. Nuclear fusion comes to an end with the formation of iron core, since iron is known to have maximum binding energy per nucleon. Fusion of iron into heavier elements is endothermic and requires supply of energy Which the star does not favor. Radius of a neutron star is found to vary inversely as the cube root of its mass. Te RysMys'"isa constant Asarule, more ma: ive stars contract to neutron stars of smaller radii, Highly degenerate free electrons combine with protons to form neutrons, represented by the equation -fe+ Ip = ant v¢, where vgis the electron neutrino Since the core of the star consists mainly of neutrons, itis referred to as a ‘neutron star’. The crushing effect of the radially inward gravitational force is balanced by the degeneracy pressure of the neutrons and the star becomes stable. Based on relativisitic quantum mechanics, the radius of a neutron star in terms of solar 1 be worked out to be 7 9.97098 (in km)~ Mass limit of a neutron star is not very well defined since the nature of forces betweep, neutrons is not yet clearly studied and understood. On the basis of general theory of relativity. mass limit is estimated to be around 3 solar mass Blackhole Collapse of a star more massive than $ to 10 solar mass gives rise to an exotic blackhole. The density of a blackhole is so high that the escape velocity at its surface exceeds that of light. le neither mass nor radiation can escape from the blackhole and hence the term ‘black’, Any material particle or photon will just dis distance referred to as Schwarzchild radius. Any event taking place within this radius is referred to as ‘Event horizon’. ippear when it approaches a blackhole within a certain Equating kinetic energy of a particle of mass *m” moving with a speed “c’ to its potential enerey at the surface of a blackhole of mass M and radius Rs, we get 1, GMm sme 2 Rs Mouitda Paddy 34 26M le Rs = —Z- is the Schwarzchild radius of the blackhole Gravitational field of a blackhole is so high that it keeps pulling all matter and radiation into it, It is like a void in space and therefore is referred to as a *hole’, although it is packed with matter and radiation to a near infinite density. {n terms of solar mass, Schwarzchild radius of'a black hole of mass M can be written as Rs = 2.98 ap (in km) C Although the minimum mass of a blackhole is around 4 solar mass, there is no known upper mass limit, Based on only mass, blackholes are in classified as stellar and supermassive blackholes. While stellar blackholes have mass upto around 10 solar mass, superma blackholes have mass ranging from a million to 10° solar mass. Supermassive blackholes exist at the centre of some galaxies called Active Galaetic Nuclei, A supermassive blackhole with a mass of a million suns has been discovered at the centre of Milkyway galaxy and is estimated to have an event horizon of around 10%km, which is about 2AU sive A blackhole is not visible through any telescope operating in any range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Einstein had predicted that a photon in motion behaves like a particle with mass and therefore will bend under its own gravity in the vicinity of a massive object like the blackhole. In other words, space-time around a blackhole gets warped. This prediction helps in identifying a blackhole. Because of its extremely strong gravitational field, a blackhole pulls matter from a companion star if it is a member of a binary system. Stellar matter pulled by the blackhole accumulates around it in the form of a disc called the accretion dise, The accreted matter in the ionic state emits strong beams of x-rays as they accelerate spirally towards the centre of the blackhole, A blackhole is thus identified by probing its neighborhood. X-rays emitted from Cygnus X ~ | are believed to be associated with a blackhole CCC CEEECHO EHC EHECTEEECEOHEEEE BES Poasanver 7 form an average mass star like the Sun. Enormous clouds of hydrogen along with dust particles exist in different parts of interstellar medium in a galaxy. Swaying shock waves with a gigantic span arising due to cosmic explosions like the supernovae accidentally initiates the condensation of the gas cloud. This cloud held tightly by its own gravity which is still not visible is known as a ‘protostar’. If gravity is the only force acting on a protostar, it would get crushed to a point There must be an outward force to balance gravity. Pressure associated with the gas molecules alone is insufficient to counterbalance gravity. Over millions of years. as the protostar keeps shrinking, its central region becomes denser. The core material becomes hotter as it resists the implosion of material from above it. Eventually the core temperature becomes high enough to initiate thermonuclear cycle of hydrogen fusion. This ignition sends a burst of high energy radiation radially outwards. This however expands the protostar so much that associated cooling stops the generation of energy due to fusion. Again the protostar material starts contracting till the fusion cycle starts all over again. The gas molecules pick up enormous speeds and raise the core temperature to around $0,000K. At this high temperature, the gas molecules bombard with ch other so violently that they are stripped of their electrons. A ter several cycles of altemating contraction and expansion spanning several thousand years, the core temperature reaches. 15 million Kelvin and hydrogen fusion finally becomes self sustaining. The protostar becomes a self luminous celestial object and the star is born. The time scale from the protostar to the normal star depends on the initial mass of the contracting cloud. A star of higher mass has a lower time scale Once born, a star's life is a continual struggle to stabilize itself against gravitational collapse by radiating energy Pre main sequence stage Once born. the star attempts to attain a critical state of hydrostatic equilibrium between its outward radiation pressure and inward gravitational pull. Duting this attempt, the star is forced through a phase of irregular changes in its luminosity. At this stage. the star is known as *P Yauri variable star’ Main sequence stage oe Onee, the energy generation rate balances the star's luminosity. a thermal equilibrium is set up throughout the star. This results in a temperature gradient that enables the outward flow of energy. Then the rate of decrease of temperature with respect to radial distance becomes a constant. In the sun for example. this temperature gradient is about ().021K per meter. Once the star establishes perfect hydrostatic equilibrium between radiation pressure and gravity and also thermal equilibrium between the energy generated at the core due to fusion and the total energy radiated from its surface, it is identified as a ‘main sequence star’ or a ‘normal star’, Ail normal stars can be located in the main sequence band of the HR diagram. Energy source of stars The sun and other main sequence stars have been radiating enormous amounts of energy which have remained almost constant over long periods of time. In 1920, Arthur Fddington put forth the idea of atomic energy as the source powering all stars. With advancements in nuclear physics, it was initially felt that nuclear fission could be the source of eneruy of stars. Spectral analysis of star light however revealed that heavy elements were not available in abundance in stars but that most main seguence stars are composed of 90% hydrogen. 9% helium, the CCC SOCECECKEHEUHHHHKCKEHEHTHKEKEKEKCEKHKEKKEKEEECS 28 remaining 1% accounting for the remaining elements. It is now believed that thermonuclear fusion of lighter nuclides into heavier ones is the source of energy of stars, as the conditions required for such reactions are naturally present in the interior of a star. The actual type of fusion reaction depends on the mass of the star at birth. In lighter stars with core temperatures less than 10 million kelvin, the suggested fusion reaction is the proton-proton eycle or the p-p eyele. Four hydrogen nuclei, ie protons, fuse into a helium nucleus releasing 2 positrons and 2 electron neutrinos in accordance with the equation Ap > Hey + 2B" + We Greco) Q represents the amount of energy released during the fusion reaction. Q has to be staggeringly large to support the incessant glow of a star throughout its life in the main sequence. According to Einstein’s mass-energy equivalence, whenever an amount of mass *M’ is missing during a reaction, its equivalent energy E = Mc” is released. Here, ‘c’ is the speed of electromagnetic waves in vacuum, Energy released during the conversion of 1g of matter can lift a weight of 7 million tons from the earth's surface to a height of I mile above it Taking proton mass = 1.00782Samu, mass of helium nucleus = 4.002603amu and electron mass 0.000549amu, we get from eq.(1), total mass of reactants = 4x1.007825 = 4.031300amu and total mass of products = 4.002603 + 2x0.000549 = 4.003701amu. Loss of mass during the fusion reaction = M = 0.027599amu Energy release during the reaction = Q = 0.027599x931MeV = 25.69MeV The sun converts 364 million tons of hydrogen every second into 560 million tons of helium, The difference of 4 million tons is converted into energy of around 4x 10°. In other words, solar juminosity is 4x10°°W. This way the sun loses about 10” of its mass over a million years 1938. Wizacker and Hans Bothe suggested an alternative thermonuclear reaction for the usion of hydrogen to helium with carbon and nitrogen as catalysts. This reaction is referred to as carbon-nitrogen cycle or CN cycle or CNO cycle and is estimated to take place at core temperatures greater than 20 million Kelvin. The energy released is the same as during a p-p cycle. Carbon, nitrogen and oxygen are replenished at the end of each cycle of fusion reaction. pp cycle is the source of energy in lower main sequence stars and the CN cycle in the upper ‘main sequence stars. In the middle aged sun, the p-p and CNO cycles should be taking place with equal probability. When the p-p and CNO cycles exhaust the hydrogen fuel at the core of a stat, gravitational contraction supplies the energy needed to keep the star glowing. This contraction continues till the core density reaches around 10%kgm” and the corresponding core temperature is around 100 million Kelvin. Salpeter suggested that at this high temperature fusion of 3helium nuclei ie 3 alpha particles to a carbon nucleus is possible through the treple alpha or 3a process represented by 3Hey —» C12 + 7.3MeV. This reaction is now believed to occur at the red giant stage of a medium mass main sequence star, In supermassive stars where the core temperatures reach 10° to 10'°K, a wide variety of thermonuclear fusion reactions take place till a stellar core of iron is formed. These stars then GUVUVECY » 2 2 2 i) » » » » » » > > > » ie » » 2 = > » 29 explode as supernovae, leaving behind superdense remnants such as pulsars (neutron stars) o1 blackhole. Evolution of a star Red Giant stage Once hydrogen in the core of the star depletes below a critical fraction, the star resumes its virial tion pressure. This compels the helium core to shrink and causes a rise in its temperature and hence pressure, The hot core ignites the hydrogen shell of the star. The burning envelope keeps expanding slowly and the star moves away from the main sequence band for the first time. The star moves upwards to the right of the main sequence band. With mounting temperature at the core, the shell loses its ability to absorb all of the energy poured out, The shell almost becomes transparent to radiant energy and most of the energy manages to reach the outer layers of the star. This raises the luminosity of the star by a factor of several hundred, but its temperature would have fallen to a mere 3000 ~ 400K. Bloated in size, the star now looks like a giant, glowing with a typical red color. This stage in the evolution of a star is known as the Red Giant stage. contraction in the absence of rad Helium flash When the contracting helium core attains the critical temperature of a hundred million Kelvin. nuclear fusion of helium is initiated via the 3-alpha process. Carbon and oxygen are churned out The core of burning helium is surrounded by a shell of burning hydrogen and a highly tenuous outer shell of non-bumning hydrogen. Even in low-mass stars, the core density is very high during this stage. The energy generated is large enough to engulf the entire core. As a result, the core explodes aggressively within a few seconds. This event in the life of a star is referred to as Helium flash. With this, the star cools along with its shell, Its radius decreases and its lumin drops. In the HR diagram, the plot of the star moves back towards the main sequence band. Carbon flash Helium fusion results in a carbon core. Once the availability of helium reduces below a minimum, the core’ resumes its virial contraction for a second time, while its shell keeps expanding. The core explodes in a carbon flash and carbon becomes the fuel for the next stage of thermonuclear reactions. At the end of every stage of nuclear burning. the star becomes a red giant. Not all stars go through all stages of thermonuclear revetions. Only heavy stars survive through more of these fusion stages. The onset of each stage of nuclear burning with a new fuel at its core, sends the star zooming more rapidly towards the red giant stage. Each subsequent stage in the life of an evolving star is characterized by a lower energy output and therefore lasts for a shorter interval of time. This continues till iron is formed at the core. Properties specific to iron do not permit further fu ion reactions. weeeeeeuveeeueueveeuvuveueveueuewueeweueuvueveweve 30 Planetary nebula and White Dwarf Generally, in a star of mass comparable to the Sun, the core temperature does not rise beyond carbon burning stage. The temperature of the contracting core rises to a whopping 10°kgm™ Heat generated during contraction causes the star’s envelope to balloon out gradually and cool. The severely contracted core of helium or carbon, as the case may be, is called a White Dwarf. It is called ‘white’ because of its whitish appearance and ‘dwarf because of its severely contracted size, The star’s plot in the HR diagram, called the Hayashi traek, crosses the main sequence band and reaches the bottom left hand comer. A white dwarf radiates typically in the UV and illuminates the expanding shell surrounding it. This brilliantly colored, highly distended shell is referred to as the ‘Planetary Nebula’, With ageing, a white dwarf cools to yellow, to red and eventually black, by slowly radiating away its thermal energy Discovery of the first White Dwarf The first white dwarf to be detected is the companion of Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky in the constellation of Canis Major. In 1844, F.W.Bessel at Konigsberg noticed the wobbly back and forth motion of Sirius. This led him to conclude that Sirius had a gravitationally bound tial body as a binary companion, tugging at it, The original star was named Sirius A and the unseen companion as Sirius B. By 1844, mass of Sirius B was estimated to be around that of the Sun, Since Sirius B is 10,000 times fainter than the Sun, it could not be detected directly. It was first observed by Alvan Clark on a May, 1862. In 1925, American astronomer, Walter Adams identified Sirius B as a Whitedwarf. Its temperature is estimated to be around 27,000K, distance as 8.7LY, radius as 0.01 solar radius and density as 2.8x10°kgm’’. These characteristics are typical of a whitedwarf. Nearly 3% of all the stars in the milkyway galaxy are white dwarfs. White dwarf is the end stage of a dying star that has exhausted the fuel for nuclear reaction at its core. At the high temperatures that exist inside a white dwarf, the electrons are ripped away from their parent nuclei. The white dwarf exists as two merging seas of helium nuclei and electrons, generally referred to as ‘electron gas’ or ‘Fermi gas’. Since all the lower quantum states are occupied, this gas is invariably degenerate, to which the ordinary gas laws are not applicable. The electrons keep occupying higher energy levels. As the virial contraction continues, the electrons are squeezed closer together and their momentum and hence energy keeps increasing in accordance with Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. Theoretically, in the absence of radiation pressure, a white dwarf is expected to continue contracting, with its interior getting progressively hotter, till it gets crushed to a geometrical point. But all white dwarfs discovered are found to have a non-zero radius. In 1926, Fowler, an English astrophysicist suggested that the degeneracy pressure of the electrons prevent the gravitational collapse of a white dwarf and makes it stable. A decrease in the potential energy of the collapsing white dwarf is counterbalanced by an increase in the energy of degenerate aooeoeem@ee@eGeeeoeseeeeseeoeeseeeeoeoeseeee eae’ COCCS SECS ETT HTHC COCKE HOHE OTHE EEE oi 31 electrons. When the total energy of the white dwarf, given by the algebraic sum of its gravitational potential energy and the energy of degenerate clectrons reaches a minimum, it attains equilibrium. For a white dwarf of mass M and radius R, it can be shown that RM'®= constant In terms of solar mass, radius of white dwarf is given by 1 3, based on constant density model mM, 7185 (5,2 wo Most Rwo (in kim) = $769 (5-23, based on linear density model wo Chandrasekar mass limit By 1930, it was established that stars stop shining once they exhaust the fuel in their core. become red giants and eventually become white dwarfs. This however was found to be true only in the stars with mass comparable to that of the Sun, indian Physicist, Subramanyam Chandrasekar worked out the upper mass limit for a white dwarf by invoking Einstein's special theory of relativity and quantum principles. He accurately predicted the maximum mass of a whieh is referred to as Chandrasekar Mass Limit. ‘To date, all n 1.44 solar mass, He: ir gaseous envelope. Theoretically however, their cores. whitedwart as 1.44 solar mass, the whitedwarfs discovered are less massive crush under gravity and blast off «hy would reduce to point masses of infinite density. vier stars will continue to Supernova explosion All stars, irrespective of mass, lead similar lives upto the end of the red giant stage. The core of the star consists of carbon and oxygen, surrounded by a burning shell of helium. As more and more carbon accumulates at the core and it keeps contracting, in the absence of radiation pressure. But before the core can contract to a WD, its temperature reaches 600 million Kelvin, which supports nuclear fusion of carbon. This burning carbon core generates so much of heat that the outer envelope explodes in a cataclysmic event, ejecting stellar matter into space at enormous speeds of around 7000kms"'. This event is known as ‘Supernova explosion’ or merely the ‘Supernova’ or the ‘Exploding star’. Supernova expands into space much faster than a planetary nebula and is shorter lived. Stellar matter released into space during supernova forms the raw material needed for the formation of new stars. During the explosion. the core collapses violently and has a temperature of billions of Kelvin. It will be as massive as several suns put together. The violence of the core collapse under gravity is so devastating that the WD stage is completely bypassed. If the debris of supernova contains matter equivalent to even one solar mass. the SN shines as brilliantly as a whole galaxy. Gamow suggested the formation of elements heavier than iron through neutron capture during supernova explosion: TCCCCCCHCH CEES OUCH CHC EHH HEE eEe 32 overy of first Supernova explosion The first supernova was detected and recorded by the Chinese astronomers in 10S4AD. It was sighted as a brilliant new star in the sky on 4" July. It was so bright that it was visible even during the daytime for nearly four weeks. It continued to be visible in the night sky for another two years before it finally disappeared. It was aptly called a ‘Guest Star’, In 1928, renowned American astronomer Hubble identified the famous Crab nebula, a gaseous stellar cloud in the Taurus constellation, as the remnant of 1054 supernova explosion. Crab nebula is around 3500LY away and currently has a linear diameter of 6LY. Its radius is increasing at the rate of 60million miles a day. In November, 1572, a supernova was recorded by Tycho Brahe in the constellation of Cassiopeia, It was as bright as Venus and it gradually disappeared in 1574 Di covery of neutron stars In 1939, Landau and Oppenheimer theoretically worked out the manufacture of a neutron star during SN explosion. In 1967, these extremely puzzling celestial objects were accidentally discovered by a student of astronomy, Jocelyn Bell working at Cambridge University under the guidance of Anthony Hewish, She was scanning the night sky to record the strength of radiation received from distant stars. She happened to receive bursts of radiation from a particular point in the sky at extraordinarily precise intervals of time. Initially, they were suspected to be messages from extraterrestrials and were therefore referred to as LGM. meaning Little Green Men. Subsequently, morg and more such pulses of radiation of different intensity and periodicity were discovertd at different points in the sky. These were later identified as ‘rotating stars’ or ‘pulsars’ ie stars spinning at a very rapid rate and radiating intense pulses of energy from localized points on their surfacg, These pulsars actually behave like cosmic lighthouses. By measuring the period of these pulses, astronomers were able to estimate the radius of a pulsar to be no more than 10 to 20km, but around a billion times denser than a WD (10!7kgm’). Magnetic field associated with a pulsar is of the order of 10°T, As the pulsar spins rapidly, it drags the magnetic field along. Charged particles captured by the magnetic flux produce the intense radiation. Astronomers later testified that pulsars are nothing but the remnants of SN explosion, In 1968, Gold established that pulsars are the same as neutron stars, Even today, the expanding shell of the first SN explosion of 10S4AD is seen as the Crab nebula. At the centre of this nebula, there is a pulsar rotating with a period of 0,033 second. The nebula itself is still expanding with a velocity close 10 1500kms", Several other pulsars with varying periods and radiating at different wavelengths spanning the entire electromagnetic spectrum have been discovered 2 » 2 ® 2 » 33 Radius of a neutron star A star approaching the stage of a neutron star has a core temperature of nearly 10°K. Such a star would have gone through several cycles of thermonuclear fusion reactions at its core. With each such reaction, heavier elements keep forming at the core till iron is formed. Nuclear fusion comes to an end with the formation of iron core, since iron is known to have maximum binding energy per nucleon. Fusion of iron into heavier elements is endothermic and requires supply of energy which the star does not favor. Radius of a neutron star is found to vary inversely as the cube root o' mass. Ie RysMys""is a constant As a rule, more massive stars contract to neutron stars of smaller tadii. Highly degenerate free electrons combine with protons to form neutrons, represented by the equation fe + tp = gn+ ve, where veis the electron neutrino Since the core of the star consists mainly of neutrons, it is referred to as a ‘neutron star’. The crushing effect of the radially inward gravitational force is balanced by the degeneracy pr table sssure of the neutrons and the star becomes Based on relativisitic quantum mechanics, the radius of a neutron star in terms of solar mas be worked out to be can Mass limit of a neutron star is not very well defined since the nature of forces between neutrons is not yet clearly studied and understood. On the basis of general theory of relativity, mass limit is estimated to be around 3 solar mass. Blackhole Collapse of a star more massive than 5 to 10 solar mass gives rise to an exotic blackhole. The density of a blackhole is so high that the escape velocity at its surface exceeds that of light. Ie neither mass nor radiation can escape from the blackhole and hence the term ‘black’. Any material particle or photon will just disappear when it approaches a blackhole within a certain distance referred to as Schwarzchild radius, Any event taking place within this radius is referred to as ‘Event horizon’, Equating kinetic energy of a particle of mass *m’ moving with a speed *c° to its potential energy at the surface of a blackhole of mass M and radius Rs, we get 1 GMm - 2m ze RS 2 » ® o 2 » 33 Radius of a neutron star A star approaching the stage of @ neutron star has a core temperature of nearly 10°K. Such a star would have gone through several cycles of thermonuclear fusion reactions at its core. With each such reaction, heavier elements keep forming at the core till iron is formed. Nuclear fusion comes to an end with the formation of iron core, since iron is known to have maximum binding energy per nucleon, Fusion of iron into heavier elements is endothermic and requires supply of energy which the star does not favor. Radius of a neutron star is found to vary inversely as the cube root of its mass. Ie RysMys'is a constant As a rule, more massive stars contract to neutron stars of smaller radii, Highly degenerate free electrons combine with protons to form neutrons, represented by the equation fe + tp = dnt Ve, where vpis the electron neutrino a ‘neutron star’, The acy pressure Since the core of the star consists mainly of neutrons, it is referred to a crushing effect of the radially inward gravitational force is balanced by the dege of the neutrons and the star becomes stable. Based on relativisitic quantum mechanics, the radius of a neutron star in terms of solar mass can be worked out to be Mos! - Rus = 9-922)" (in km) Mass limit of a neutron star is not very well defined since the nature of forces betweep, neutrons is not yet clearly studied and understood. On the basis of general theory of relativity. mass fi is estimated to be around 3 solar mass, Blackhole Collapse of a star more massive than $ to 10 solar mass gives rise to an exotic blackhole. The density of a blackhole is so high that the escape velocity at its surface exceeds that of light. Ie neither mass nor radiation can escape from the blackhole and hence the term ‘black’. Any material particle or photon will just disappear when it approaches a blackhole within a certain distance referred to as Schwarzehild radius. Any event taking place within this radius is referred to as ‘Event horizon’. Equating kinetic energy of a particle of mass *m” moving with a speed “e* to its potential energy at the surface of a blackhole of mass M and radius Rs, we get 1 GMm = 2 2 RS Mouilda Peds 34 6. Te Rs = “Gis the Schwarzchild radius of the blackhole Gravitational field of « blackhole is so high that it keeps pulling all matter and radiation into it. It is like a void in space and therefore is referred to as a ‘hol and radiation to a near infinite density. . although it is packed with matter In terms of solar mass, Schwarzchild radius of'a black hole of mass M can be written as Rs = 2.95 (EY) (in km) ¥, Although the minimum mass of a blackhole is around 4 solar mass, there is no known upper mass limit, Based on only mass, blackholes are in classified as stellar and superm: ve blackholes. While stellar blackholes have mass upto around 10 solar mass, supermassive blackholes have mass ranging ftom a million to 10° solar mass. Supermassive blackholes exist at A supermassive blackhole with a mass of a million suns has been discovered at the centre of Milkyway galaxy and is estimated to have an event horizon of around 10%km, which is about 2AU. the centre of some galaxies called Active Galactic Nucl A blackhole is not visible through any telescope operating in any range of the electromagnetic spectrum, stein had predicted that a photon in motion behaves like a particle with mass and therefore will bend under its own gravity in the vicinity of a massive object like the blackhole. In other words, space-time around a blackhole gets warped. This prediction helps in identifying a blackhole. Because of its extremely strong gravitational field, a blackhole pulls matter from a companion star if it is a member of a binary system. Stellar matter pulled by the blackhole accumulates around it in the form of a disc called the aceretion disc. The accreted matter in the ionic state emits strong beams of x-rays as they accelerate spirally towards the centre of the blackhole, A blackhole is thus identified by probing its neighborhood. X-rays emitted from Cygnus X ~ | are believed to be associated with a blackhole. < . : ce ae - boy + [=)_59 = Ww Tet ah) C— rae =i (pore +i) + rea) Ve ce Sa oes —w Griyn ak (6 oa ea “4 CA oa rele =" onde spe i S anne FD Ss ae oF > eT ee se(ol)* oe Ag = - ‘sacundol Jo 7 hi ae Ll nca Cfveevegin ved = se og Pray — ssoupybing aon StY = Gru dv VA eel =anaiben de at x 184 Us6r Sag (A. GO el SABC gy e 5 A POT E4IM plxZ=y le ee a ee “21 8 wd 79 Sve oe Fis nan) mb 2 APES = 24| w, gl XIhb =A) prea v2 spo = ems ky shen Mone igre (| 7 woReulawod Lunsegey i [4s2t sews Yabo se ™ ; 96-aHOTVONVE, Als : f 00 SWAIN Lox sy Ww (gnowonoinv) 39477 oh 1D YSYY eee Alisha Cute we “SOT NIVAS COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS) G [¥ BANGALORE - 95 QRERN0.: |OBPMCO4AA swriecr: Test | cass : Astronenty \. 6 Combination > PMC JAWS 1S x1 } Luminose = radk D) eee hae LY= 1.46 x 10"%m by BGler bn beceonel = S12 Apparent brghtauss — (“the brigk a i . ff 7 Me = 2x 10%, ie ers, te be Cron Eyty” it. BOE iv Ge nkere oe | Ro =7xIn the Bors 25 Surface 4 luninasityss x10" uy) be Le ness, 6p brig = 1B a Far i hes = 7 Abeohite beightaeas — 24 ae luminesity pen iPaned! a ol wie es (0 parses Sine la )A Iida bl We i eee ‘ Mo ec- 2, ‘ Pog aoe lige $le9 B ; a= +25 ley 8) 2S bap A Figo nel it MMI Si Be, 5 m—M= 2B se, US ts Be :) bn Trea, -H= 2. (bles To ~ ‘eft )— Alogt~ box bed) 0) a= OD (~ Clog 4-4. 2 log 10.) + (logttr+Aleqd )) ae ee 3) fie ace Arle P eee eae, o8 me NE paces eG RIE dy . A990 ly x 16x Fm by cad), oa 6. b= 405880 [stegeo st Dea) Zeer s cent lyon. BLY Wye %%xj0'%m ‘ Isénayear Cd stoe ight Prec en ny eo iekae,) 1 Slope x Ade Fe = 4.05684 )/o%,, pe sttrsn fm Shacl deol an preats consul” 1) pemep” Cees ty baw) Le gmk? 1! (Steton- Beltzmnn hae) UNIT 1, PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF STARS: Review of electromagnetic spectrum, Transmission of EM radiation through earth’s atmosphere. Absolute luminosity, apparent brightness, apparent magnitude scale of Hipparchus, distinction between visual and bolometric magnitudes, absolute magnitude, distance- modulus relation. Stellar parallax and units of stellar distances. Definitions of arcsec and parsec and the relation between them. Definitions of astronomical unit and light year. Relation between them and parsec. Wien’s displacement law and surface temperature of a star. Stefan — Bolzmann law and radius of a star. Variation of density of a star with radial distance in constant density and linear density models with graphical representation. Derivation of equation of hydrostatic equilibrium of a star and its average and core pressure. Mention of core temperature, surface temperature, average temperature of a star. Binary stars. Stellar mass. Density and surface gravity of stars (qualitative). Physical properties of the Sun. Solar constant and its determination, Problems. Shrs 2, OPTICAL INSTRUMENTATION; History of telescope as an astronomical tool & general principles of its working, reflecting and refracting telescopes, comparison of their working with ray diagrams, Resolving power, magnifying power and light gathering powers of a telescope (qualitative) hrs 3. HR DIAGRAM: Different methods of plotting HR diagram. Main sequence stars and their general characteristics 2 hes UNIT It 4, OBSERVATIONAL ASTRONOMY: Ecliptic, Celestial sphere, celestial poles & equator, Zenith & celestial meridian, hour circles, Equatorial coordinate system, Declination, vernal & autumnal equinox. Sidereal time, star time, Right Ascension. Horizontal coordinate system, azimuth & altitude, hrs 5. SPECTRAL CLASSIFICATION & CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF STARS: Edward Charles Pickering classification, Harvard sequence & Yerke’s luminosity classification. Spectral signature of elements in stellar atmosphere. Random walk of photons. Derivation of expression for photon diffusion time, Mass-luminosity relation & expression for lifetime of a star. Problems. thes 6. SELF ENERGY OF A STAR: Statement and explanation of Virial theorem. Expression for gravitational self-energy of a star based on constant density model, Gravitational contraction lifetime of Sun. Problems. 3hrs 7. EVOLUTION OF A STAR: Birth of a star. Source of stellar energy. White dwarf stage through red giant stage. Location of white dwarf & red giant in HR diagram, Chandrasekar's mass limit, Supernova explosion, Formation of pulsar & blackhole (qualitative) with mention of typically required temperatures & densities. Event horizon, singularity & Schwarzchild radius. Problems. 4hrs taownaily (Uap shan in Hla ale ob Bik ccyy ae 4 Jadinked by ob Db i Anton incd SaErNTEMMTEETETe, « star is defined as the rate at which radiant energy from the star is fe SEN i is measured in units of Win. Apparent brightness indicates how bright a star appears for an observer on earth, At the same distance, a more luminous star appears brighter than a less luminous one. AS we move away from a star, it appears less bright. So the apparent brightness of a star observer. It is experimentally established that apparent brightness of a star is directly Proportional to its luminosity and inversely proportional to the square of its distance from the observer, referred to as Inverse square law Ieb «= sorb=@ constant) <5. Experimentally, the constant of proportionality = —— «a (a roregl rights ae ‘opm la But, 4rd? is the surface area of a sphere of radius’d’, the distance between the star dnd the earth, (2) With Lo = 3.8x10W & do = 1AU = average carth-Sun distance = 1.5x10!'m, bo = 1354Wim”... Apparent brightness of the Sun is known as solar constant. From eq(1) & (2), apparent brightness of a star can be expressed in terms of solar brightness as “Hipparchus, @ Greek philosopher of 2"™ century BC; First proposed the apparent magnitude scale as a measure of apparent brightness of stars. Based on naked eye observation, he found that the brightest stars were a hundred times as bright as the dit Based on naked eye and telescopic observations, Hipparchus assigned an apparent visual magnitude (m) of 1 to the brightest stars and classified the dimmest stars as 6" magnitude stars. The other stars were assigned ‘m’ values between | and 6. It was also noticed that two stars belonging to two adjacent magnitudes had the same brightness ratio. If by, bz, bs .......... et. are the apparent brightness of stars of 1, 2", 3°¢ etc. apparent magnitudes, then .. @ constant, say A === 44 deeddddbivwueVnet © VY UV OUWEEEDY Substituting for ‘b” from eq(1), m=C~25 og. = 0-25 fog L +25 log4m+5logd ‘4nd? 8 8 Apparent magnitude ‘m’ of a star is a function of its luminosity ‘L’ and its distanced? Substituting C 19 and be = 1354Wm" in e9.(3), apparent magnitude of Sun as mo = - 26,83 indicator ofits distance, since a dim star closer to the earth looks brighter than a brighter star that is farther away. Color index of stars ion of a star. U, B and V are bandpass filters in the ultraviolet (U), blue or photographic (B) and visual or green-yellow (¥) regions centered around 35004, 43004 and 5500A respectively. UBV scale is So defined that for an AQV star, U=B=V or (U-B)=(B-V)=0. cvvveveessssodov/dUWWWIwTT Ou follows: * Teck) 12,000 4000 6000 3000 and V filters is +0.62and the corresponding brightne: 8s ration ie 5% = 1.77. This corresponds to a surface temperature of 6000K, Distance in astronomy is measured in units that are very large compared to meter. Meait/€aHi0” )is takes as standard for distances of nearby celestial Parallax is measured as half the apparent angular shift in its position as observed from the earth in two different positions that are 6 months apart. Enemis oe8it ‘p’ — parallax of a nearby star at a distance ‘d’ from the earth (or Sun)’ From the figure, d coal ord ; Te the distance of a star from the Sun is inversely proportional to its parallax. Stellar parallax is measured in units of arcsec, the short form for are second. Distance of a star which has a parallax of 1 arcsec is said to be at a distance of Iparsec. From the figure, 1AU =d (in parsec) x p (in arcsec) 1aU 1AU Laresec Ipe= G0" Go* ra888 Ipe= 206265AU = d has a parallax of 0.763”. Stars in the sky are at different distances from the earth, although they appear ~“SHIBEMaET on the inside of a sphere called the Celestial Sphere. paiement a CSS SESE bE EESHUWIO IEEE KLUGE 1 ‘We have apparent magnitude of a star of apparent brightness ‘b’ as m= C ~ 2.5 log b, L where b = = where ‘d’ is its actual distance from the earth am=C-25log—— @ and? The star’s absolute magnitude in terms of its absolute brightness ‘B” is M = C 2.5 log B + where D = 10pe ie B = —! 4nD? 4m(10)? tuting Me L Substituting, M = C- 2.5 log Sao on .. () L Subtracting eq.(5) from eq.(4), we get (m ~M) = 2.5 log "52.5 log == ap O |(G=M), the difference between the apparent and absolute magnitudes of a staris known as the ‘Distance Modulus’ of the star. Simplifying e4,(6), we get distance modulus Of a star (@=IM)=S log @=S sss... (7) Ord = 1002 Gm-M+5) (8) gives the distance of a star in parsec It is the distance'd” of a star that determines the relation between its apparent and absolute magnitudes. Tn practice, apparent magnitude is measured using a light-meter atlached to the viewing telescope and the absolute magnitude is measured using a bolometer. A star radiates similar to_a blackbody spanning the entire range of electromagnetic spectrum. Bolometric) ‘absolute magnitudes if it is at a distance of 10pe from the earth. (ji) when d > 10pe, m > M. Stars farther than 10pe appear dimmer than they actually are. (iii) when d < 10pe, m [From the graph it is clear that for hotter stars the wavelength peak moves from the cooler red region to the hotter blue end of the visible spectrum,| Size of a star Although the stars in the sky appear to be point sources of light, they actually are of different sizes ie radii. From Stefan-Boltzmann law, power radiated by unit surface area of a star is directly proportional to the 4" power of its absolute temperature. For a star of radius R, Propo: p L ae luminosity L and surface temperature T., power radiated per unit surface area is L L stati =o" 4nR? @ OF 4mR? is Boltzmann constant Te, where o = 5.67x10°Wm7K° L= 40k oT POORER TIEL TELE TLEeeeee 10 Thus the luminosity of a star depends on its radius and effective temperature, In other words, " 7 eran larger stars are more luminous than smaller ones. Hot stars are more luminous than cooler ones. Variation of stellar density with radial depth A Star is born due to gravitational contraction of an initially enormous, highly distended cloud of gas and dust particles. During contraction, the entire stellar matter speeds towards a’common— center tila stable star is formed. This star will have maximum density and temperature at its core. Density decreases from the core to the surface temperature of the star. There are a few models which define the manner in which stellar density varies with radial distance. 1. Constant density model: This is a very approximate model which is used only for the purpose of mathematical deductions. In this model, it is assumed that the entire star has the same constant density everywhere, irrespective of radial distance. If ‘R’ is the radius of a star of mass Mam 'M’, then its constant density p = Sea ae? 2. Linear density model: Here Tt is assumed that the density decreases linearly with radial distance. If pe is the central density of a star of radius ‘R’ and p, is the density at a radial ns f 2 radial istance ‘r’, then p, = pe(1— 5). This model is an approximation of the true variation of density with radial distance, which is shown in the graph below: —r adil vat: Ton den Couband eae adel inser devil soda — > BS f= 2 ~ > » 2 =) 2 9 2 2 3 3 uu Masses of stars ‘ounterbalance the Star bums its fuel at a much slower rate and hence Binary stars Majority of stars in the sky are not single entities but comprise of two or more stars revolving around a common center of mass. Such stars are said to form a ‘binary system’, The stars in this Sstemare gravitationally bound to each other. Binary components need sot be of the same mass range (The The autesive stat controls the movement ofthe smaller star and determines its rate of revolution) The smaller star has to revolve at a faster rate in ordef to avoid being drawn into the more massive companion, By determini tiod of revolution of the smaller star it is Possible to estimate the mass of the massive star. The double stars are classified as visual binaries and spectroscopic binaries. [Visual binaries are closer to the earth and can be easily reSolved into two separate point light Source: generally of low intensity and are of comparable mass, For example, Sirius A, am: Star of around 2 solar mass and Sirius B, a white dwarf of nearly 1 solar mass form a visual binary. Period, shape and size of each visual binary component star cay be determined by direct observation. For example, if M; and My are the masses of the two component stars of a binary with a distance ‘a’ between them and if ‘P’ is their common period of rotation, then from Kepler's third law we have, estimated, {fai and a are the distances of the stars from their common center of mass, tg = sn) Since ai + a2= a, masses of the individual stars can be estimated, Spectroscopic binaries are too far away from the earth to be resolved, They are generally of high luminosity. They are identified as binaries Wom their spectra which reveal periodic Doppler shifts, both towards the red and blue end, as the stars recede and approach the earth during their orbital motion. The magnitude and direction of Doppler shift helps in determining the velocity of {he stars along the line of sight. With this, the period and radius of stellon orbits can be estimated From this the total mass of the two stars can be 3 s 3 > > 2 a a a a a a a a ne 2 ‘The Sun Sun is a medium mass star around which the eight planets revolve. Physical parameters of the sun are: Mass = 2x10"'kg, radius = 7x10°m, luminosity = 4x10"°W, brightness = 1354Wm, surface temperature = 5800K, apparent bolometric magnitude = -26.85, absolute magnitude = 4.7, spectral and luminosity classification of Sun: G2V. Diameter of the sun is 109 times that of the earth. Solar volume is 1.3million times that of the earth. Solar surface gravity is 34 times that of the earth. Mean density of sun is 1.4 times that of water. Mass of the sun is about 330 thousand times that of the earth, The sun rotates about its axis with an average period of 30 days. Equatorial region of the sun rotates with a period of 25 days and it gradually increases to 36 days at the polar region, This differential rotation of the sun indicates its gaseous nature, The visible part of the sun is referred to as the solar disk. The solar atmosphere is broadly classified into the photosphere, the chromosphere and the corona. “Shromosphere 8 fetal Photosphere is the visible surface of the sun and its,pusermost layer copstitutes the edge of the “sun’s disk a5-Seen in white light. Average density SESE oes is less than that of earth's atmosphere at sea level. Temperature varies from around 6000K at the base to around 4300K at the outer boundary. The in the cooler outer layers are responsible for the fer absorption lines in the solar spectrum, This Feafre is common ’to all stellar spectra._ High resolution telescopic views of the outer layis reveal a honeycomb granular structure which keeps changing continuously. Chromosphere envelops the photospheric atmosphere. Density of chromospheric gases is less -tfian that of the photosphere. Chromosphere is characterized By_orangis cloud spikes of hydrogen called solar prominenees, Sometimes they rise to a height of around a million ete bree hours and fall back on the sun along parabolic arches. These events are known as eruptive prominenegs. Temperature of the chromospheres is about 100,000K. Spectrum of the chromospheres therefore consists of bright emission lines. The first Balmer Tine of wavelength 656.3nm gives the chromosphere its characteristic red color. It is possible to obtain the spectrum of the chromospheres, known as flash spectrum and see the prominences only during total solat eclipse. Corona js the outer most region of the solar atmosphere. Intensity of coronal light is less than “That of full moon and hence the corona is visible as a peaily gray halo only during a total solar eclipse. It also shows streamers along the lines of solar magnetic field. Shape of the corona depends on the number of sunspots which 11 year period, Corona appears nearly circular at sunspot maximum and is elongated with prominent streamers at sunspot minimum. Visible par (oF corona extends to several million kilometers beyond the chromospheres. Temperature of the $ Temperature of the _ corona gradually increases with distance and reaches as high as 2 million Kelvin. we USGS UH KO KSUBOHSHHUUHOHKHHHUOU SUCHET VUeEseweeonse (Beyona corona lies the solar 2B It consists of streams of high energy particles like electrons ‘and protons. It engulfs all the planets and creeps into interplanetary medium. 7] Sunspots are small dark regions on the solar photosphere and can be seen in any projected image of the sun. They appear dark since they are cooler (4500K) than their surroundings (6000K) and are only 32% as bright as the rest of the photosphere. Sizes of sunspots range from a few thousand kilometers to a few hundred thousand kilometers. A sunspot consists of two regions: central dark region called the umbra and the dimmer outer region called the penumbra. Generally they appear with opposite magnetic polarity on either side of the solar equator in the latitude range of 30°N and 30°S, The number of observed sunspots shows a periodicity of 11 years. The sun is said to be active at sunspot maximum and quiet at sunspot minimum. Sunspots are regions of high magnetic intensity of several thousand gauss and last from a few weeks to a few months. Solar flares are sudden increase in the brightness of areas near sunspots and between sunspot groups. They last from a few minutes to several hours. They are often accompanied by eruptive prominences. They are brightest when they explode. They eject highly intense x-rays and particles as energetic as 10'eV. The x-rays released bombard the earth’s atmosphere and cause disturbance in the ionospheric layer which is responsible for radio transmission. This leads to the familiar radio fadeout. The ejected particles reach the earth’s atmosphere a few days later and case disturbance in the earth’s magnetic field. It is believed that all stars have atmospheres similar to solar atmosphere and have a prominent bearing on the planets orbiting them. x See Pages 13a aS [3b Hydrostatic equilibrium or hydrostatic balance: According to Newton's laws of motion, a volume of a fluid which is not in motion or in a state of constant velocity must have zero net force on it. This means the sum of the forces in a given direction must be opposed by an equal sum of forces in the opposite direction. This force balance is called the hydrostatic balance. A star in particular attains stability while in hydrostatic equilibrium under the action of two competing forces namely gravity ie its own weight directed radially inwards and the pressure due to matter due to matter and photons ie gas pressure along with radiation pressure acting radially outwards. In most cool-to-hot stars, the pressure due to radiation is negligible. It becomes considerable only in very hot stars. : From a study of the structure and evolution of stars it is evident that the basic observed quantities like mass, luminosity, radius and chemical composition of the various layers of @ main sequence star remain constant over long periods of time. This implies that stable stars in hydrostatic equilibrium. In order to understand the physical conditions that prevail in the interior of a star, consider a spherical cloud of perfect gas of radius R and mass M. Hydrostatic equilibrium of the cloud determines its radius. Within the cloud, consider the equilibrium of a spherical shell of radius ‘r” and thickness ‘dr’. Let p(r) be the density of stellar matter in that layer. 1a! Solar constant and its determination Surface of the sun is at a temperature of about 6000K. By virtue of this temperature, the sun is radiating energy in all directions. Only a part of the total energy radiated by the sun is received by the earth. Solar radiation is strongly absorbed by the earth’s atmosphere and the fraction absorbed depends on (i) the location of the place on the earth, (ii) orientation of the surface receiving the radiation, (iii) local weather conditions, (iv) time of the day and (v) season of the year, Much of the information about the solar energy received at a place on the earth is obtained by measuring the solar constant, Solar constant is nothing but the apparent brightness of the sun, It is the amount of energy received from the sun in unit time by unit area of the earth. Its estimated value is 1354Wm”. It is given by the power received by unit area of a blackbody placed normal to the incident solar radiation at the mean distance between the earth and the sun in the absence of earth’s atmosphere. The instrument used for measuring solar constant is called a pyrheliometer. There are several methods of determining the solar constant, like (i) Water-stir pytheliometer, (ii) water-flow pyrheliometer, (iii) Angstrom’s pytheliometer. Angstrom’s pyrheliometer of compensation type Description of apparatus Sdar Aadiaiion It consists of two identical blackened strips of platinum, constantan or manganin, P and Q. They are mounted in such a way that the strip P receives solar radiation normally while the strip Q is protected by the double walled shield H. Back surfaces of P and Q are connected to the two junctions of a copper-constantan thermocouple. A sensitive galvanometer G measures the thermo emf generated in the thermocouple. There is a provision to electrically heat the strip Q. 13b When no radiation is incident on P, both P and Q are at the same temperature and the galvanometer records zero deflection. When solar radiation is incident on P, it gets heated up and a temperature difference is set up between the junctions of the thermocouple. This is indicated by the deflection in the galvanometer. When this deflection becomes steady, strip Q is heated by closing the electrical circuit shown in the diagram till the deflection in the galvanometer reduces to zero. In this condition, rate at which energy is received from the sun by P and electrically by Q is the same. Voltmeter and ammeter readings are noted d Let ‘L’ and “B” be the length and breadth of the strip P” ae of P exposed to solar radiation = LB, ‘S’ the solar constant and ‘a’ the absorptive power of the material of P. Then, amount of radiation received by P= ASLB .....ccssssssssesesserses(L) If V = voltage applied to Q and I = current through it, electrical power received by Q = VI...(2) From eq.(1) & (2), SLB = VI or § = is the solar constant in the presence of earth’s atmosphere. ‘The experiment is repeated for different elevations of the sun on the same day under identical sky conditions. If So is the actual value of solar constant in the absence of earth’s atmosphere, it is related to S through the equation $ = SgA**, where Z is the angular altitude of the sun and A is the absorption coefficient of the atmosphere at that zenith angle of the sun. Taking logarithms, log $= log So + see Z log A. A graph of log $ along Y-axis against see Z along X-axis is a straight line whose Y-intercept gives log So. Actual solar constant So can now be calculated. eG o a GP” ~

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