Stars_and_Galaxies_worksheet_revised_KEY

Stars and Galaxies worksheet
Complete the following questions using your lectures (recorded) and reading notes. You must complete the entire
worksheet for full credit, but your answers do not need to be correct. Once you have completed and submitted
your worksheet, I will send you the link to the worksheet answers so you can correct any mistakes. Please write or
type your long answers on a separate sheet or document. Leave space for diagrams if the questions ask for them.
1. What are constellations?

Areas of the sky with official borders. Many are associated with traditionally recognized star patterns.
2. Why does an observer at a given location see one set of constellations in the winter and a different set of
constellations in the summer?
The nighttime Earth faces in opposite directions each 6 months in its path around the Sun. This is often
referred to as ‘annual motion’.
3. Why do the stars appear to turn on an imaginary north–south axis once every 23 hours and 56 minutes?
This motion of the stars is due to the rotation of Earth. This is often referred to as ‘daily motion’.
4. Is the light-year a measurement of time or distance?
The light-year is a measurement of the distance light travels in one year.
5. Which is hotter: a red star or a blue star?
Blue star
6. What is the difference between apparent brightness and luminosity?
Apparent brightness is the brightness of a star as it appears from Earth. Luminosity, on the other hand, is
the total amount of power, in the form of light, that a star emits into space. (Power is energy per second.)
7. What is a Hertzsprung–Russell (H–R) diagram?
A plot of luminosity versus surface temperature (backwards) for stars.
8. Where are the great majority of stars plotted on an H–R diagram? (Where does our Sun reside on an H–R
diagram?)
90% of stars’ positions on the graph take the form of a main sequence; These are stars fusing their first
fuel, hydrogen, at their centers.
9. Where are the largest and smallest stars on an H-R diagram? (You may use descriptions like ‘in the
middle’, ‘upper left’, ‘at the top’, ‘upper right’, ‘at the right’, ‘lower right’, ‘at the bottom’, ‘lower left’,
and/or ‘at the left’.)
The largest stars are at the upper right of the H-R diagram (low temperature, but large luminosity) and the
smallest stars are toward the lower left (high temperature, but low luminosity).
10. What process changes a protostar into a full-fledged star?
Nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium
11. What pushes outward from any layer inside the star?
Thermal pressure (and sometimes electron degeneracy pressure!). The outward pressure from light itself
can sometimes be considerable.
12. What pulls inward on every layer of a star?
Th gravitational force (weight).
13. When will our Sun reach the red-giant stage?
About 5 billion years from now.
14. Is the lifetime of a high-mass star longer or shorter than that of a low-mass star?
High-mass stars have shorter lives than low-mass stars.
15. According to our textbook, what is the relationship between the heavy elements that we find on Earth
today and supernovae? (Textbooks will say something different soon!)
All elements beyond iron were once produced in supernovae explosions.
16. What can remain of the core of a high-mass star after its collapse causes a supernova?
A neutron star or a black hole.
17. What is the relationship between a neutron star and a pulsar?
A pulsar is a rapidly rotating neutron star with beams of radiation regularly swinging around.
18. Why can’t the Sun leave a neutron star or black hole behind when it dies? What will it leave behind
instead?
PHSC 112
Allan Hancock College
Because the Sun has too little mass for the core collapse necessary for neutron star or black-hole creation.
The Sun will leave its core behind as a white dwarf instead.
19. If black holes are invisible, what is the evidence for their existence?
Radiation patterns formed by X-ray emission from material falling into them, and binary stars with no
visible companion, and other effects on neighboring stars.
20. What is a black hole’s event horizon?
The event horizon is the boundary in space around a much smaller collapsed object whose gravity has
become strong enough that nothing can escape this region of space.
21. What type of galaxy is the Milky Way? What are the other two main classifications of galaxies?
Spiral. Elliptical and Irregular.
22. Do their stars often collide when two galaxies are merging? What about their nebulas (gas clouds)?
Stars almost never collide, but nebulas, being much larger, can collide.
23. What is a starburst galaxy?
A galaxy in which stars are forming at an unusually high rate
24. How does the luminosity of a quasar compare with that of a large normal galaxy?
The quasar is more luminous. (Quasars are often said to be the most luminous objects in the universe.)
25. Is the Local Group a relatively small or large assemblage of galaxies?
The Local Group is a relatively small assembly of galaxies situated between two larger clusters, the Virgo
and the Eridanus Clusters. (Groups have small numbers of galaxies, clusters and superclusters have many
more galaxies.)
26. Compare and contrast astronomy and astrology.
Astronomy is a science dedicated to the study of celestial objects. The mission of astronomy is to learn
about the nature and origins of these objects so that we may better understand the natural universe in
which we live. Astrology is an ancient pseudoscience founded in the belief that the positions of celestial
objects impact our physical, mental, and social wellbeing. Both use star charts and positions of the Sun
and planets in the sky, which causes confusion among the uneducated. Astronomy relies greatly on
discoveries made using advanced technologies, such as space telescopes. As a field it has matured greatly
over the past 100 years but is still in a golden era of making new and astounding discoveries. Astrology, by
contrast, relies on non-confirmable anecdotal evidence and, though very popular, has not changed
significantly over the past two thousand years.
Reference: This worksheet is based on materials produced by K. Wiese of City College of San Francisco. Creative Commons Attribution-
Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 copyright.
PHSC 112
Allan Hancock College

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Stars and Galaxies worksheet

1. What are constellations?

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