Study Guide for Quiz #2
Astronomy 315
In studying for the quiz you should concentrate on your notes and exercises. I would suggest that you do not just read them over, but test yourself on your mastery of the material. You can use the questions below to aid in this process.
10: Stellar Interiors
Can you define these key words?
Kelvin-Helmholtz Contraction
Hydrogen Fusion
Scientific Notation
Hydrostatic Equilibrium
Mass Continuity
Equation of State
Radiation Energy Transport
Convective Energy Transport
Opacity
Can you answer these key questions?
How do we know what is going on inside of stars?
Why does the sun shine?
How do we know what powers the sun?
Under what conditions does hydrogen fusion occur?
What is the structure of the sun from the inside out?
How is energy transported in the sun from the inside out?
How do the equations of stellar structure help us understand stellar interiors?
What are the central pressures and temperatures of the sun?
How do mass, luminosity, temperature and pressure vary for the sun from the inside out?
What explains the mass-luminosity relationship?
How does convection manifest itself on the sun?
How does opacity effect how energy is transported?
How does energy transport occur in stars of different masses?
Can you use these equations and understand what all the variables are?
E=mc2
Can you do the “Stellar Interiors Exercise”?
11: Magnetic Activity
Can you define these key words?
Magnetic Activity
Dynamo Effect
Starspots
Coronal Activity
Plasma
Solar Flare
Coronal Mass Ejection
Can you answer these key questions?
What is a magnetic field?
How are magnetic fields generated?
How does magnetic activity manifest itself?
How are sunspots formed?
How do sunspots change with time?
What causes the sunspot cycle?
How do we observe the corona?
Why is the corona so hot?
What is the structure of the corona?
How does magnetic activity manifest itself in other stars?
Can you do the “Magnetic Activity Exercise”?
12: Star Formation
Can you define these key words?
Circumstellar Material
Outflows
Magnetic Activity
The Interstellar Medium
Thermal Pressure
Centripetal Force
Magnetic Pressure
Class 0 Object
Protostar
Protostellar Jets
Herbig-Haro Objects
Classical T Tauri Star
Weak T Tauri Star
Zero Age Main Sequence (ZAMS)
Can you answer these key questions?
Where do stars come from?
What are the general characteristics of young stars?
What is the composition of the interstellar medium?
What are the forces acting on an interstellar cloud?
How does star formation start?
What are the properties of a cloud?
What are the properties of a protostellar core (class 0 object)?
What are the properties of outflows from young stars?
What are the properties of a protostar?
What are the properties of circumstellar disks?
What do we learn by examining young stars over a range of wavelengths?
What are the properties of Classical T Tauri stars?
How do we find Weak T Tauri stars?
What are the properties of Weak T Tauri stars?
When do we say that stellar youth ends?
Can you do the “Star Formation Exercise”?
13: Stellar Evolution
Can you define these key words?
Hydrostatic Equilibrium
Stellar Mass
Evolutionary Path
Clusters
Turn-off Point
Shell HydrogenBburning
Red Giant Branch
HeliumFlash
Horizontal Branch
Asymptotic Giant Branch
Can you answer these key questions?
Why do stars evolve?
What are the key concepts that determine how a star evolves?
How to stars evolve towards the main sequence?
How do stars evolve on the main sequence?
What causes stars to leave the main sequence?
How does mass effect evolution?
How do clusters evolve?
How do we find the age of clusters?
What happens during shell hydrogen burning along the red giant branch?
What is the structure of a red giant?
What happens during core He burning along the horizontal branch?
How are elements heavier than He made?
What happens during shell H and He burning along the asymptotic giant branch?
Can you describe the post-main sequence evolution of a solar mass star?
Can you use these equations and understand what all the variables are?
Lifetime = 1/M2.5
Can you do the “Age of the Pleiades Exercise”?
14: Stellar Death
Can you define these key words?
Thermal Pulses
Planetary Nebula
White Dwarf
Black Dwarf
Pauli Exclusion Principle
Chandrasekhar Limit
Degeneracy
Nova
Type II Supernova
Supernova Remnant
Can you answer these key questions?
How do very low mass stars die?
How do stars lose mass?
What happens to a star at the end of the giant phase?
What are planetary nebulae and how are they formed?
What is the structure of planetary nebula?
What is a white dwarf?
What keeps a white dwarf from collapsing?
What happens in the post main sequence phase of a high mass star?
How does a very high mass star die?
Can you do the “Stellar Death Exercise”?
15: Compact Objects
Can you define these key words?
Compact Object
White Dwarf
Cataclysmic Variable
Nova
X-ray Binaries
X-ray Burster
Neutron Star
Neutron Degeneracy
Pulsar
Can you answer these key questions?
What are the properties of a white dwarf?
How can we observe faint white dwarfs?
How does mass transfer effect compact objects?
What are the properties of a neutron star?
What are the magnetic and rotational properties of neutron stars?
What is the progenitor of each kind of compact object?
How is a neutron star supported?
What is a pulsar?
How do we observe pulsars?
Can you use these equations and understand what all the variables are?
g= GM/r2
Can you do the “Compact Object Exercise”?
16: Black Holes
Can you define these key words?
General Relativity
Special Relativity
Time Dilation
Black Hole
Singularity
Escape Velocity
Event Horizon
Schwarzschild Radius
Can you answer these key questions?
What happens to time at large speeds or near massive objects?
What are the properties of a black hole?
What makes an object a black hole?
Why can nothing escape from a black hole?
How is light affected by mass?
How can we observe black holes?
Can you use these equations and understand what all the variables are?
KE = ½mv2
Escape velocity = (2GM/R)½
RS = (2GM/c2)
Can you do the “Black Hole Exercise”?