Term Paper

Submitted to the Amity University Uttar Pradesh In partial fulfillment of

requirements for the award of the Degree of

BSc. (Hons.) Physics

By

RIGVED SHARMA
Enrollment No: A4455715025

Under the Supervision of:

Dr. CHIRANJIB KONAR

Amity Institute of Applied Sciences, Amity University Uttar

Pradesh
Sector 125, Noida
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to Amity Institute of Applied

Sciences for providing me the golden opportunity to do this research project on Stellar
Astronomy due to which I did a research and I came to know about a lot of useful
information.
This research was carried out under the supervision of Dr. Chiranjib Konar, who
guided me throughout the project and provided very important information on the
topic.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Topic Page no.

1. Abstract 1-2
2. Introduction to stellar astronomy 3-4
3. Evolution of stars 5-9
4. Epilogue 9
 ABSTRACT

Stars capture the human imagination like nothing else in the night sky. Humans have
always wondered and marveled at their beauty. Early humans found various pattern
amongst these tiny objects in the sky. These are known as constellations, although
most of the stars in these constellations have no relation between them. Some are
bright and far, some are near and faint.
Stars are luminous spheres of plasma held together by their force of gravitation.
The nearest and the most familiar star to earth is the Sun. A lot of knowledge about
the stars is gained from the Sun.
Stars occur in various types. They vary in colour, sizes, brightness and spectra.
Most of the information about the stars is made available by the field of spectroscopy.
Stars are generally categorized in 7 broad spectral types. Spectrum of the stars reveals
about the composition of the stars and their temperature. Through the spectrum of
stars we have determined that stars are mostly made up of hydrogen and helium.
Life cycle of a star is a process of great upheavals. It begins with the formation of
stars. A star is formed from the interstellar clouds of dust and gas called nebulae. The
universe is not a place of perfection. Some regions of the nebula are denser than the
others. It is in these regions that the star formation takes place. Due to its mass and
density the cloud starts collapsing and contracting under its own gravity. As the
collapsing goes on, the gravitational energy transforms into heat energy and the
temperature of the core rises. As the temperature reaches a certain degree, nuclear
fusion starts taking place which releases more energy and star begins to shine. This
nuclear fusion goes on for millions or billions of years depending on the mass of the
star.
During its lifetime the star fuses hydrogen into helium until it runs out of
hydrogen. Then it starts fusing helium. Very massive stars carry out this process of
fusion even after Helium . Helium is fused into carbon which fuses into nitrogen
which in turn fuses to form Oxygen. This process is called nucleosynthesis and it goes
on until iron. After which the massive star undergoes a violent explosion called
supernova. A single supernova releases so much amount of energy which our sun
would produce in its whole lifetime. During the process of supernova a lot of heat
energy is liberated which makes way for fusion of iron into heavier elements like
gold, silver, planitum etc. in this explosion the outer layers of the stars along with all
those elements scatters out into the space and form a cloud of gas called nebula from
which later, new stars are born. This cycle of life and birth goes on. From dust to stars
and from stars to dust. Almost everything we see on earth and everything we are
familiar with including us are made up of those elements which were formed inside a
star. Every atom of our body was once a part of a star. We are literally stardust. This
is one of the most revealing discoveries made in astrophysics.

INTRODUCTION TO STELLAR ASTRONOMY

 Stellar Parameters

Sirius A and B Binary star system

Distance to the stars

In astronomy we deal with enormous distances so the daily basis of distance

measurements don’t work.
. The parallax p of the star is equal to half the angle through which its apparent
position seems to shift when measured from two dfferent positions on earth at two
different times generally months apart.. If a star has a parallax of 1 arcsecond and the
baseline is 1 astronomical unit ( distance of the earth from the sun) then star’s
distance is 1 parsec. The distance of a star in parsecs is given by reciprocal of its
parallax.
D = 1/p
A light year is the time which light travels in one year. In astronomy the most
common unit of distance is parsecs (p.c) . 1 pc = 3.26 ly

SPECTRAL CLASSIFICATION OF STARS

Almost all of the information we gain about the universe is in the form of
electromagnetic radiation. Visible light is just a portion of this radiation. From
analyzing the light from a star we can infer about its temperature, its constituents and
many other useful information.
When the light from a star is passed through a prism it breaks into various
components called spectra. When we use a telescope to observe the spectral pattern
we observe the presence of fine dark lines called absorption lines. This phenomena
happens at the quantum level. When an electron jumps from a higher energy level to a
lower one it loses energy in the form of photon. This photon has the exact amount of
energy that electron loses which means that the photon has a specific wavelength.
The temperature of the star’s atmosphere determines whether an absorption line will
occur or not. A hot star has different absorption lines than a cool star.
Spectral type of a star is designated by letters. The main classification scheme is
OBAFGKMLRNS
The sequence is in decreasing temperature of stars. It goes from O type which are the
hot blue stars to cool red stars ( types KML). The types L R N S are new additions.
Each of the spectral class is subdivided into 10 categories from 0 to 9. For example
A0, A1,…….A9.
.

STELLAR EVOLUTION
 Eagle nebula

Nebulae are vast clouds of interstellar gas and dust and act as stellar nurseries. They
are mostly stellar remnants. Nebulae contents are mostly hydrogen, rest helium and
traces of heavier elements produced by the process of nucleosynthesis during the main
sequence life time of a massive star and ejected during supernova.
Nebula are heterogeneos clouds of gas with some regions denser than the others. It is
in these dense regions that star formation takes place. Some regions of these dense
regions due to their gravitatonal force start coalescing into more denser regions. If the
gaseous cloud become sufficient dense so that they satisfy the condition of jeans
density they start contracting and form a protostar. In order for a gas cloud to
condense into a star it must be sufficient dense so that the gravitation force
predominates pressure. Jeans criteria is the measure of that minimum density.
After the collapsing of the gas continues, the temperature and pressure rises. The
gravitational energy of the gas transforms into heat energy. Due to the extreme heat
the star begins to shine. Eventually the pressure and temperature becomes high
enough to start nuclear fusion, this happens at about 10 million kelvin. Nuclear fusion
produces great amount of energy which creates an outward pressure. This pressure
balances the force of gravity and the contraction halts. This condition is known as the
hydrostatic equilibrium. The star now enters the main sequence phase. Main
sequence phase is the hydrogen burning phase in which star keeps on fusing hydrogen
and stays in the condition of hydrostatic equilibrium for millions, billions or even
trillions of years depending upon the mass of the star. The more massive the star is,
the faster it runs out of hydrogen and end its life in a violent explosion. Low mass
stars continue to light up for trillions of years.

HERTZSPRUNG – RUSSELL DIAGRAM

Danish astronomer Ejnar hertzsprung and American astronomer Henry norris russell
independently discovered that when absolute magnitude of stars (a measure of their
luminosity) are plotted against their spectral types ( measure of temperature), a certain
pattern emerges. This diagram is known as the H-R diagram.
Each dot on the diagram represents a star. In this diagram the vertical axis represents
luminosity and the horizontal axis represents temperature of a star. The luminosity
increases in upward direction while the temperature increases from right to left.
The band that stretches diagonally in the diagram is called the main sequence and
most of the stars in the night sky lie on this band. Stars on the main sequence are
undergoing hydrogen burning.
Stars in the upper right are called giants. These stars are both cool and luminous.
Their temperature lies between 3000 k to 6000 k. Many members of this class are
reddish and are known as red giants.
At the extreme upper right there are few stars which are even bigger than the giants.
These are called supergiants. Betelgeuse is an example of this class.
Stars in the lower left corner are white dwarf stars. These are very small in size but
are very dense. They are the remnant of a main sequence low mass star.
Small relatively cold red stars fuse hydrogen slowly and can remain on the main
sequence for hundreds of billions of years whereas o type blue hot stars burn their fuel
quickly and leave the main sequence in just a few million years.

MAIN SEQUENCE PHASE OF STAR

During the main sequence phase a star fuses hydrogen to helium which creates energy
to sustain the hydrostatic equilibrium. Our sun from its birth about 5 billion years will
continue to remain in main sequence phase for another 5 billion years. Stars below 1.5
solar mass primarily fuse hydrogen to helium in a sequence called proton-proton
chain. In more massive stars as helium forms from the fusion of hydrogen it sinks to
the core and now helium fusion takes central stage. Fusion of helium results in the
formation of carbon. Fusion of carbon yields nitrogen. This process goes on till iron.
Iron does not produce energy on fusion. This marks the beginning of the end of the
star. In its main sequence phase massive stars create elements like carbon and oxygen
which are vital for life. This process of producing elements is known as stellar
nucleosynthesis.

FINAL DAYS OF A STAR

Death of a star is a cataclysmic event. When a star runs out of hydrogen to fuse, the
outward pressure which was balancing the force of gravity ceases. This means that the
star starts collapsing again. Depending upon the mass of the star, it’s fate is
determined. In the end days of a star like our sun when hydrogen is exhausted, star
expands thousand of times to form a red giant. The core continues to collapse and
becomes denser. At this high temperature a new burning process is initiated. Helium
starts fusing into carbon. Now the outer layers of the stars blow away and what
remains is white dwarf star of the size of earth but with the mass of sun.
For more massive stars the story is different . In their final days the core grows hotter
and denser and when it reaches a temperature of 10 million k, fusion of iron starts
taking place but iron does not release energy on fusion. So the gravity overwhelms
and core contracts further, electron shells collapse and electron degenerate matter is
produced. Now the electrons react with protons by the reaction
e+p=n+v
due to this reactions only neutrons are left inside the core. As temperature increases
more the neutrons become degenerate and the neutron degeneracy pressure stops the
collapse. Surrounding material is still collapsing and then it rebounds and a massive
shockwave is produced. A tremendous amount of energy is released which outshines
the rest of the stars in the galaxy for a few days or weeks. This event is called a
supernova. During the supernova explosion a high flux of neutrons is released as iron
nuclei are ripped apart. These neutrons are captured by heavy nuclei to produce other
heavier nuclei. This process is called supernova nucleosynthesis. In this way elements
heavier than iron are produced like gold, silver, platinum etc. This supernova
explosion spreads out all the elements in the outer space and with time it collects in
the form of a nebula from which later on new stars, planets are formed. What remains
of the core is a neutron star which is entirely made up of neutrons thus the name.
neutron stars are very small only a few miles in size and they are much more denser
than the white dwarfs. A spoonfull of it would weigh one trillion kilograms. A rapidly
rotating neutron star is called a pulsar.
Yet another type of fate awaits for very massive stars. For a star which is 20 times as
massive as the sun nothing can prevent the gravitational collapse of the star. The outer
layers of the star undergo an extreme violent explosion called hypernova. The core of
the star dissapears into a black hole. A black hole is a region of space where the
matter is compressed to such a high density that it’s gravitational field is so strong
that the escape velocity exceed that of the speed of light. Thus nothing not even light
can escape from a black hole..

EPILOGUE
Stellar astronomy is the most widest and important branch of astronomy. There are
indeterminable amount of stars in the universe. In fact there are more stars in the
universe than there are grains of sand on whole earth. They vary in various
parameters. Also they are at enormous distances. But through physics we can
determine a great amount of information about them. By analyzing the light we
receive from them we can infer about their temperature and constituition.
The life cycle of a star is a journey from dust to stars and from stars to dust.
Throughout their lifetime they produce energy in the form of heat which is necessary
for life. All the elements higher than helium were produced inside the stars which
then in their deaths were scaterred in the space to form planets like earth and
eventually living organisms. Every piece of everything we have, everything we love
and hold precious was once a part of a star. We could not be here if the stars were not
there. We are the children of the stars. Our story is the story of the stars. We are
literally stardust. And for me our true significance lies in our desire to understand and
explore this beautiful universe.