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Astro 1050     Fri. Oct. 11, 2002
  •    Today:  Chapter 8, Properties of Stars
  •              Please bring calculators to class
  •                 Astronomy New Articles
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How to recognize patterns in data

  • What patterns matter for people – and how do we recognize them?
  • Weight and Height are easy to measure
  • Knowing how they are related gives insight into health
      • A given  weight tends to go with a given height
      • Weight either very high or very low compared to trend ARE important
  • Plot weight vs. height and look for deviations from simple line


  • Example of cars from the book
    • Note “main sequence” of cars
    • Weight plotted backwards
      • Just make main sequence a line
        which goes down rather than up


    • Points off main sequence are
      “unusual” cars
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Stars:  Patterns of L, T, R

  • The Hertzsprung-Russsell (H-R) diagram
  • Plot L vs. backwards T.      (We can find R given L and T)
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How are L, T, and R related?

  • L = area ´sT4 = 4 p R2 sT4
    • Stars can be intrinsically bright because of either large R or large T


    • Use ratio equations to simplify above equation
      • (Note book’s symbol for Sun is circle with dot inside)





    • Example:  Assume T is different but size is same
      • A star is ~ 2 ´ as hot as sun, expect L is 24 = 16 times as bright
      • M star is ~1/2 as hot as sun, expect L is 2-4 = 1/16 as bright


      • B star is ~  4 ´ as hot as sun, expect L is 44 = 256 times as bright


    • Example:  Assume T same but size is different
      • If you have a G star 4 ´ as large as sun, expect L would be 42=16 times as bright
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L, T, R, and the H-R diagram

  • L = 4 p R2 sT4
  • The main sequence consists very roughly of similar size stars
  • The giants, supergiants, and white dwarfs are much larger or smaller


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Lines of constant R in the H-R diagram


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Different “types” of H-R diagrams


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Luminosity Classes


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Spectra of Different Luminosity Classes


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Spectroscopic “Parallax”


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What fundamental property of a star
varies along the main sequence?


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Masses of Binary stars


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Masses of Binary stars


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Masses of Binary stars


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Measuring a and P of binaries
  • Two types of binary stars
    • Visual binaries: See separate stars
      • a large, P long
      • Can’t directly measure component of a along line of sight
    • Spectroscopic binaries:  See Doppler shifts in spectra
      • a small, P short
      • Can’t directly measure component of a in plane of sky
  • If star is visual and spectroscopic binary get get full set of information and then get M



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Masses and the HR Diagram
  • Main Sequence position:
    • M:    0.5 MSun
    • G:        1 MSun
    • B:       40 Msun


  • Luminosity Class
    • Must be controlled by something else
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The Mass-Luminosity Relationship
  • L = M3.5
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Eclipsing Binary Stars
  • System seen “edge-on”
  • Stars pass in front of each other
  • Brightness drops when either is hidden


  • Used to measure:
    • size of stars (relative to orbit)
    • relative “surface brightness”
      • area hidden is same for both eclipses
      • drop bigger when hotter star hidden
    • tells us system is edge on
      • useful for spectroscopic binaries