Luminosity total rate at which energy leaves a stars

surface; also called absolute brightness

Solar luminosity
W
Solar mass
kg
Solar radius
m
A.U.
Solar energy production
W/kg/s

Proton fusion (above)

Solar fusion (right)

Measuring the Stars:

Standard
candles

distance (in parsecs);

Tully-Fisher
method
parallax (in arc seconds)
Variable stars
Parsec parallax in arc
seconds; distance that an
Spectroscopic
parallax
object must lie in order for its
observed parallax to be
Stellar parallax
exactly ; equals
Radar
ranging
A.U.,
m, or
ly
Proper motion annual movement of star across sky,
corrected for parallax; measured in terms of angular
displacement per year

Radial velocity motion along line of sight that can be

measured due to Doppler Effect
Transverse velocity motion perpendicular to line of sight
that can be measured when distance and proper motion ( )
are known:
True velocity can be measured from radial and transverse
velocities using Pythagorean Theorem
Apparent brightness measure of energy flux (energy per
unit area per unit time) produced by an object
Inverse-square Law
Magnitude scale: begun by Greek astronomer Hipparchus in
second century B.C.
Apparent magnitude measure of objects apparent
brightness when seen at stars actual distance; change of
corresponds to a factor of
in apparent brightness, so
each magnitude change corresponds to a factor of about
Absolute magnitude apparent magnitude
when object is placed at a distance of 10 pc
from the observer; measures luminosity; the
Suns is
From this information, we can write

luminosity in solar units;

Distance modulus:

absolute magnitude

distance (parsecs);

apparent magnitude

A stars surface
temperature can be
determined by measuring
its apparent brightness at
several frequencies, then
matching the data to the
appropriate blackbody
curve. The B (blue) filter
rejects all radiation except
for a certain range of violet
to blue light (380-480 nm),
and the V (visual) filter
passes only radiation within a certain range of green to
yellow light (490-590 nm), which is the part of the spectrum
to which the human eyes are the most sensitive. Other filters
include the U (ultraviolet) filter and the infrared filter.
Color index difference between stars apparent magnitudes
measured through the B and V filters

Radius-luminosity-temperature relationship:
The formula for area of a sphere (
) and the
Stefan-Boltzmann law (
) can be combined into the
full formula:
.

 Stefan-Boltzmann constant
W/(m2 K4)
Giant star with size between
and
solar radii
Supergiant star with size up to 1000 solar radii
Dwarf star that is comparable to or smaller than the Sun
Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) Diagram plots luminosity vs.
temperature; named after Danish astronomer Ejnar
Hertzsprung and U.S. astronomer Norris Russell, who
pioneered their use in the 1920s
The main sequence is the band of stars from the top-left
to the bottom-right corner. The white dwarf region is
located in the bottom left corner, and the red giant region in
the top right corner.
Spectroscopic parallax can be used to determine the
distance to a star. First, spectroscopy can be used to
determine the stars surface temperature or spectral type.
Then the luminosity/absolute magnitude can be read off the
H-R diagram, with the location depending on the stars
luminosity class. This, combined with a measure of the
apparent brightness, can determine the distance from the star
to Earth.

Binary/multiple-star system group of two or more stars

orbiting about their common center of mass
Visual binaries widely separated members that are bright
enough to be observed separately; the combined mass can be
determined by knowledge of the binary period and orbital
semi-major axis (using Keplers Third Law), and measuring
the distance from each star to the center of mass yields the
ratio of the stellar masses, allowing the separate mass of
each member to be determined
Spectroscopic binaries too distant to be seen as separate
stars, but can be indirectly perceived due to back-and-forth
Doppler shifts of their spectral lines as they orbit; more
common than visual binaries; double-line has two distinct
sets of spectral lines that shift back and forth; single-line
more common, has only one set of lines due to the other star
being too faint for its spectrum to be distinguished
Eclipsing binaries orbital plane of
two stars is edge-on to our line of
sight; light curve gives information
about the stars periods, orbits,
masses, and radii
Mass-radius and mass-luminosity relations:
Units are in solar masses/radii/luminosities
Larger stars burn up their fuel faster than smaller stars, as
illustrated by the equation
.