EARTH SCIENCE REVIEWER: STARS AND CONSTELLATION

ASTERISM - are small and simple patterns that we recognize on the night sky (Big Dipper, the Little
Dipper, W, and the Tres Marias). An asterism forms part of a constellation. Big Dipper is part of the
constellation Ursa Major (Big Bear) and the Little Dipper is part of Ursa Minor (Little Bear).

CONSTELLATION – is a larger grouping or arrangement of stars originally named for mythical

creatures; these are product of imaginations and there are about 88 constellations in the night sky;
came from the Latin word cum meaning together and stella meaning star
PROMINENT CONSTELLATIONS
(Greek Mythology)
Orion: the Hunter
Canis Major: the Big Dog
Canis Minor: the Small Dog
Ursa Major: the Big Bear
Ursa Minor: the Small Bear
Draco: the Dragon
North Star Perseus: the hero who
slew Medusa Andromeda: the
princess and wife of Perseus;
Pegasus: the flying horse
Hercules: the hero.
Orion is very
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE prominent and
CONSTELLATIONS easily recognizable.
Apus: the Bird of Paradise Its shoulder stars
are Betelgeuse
Pavo: the Peacock (pronounced as
Dorado: the Swordfish beetle juice) and
Bellatrix. Its head
Microscopium: the Microscope star is Meissa. The
Carina: the ship's keel knee stars are Saiph
and Rigel. Minataka,
Circinus: the Compass Alnilam and Alnitak
Telescopium: the Telescope are its belt stars.
The tip of the sword
is the star Hatysa.
The middle star of
the sword is the
Orion Nebula.
Nearby is the
Horsehead Nebula.

BINARY STARS – are one of the two stars revolving around the common center

MEASURING THE DISTANCE OF STARS

 PARALLAX – is the slight shifting of the position of a star to the orbital motion of the Earth;
(nearest stars = larger parallax)
 LIGHT YEAR – is the distance where light travels a year about 9.5 trillion kilometers

Astronomical Unit (distance between the earth & sun) = 1.50 x 1011 m
1 Light year = 9.46 x 1015 m
1 parsec. = 3.08 x 1016 m

1. How many AU are there in one light year? 63 240 AU

2. How many AU are there in one parsec? 206 265 AU

3. How many light-years are there in one parsec? 3.26 LY

4. How many km are there in one AU? 150 000 000 km or 1.5 x 108 km

5. How many km are there in one parsec? 3.08 x 1013 km

6. How many km are there in one light-year? 9.47 x 1012 km

ECLIPTIC – apparent path of the sun among the stars; it is a term that is derived from the word
eclipses Eclipse itself is from a Greek word which means to disappear or lose brightness

CONSTELLATIONS AND BELIEFS

During the 12 months of the year, the sun moves through the 12 constellations of the ecliptic. This means that
365 days of the year arc divided among the 12 constellations. According to astrology, the stars influence
events in one's life as seen in horoscopes. Some people pay attention to these. Others give some credence to
the animals which influence events in one's life according to the Chinese horoscope. While many people are
aware of their birth constellations, they do not actually bother about their horoscopes. People of today have
come to realize that life is what we make of it. In Shakespeare's tragedy, Julius Caesar, Cassius tells Brutus,

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

OUR STAR, OUR SUN

The star closest to us is our sun, called helios in Greek and sol in Latin. The sun provides the earth
with solar energy that sustains all terrestrial life. The mass of the sun is 1.98 x 1030 kg, which is
about 330,000 times the mass of the earth. The sun, like the stars, is a giant mass of very hot gases.
The sun is composed of several layers of gases. The structure and the interactions that take place in
the sun provide the energy that sustains all earthly life. All forms of energy on earth come from the
sun. Our sun is a typical star. The sun is 74% hydrogen, 24% hydrogen, the remaining mass of the
sun are the elements iron, nickel, silicon, sulphur, carbon, neon, and calcium. Among the millions
of stars, the sun is an average, typical star. It is a medium-sized star. It is in the middle age of a
star's life; its mass as well is average. Its color is in the middle of the spectrum, yellow. In other
words, the characteristics of the sun are average. Since the sun is the star we best know, we use its
characteristics to understand other distant stars. Our star is only 150 000 000 km away from us.

The spectrum of light was first discovered and produced by Isaac Newton.

THE COLOR AND TEMPRATURE OF A STAR

Blue is the hottest and brightest star while red is the

coolest star. The relationship between the wavelength
(color) and temperature is embodied in Wien's Law, an
important physical law discovered by the German
physicist Wilhelm Wien (pronounced as veen) in 1898.
It states that the hotter an object is, the bluer is the
light it emits. In other words, the higher the
temperature, the smaller the wavelength. In equation
form, Wien's Law is

Temperature =0.00290/wavelength

The wavelength can be known from the spectral

analysis. It is the wavelength that corresponds to the
peak color of the star. The number 0.00290 is a
constant that is used whenever this equation is applied.
The wavelength is given in meters. The temperature is
given in Kelvin.
 STAR LUMINOSITY - Luminosity is the total energy radiated by the star every second in all its forms
and wavelengths. The sun emits about 4 x 1026 joules per second ; Luminosity depends on the
temperature of the star. Luminosity increases as temperature increases. The color of a star indicates
its temperature. Thus, luminosity is related to color. Color is a factor considered in estimating the
luminosity of a star.

 BLUE SHIFT - When the light sources moves toward a stationary the light waves are pushed
closer to each other. The wavelengths become smaller and the perceived color will shift
toward O blue
 RED SHIFT - A light source that recedes or moves away from a stationary observer pulls or
stretches the waves and the wavelength increases. As the wavelengths gets larger, the color
shifts toward red

LIFE CYCLE OF A STAR

It turned out that the groupings of stars that the resulted from plots on the HR diagram are the life stages of stars. The H-R
diagram also shows the stars in their life stages. Our sun for instance, is in mid-life. A very large mass of gas and dust in space is
called a nebula. A star starts its existence in a nebula as a protostar when gravity pulls gas and dust and causes the mass to spin.
Once nuclear fusion begins, it turns into a main sequence star. When the hydrogen fuel runs out, the star becomes a giant, a red
giant, or a supergiant which will explode into a supernova. Depending on the mass, the star may end up as a neutron star or
white dwarf or a black hole.