1General Relativity and Expansion of Universe
Curved space (33-3)
Rate of clocks running (like whiteboards)
Black Holes (33-3)
Red Shift (33:29)
Hubble’s Law (33:25)
What evidence do we have that General Relativity is correct?
Who did this, how did they confirm the theory?
How does a gravity field affect the rate at which a clock runs?
How do you calculate frequency shift?
What is the principle of equivalence?
How are black holes formed?
What is the definition of a black hole?
How do you calculate red shift?
What is it caused by?
Can you use Hubble’s law to calculate recession rates?
What does red shift imply?
2. H-R Diagrams and star types
HR Diagrams (general) (33-2)
HR Diagrams (conceptual) (33-2)
Types of stars(33-2)
H-R Diagrams (33:36)
Spectral type/Dark line spectra (from lecture, 27-9)
What do the axes of an HR diagram imply?
Can you draw the main sequence on an HR diagram?
Where are the red giants? White dwarfs? Why are they where they are on an HR diagram?
How do size, temperature, and distance to a star affect its brightness?
Which stars on the main sequence are the brightest? Hottest? Biggest? Bluest? Live the
longest?
What are the different astronomical objects? Comets, nebulae, main sequence stars, red
giants, white dwarves, planetary nebulae, binary stars, quasars, pulsars, neutron stars,
black holes, galaxies, variable stars?
What happens if a star changes position on an HR diagram? (up, down, left, right,
diagonally)
What is the real horizontal axis of an HR diagram? (historically) how is it determined? what
are spectral types? how can we determine the spectra? how are they formed (the spectra)
3. Stars and brightness
Luminosity and brightness (Astro:1-7)
Magnitudes (Astro:8-10)
Distance to stars and brightness (Astro:11-12)
HR Diagrams, brightness and distance (Astro:13-14)
Parallax question (33:2 (3.6 pc))
Pretty basic – look at the PowerPoint Stars part 1: brightness and distance
Be able to do the things on the astro sheet plus parallax
Determine the distance to a Cepheid variable star.
Spectroscopic parallax
Regular parallax.
4. Stellar Evolution
Formation of Protostars (from lecture)
Stellar dynamics - stability of a star (33-2)
Creation of elements in a star (33-2)
Helium in a main sequence star (33-2)
Basic outline of stellar evolution (33-2)
Where are stars born?
Why do recently disturbed galaxies have more star birth than others?
How do we know they do?
How are protostars formed? What is an accretion disk? What is the structure of an
accretion disk?
What is the dynamic that makes a star stable? What if we compressed or expanded the
star – what events would stabilize it?
How are the elements made? Which ones were made in the big bang? Why? How?
Which are made in stars? Why can’t stars make the others? How are heavy elements
made?
What is the dynamic that stops hydrogen and helium fusion?
What is the cradle to grave scenario of a star? (from protostar to white dwarf or black
dwarf or neutron star or black hole)