Questions tagged [star]
Questions regarding large spheres of plasma undergoing fusion.
953
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Dotted line of moving objects observed on May 5th and May 12th [duplicate]
I saw a dotted line shooting star-like object May 5th and May 12th. It was longer than any meteor/shooting star tail or trail I've ever seen before. I mean longer in every way, the distance it ...
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1answer
31 views
How is the difference of bolometric magnitudes not dependent on the stars' radii?
The difference of 2 bolometric magnitudes is given by:
$$M_{bol, ★} - M_{bol, ☉} = -2.5 \cdot \log \left( \frac{L_★}{L_☉} \right)$$
But Pogson's equation is:
$$M_{bol, ★} - M_{bol, ☉} = -2.5 \cdot \...
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singular star moving in the sky, can’t be satellite nor shooting star [duplicate]
so i was just setting up my camera for some long exposure photography and just as i was about to take the picture, a star seemed to be moving in the sky on its own. there was no contrail like a ...
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0answers
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How to determine the temperature of a star according to the strength of the line in the spectra?
Based on the comments, I have changed some things.
Below is a graph showing the relative strength of $H_\gamma$ and Fe I lines of two stars. Which star is hotter?
This is a question from the book:An ...
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2answers
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What is that donut-shaped object I see in my telescope? [duplicate]
I was looking through my telescope for the first time and came across this weird star. I think its a celestial donut but im not sure.
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3answers
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How can you determine the date using nothing but a star chart from the day and the time?
I'm doing a science olympiad event called Reach for the Stars, and one question that I've encountered provides a star chart and time of day, and you must figure out what month of the year it is from. ...
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1answer
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What does the Reddening line represents in this U-B vs B-V plot?
The plot is from this paper (pg-8).
They have also talked(in the same paper) about how central stars from galactic longitude range $20^\circ-80^\circ$ will have a very unusual Reddening line (pg-9). ...
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5answers
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If our galaxy is mostly empty space then why does it look so solid?
This question has probably been asked quite a few times, but I'm having trouble finding anything due to the fact that this question is very specific in nature. So I'm asking again.
We know that outer ...
4
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1answer
83 views
Are any supergiants translucent?
Are any supergiants translucent? Some have volumes thousands of times more than the Sun's while having maybe twenty times the mass of the Sun which makes them sound rather diffuse. If there was a very ...
4
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1answer
118 views
Given that a color index ($B-V$) of star A is lower than that of Star B, What can we say about the stars?
The color index $B-V$ of the star is defined as
$$B-V\equiv M_B-M_V$$
Let us suppose it's given
$$(B-V)^{(A)}<(B-V)^{(B)}\Rightarrow M_B^A-M_V^A>M^B_B-M^B_V$$
The notations are a bit confusing, ...
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1answer
88 views
What effect does stellar granulation to have on a chemical analysis of a star's spectrum?
The spectrum from stellar granules will obviously be for hotter gas, while the spectrum from the lanes between them will be for cooler gas.
Does this "average out" so that an average ...
2
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0answers
28 views
Is it possible that absolute magnitude for two stars is equal for some wavelength?
The title explains the questions. I don't find any problem with it. As If the two stars A and B do have equal absolute magnitude for some wavelength $\lambda_0$ then
$$M_A=M_B$$
$$-5(\log d_A-1)+m_A=-...
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1answer
43 views
Is something wrong with my luminosity calculation?
A few million years after a white dwarf forms, its surface temperature reaches $100000\text{K}$, while its radius is $0.01R_\odot$. Would this mean that its luminosity is $\Big(\dfrac{100000}{5778}\...
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1answer
43 views
How fast would an observer have to travel in order to be able to study an entire star's life in one human lifetime?
Humans live for about 80 years. A star, however, lives from 1 million to trillions of years, depending on its mass. If humans want to have a detailed study of the life of a $1 M_\odot$ star, how fast ...
2
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1answer
37 views
Would studying massive stars that are experiencing time dilation due to proximity to a black hole be useful?
I saw this question (Could a star closely orbit a black hole long enough for the star to have lost 0.5B+ years to time dilation?) and came up with an interesting thought. Massive stars live for less ...
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0answers
62 views
Can someone tell me the contribution of s-, r-, and p-isotope processes to copper?
I have looked for relevant information in the paper Chemical evolution with rotating massive star yields
II. A new assessment of the solar s- and r- process
components before, but unfortunately, it ...
3
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0answers
35 views
What is the theoretical maximum variability a pulsating red giant can have such that a habitable planet can stay habitable for long periods of time?
I was reading about red giants and came across this statement:
Some research suggests that, during the evolution of a 1 M☉ star along the red-giant branch, it could harbor a habitable zone for ...
4
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1answer
45 views
Long-lived supernova remnants?
We cannot see the supernova remnant of the star that triggered the formation of the Sun and the Solar System, as the remnant dispersed and became mixed into the interstellar medium. So I am wondering, ...
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0answers
64 views
Physical properties of the stellar corona?
I am after the basic physical properties of the corona of a star, here some questions for which I would like to have an answer, even only for a subset of them:
I know some things about the corona of ...
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0answers
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Why does rotation prevent the further contraction of the cloud?
In the book Horizons: Exploring the Universe (2018) by M.Seeds and D.Backman, chapter 9, page 170-171, it states that:
At least four factors resist the
compression of an interstellar gas cloud, and ...
21
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2answers
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How hard is it to find the Sun's “sisters?”
As @ProfRob stated in his excellent answer regarding the ejection of the Solar System's fifth gas giant,
It is for similar reasons that, even though the Sun was probably born in a cluster of $\sim 10^...
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0answers
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Convert apparent magnitude in a filter to a luminosity
I have data in Johnson B & V filters and I would like to convert the observed magnitudes, m$_x$, into luminosities, L$_x$, over a passband where I already know the distance, d, to the object. x is ...
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35 views
Stellar temperature ~ frequency relationship?
According to Wikipedia, 76% of all stars are of spectral type M, 12% are of K, 7.5% are of G, etc. (see this section on Stellar Classification). This is very helpful, but is too vague, as the ...
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1answer
59 views
Is there a formula to calculate any star mass from Luminosity, Radius, and/or Temperature (K)? [duplicate]
I know there is the Mass-Luminosity relationship, but I am wondering if there is a more accurate formula I can use based on the data points I have generated:
Absolute Magnitude (based on class and ...
5
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2answers
321 views
How to determine the age of a star using asteroseismology?
I keep reading that a standard way to determine the age of a star is asteroseismology, and I tried to learn more about it. I am wondering if somebody could help me to describe the method in simple ...
5
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1answer
421 views
Why are the wings of many strong lines, including hydrogen lines and most metal lines, stronger in Dwarfs than in Supergiants?
What is the reason? Is it because Dwarfs have higher surface gravity (log g), in turn related to pressure, than Supergiants so there is more contribution from van der Waals and Stark broadening?
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2answers
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Is S2 still the fastest known star in the galaxy?
Wikipedia's entry for the star S2 says that it has
the fastest known ballistic orbit, reaching speeds exceeding 5,000
km/s (11,000,000 mph, or 1⁄60 the speed of light) and acceleration of
about 1.5 ...
2
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2answers
63 views
Will the night sky ever be more stars than darkness? [duplicate]
Given enough time, will enough light from distant stars reach Earth so that our night sky will be more than 50% stars?
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0answers
33 views
Strength of core-envelope coupling in stars (again)
I asked this on the physics SE but it received little attention:
Consider a high-mass zero-age main-sequence (ZAMS) (e.g., $m_{\rm ZAMS} \gtrsim 30\,$M$_{\odot}$) star.
I understand that the core-...
2
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1answer
87 views
Are the bright dots in this image individual stars?
I saw this picture of M51 (Whirlpool galaxy) and noticed many, many bright dots around and in the galaxy. I have freehand-circled a few as examples. Are these individual stars (probably supergiants) ...
2
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1answer
73 views
Software with simple representation of all stars
Do you know any program similar to TheSky (astronomy software), which enables us to identify stars after clicking on them with a simple view (like in the figure)? Many thanks
3
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2answers
180 views
HD 51684 - mass and distance
Where to find, if it is possible, values of the mass and the distance of HD 51684, please? Many thanks.
2
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2answers
89 views
Could our Sun be the product of an ancient stellar collision?
The canonical model for the formation of the Solar System involves the gravitational collapse of a nebula into (perhaps) several stars across several light years. Is it possible that two or more of ...
3
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1answer
45 views
Star Map Vs Star Catalogue vs Planetarium Software
What is the difference between a star map, star catalogue and the sky provided by planetarium software? I have read the wiki but was having a hard time understanding how the data, accuracy and detail ...
3
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1answer
77 views
How would the temperature on earth be if the sun was slightly more or less powerful?
The temperature on earth is around 14C celsius.
It is around 1370 W/m^2 from our sun. The earth has an albedo of around 0.3
On Tatooine (from Star Wars) i have been able to calculate it goes from 1066 ...
3
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2answers
62 views
How do stars change in size over their main sequence lifetime?
I know that main sequence stars increase in temperature and luminosity as they age. However, I do not know about how they change in size. Do they expand? If so, why do they expand? Do they grow very ...
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2answers
80 views
Is there a way to calculate the mass of of a stellar remnant given the initial mass of the star?
Assume there is a star in a completely empty region of space, away from any outside influence.
Is there a way to calculate the mass of a resulting stellar remnant, a white dwarf, neutron star, or ...
4
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1answer
69 views
Do low-mass red giants last longer than high-mass red giants?
It turns out that red giant stars are not defined by uniform mass. Some can be only one-third as massive as our sun, whereas others can be eight times as massive. So I'm calling the both sides "...
2
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1answer
105 views
Why don't we detect planets around OB stars and no terrestrial planets around A or early F stars?
Looking at an exoplanet database, I noticed that there are very few planets detected around main-sequence OBA stars, and most of them are gas giants/brown dwarfs. Why can't we detect low-mass planets ...
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0answers
48 views
Regarding core fragmentation of a gas giant in the envelope of a red giant
We know that large gas giants, such as Jupiter, have degenerate cores. Let's say there is a hot Jupiter ($5M_J$) that orbits an F-type star. When the star expands into a red giant, the hot Jupiter's ...
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0answers
86 views
Slow moving, flashing star-like object in the sky. What could it be?
The sky was particularly clear last night and I noticed an extremely bright star. I thought it was venus possibly but it was too low down and was flickering craziy. That meant that it couldn't be a ...
2
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1answer
87 views
How close would an LED have to be to your eyes to be as bright as the looking at the sun during midday?
I wonder if it is possible to have an LED screen bright enough to simulate the brightness of our sun from Earth, and if so if it could be made small enough to fit on a laptop screen.
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0answers
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Why do some stars twinkle more than others?
This is a child's question I failed to answer. When observing some stars with naked eye, some stars (e.g. Regulus) appeared to blink significantly more than others, but I did not have the patience to ...
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1answer
91 views
How can a very old star be formed among Population III stars?
After looking at some articles about old stars, (this, that, and this Wikipedia article), I thought about how such an old and small star could have formed. As the early universe had very massive, ...
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1answer
71 views
Are there any known neutron star - supergiant binaries?
After looking for more information about TZOs (Thorne-Zytkow Object), I came up with a question that I had trouble finding answers on the Internet. Do we know of any future TZOs, supergiants being ...
3
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1answer
64 views
Since Proxima Centauri orbits the other two Alpha Centauri stars, will it eventually be farther away from us than they are?
And, if so, will we have to change its name to Distal Centauri ;-) ?
Granted, its orbital period around the other two is about 550,000 Earth years, so we have some time....
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1answer
75 views
Why are accreting objects portrayed with a white flash at the point where the gas stream from the star enters the accretion disk?
When I see images of accreting objects, the gas from the donor has a white flash where it meets the accretion disk, like in the image below. Why does this happen if it is true, and why is it there?
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Is a star with 2/3 solar masses and 9/10 solar radii still in the main sequence?
As far as I know, K-type and G-type stars (among others) grow in radius as they age, eventually leading to red giant phases.
My question is, would a star that is about 0.66 solar masses and 0.94 solar ...
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0answers
64 views
Is is possible for a main sequence star to have 0.77 solar masses yet only be 0.54 solar radii?
I know ordinarily a star's mass and radius tend to be proportional, so a 0.5 solar masses star tends to be about 0.5 solar radii and have a density of 4.82 g/cm³, 3.42 or about three and a half times ...
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0answers
67 views
Can a Thorne-Żytkow object be the progenitor of a modern quasi-star?
I was reading some Wikipedia articles about astronomy, and came across an interesting line:
The neutron star may also accrete sufficient material to collapse into a black hole.
Now, here is my ...
