The Life and Death of Stars

The Life and Death of Stars

Kenneth R. Lang

Language: English

Pages: 363

ISBN: 110701638X

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


In this well-illustrated text, Kenneth R. Lang explains the life cycle of stars, from the dense molecular clouds that are stellar nurseries to the enigmatic nebulae some stars leave behind in their violent ends. Free of mathematical equations and technical jargon, Lang's lively and accessible text provides physical insights into how stars such as our Sun are born, what fuels them and keeps them bright, how they evolve, and the processes by which they eventually die. The book demonstrates the sheer scope and variety of stellar phenomena in the context of the universe as a whole. Boxed focus elements enhance and amplify the discussion for readers looking for more depth. Featuring more than 150 figures, including color plates, The Life and Death of Stars is a modern and up-to-date account of stars written for a broad audience, from armchair astronomers and popular science readers to students and teachers of science.

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Unlike water waves, electromagnetic waves can propagate in empty space. A wavelength is the distance between successive crests or successive troughs (Fig. 1.2) and usually is measured in units of a meter, abbreviated m. We are all familiar with the colorful display of a rainbow, which is sunlight bent into separate wavelengths by droplets of water. A crystal chandelier or compact disk similarly display the spectrum of visible light, arranging the colors by their different wavelengths. From short.

Permitting the detection of fainter objects and providing a brighter image of any cosmic object for analysis. Big telescopes also provide greater angular resolution, which is the ability to see the separation between objects that are close together. Better resolution permits observation of finer detail on the object emitting the radiation. The lenses and mirrors used to focus and collect visible radiation are described by the science of optics; therefore, the study of visible light from cosmic.

From the Greek for “first” because it was the first nuclear particle to be discovered. A proton is positively charged, with a charge equal in amount to that of an electron but opposite in sign; particles with an opposite sign to their electrical charge attract one another. The negatively charged electrons surround the positively charged protons in an atom, in which the total positive charge of the protons is equal to the total negative charge of the electrons. An atom has no net electrical charge.

The packet of uranium salts into a drawer in his worktable. A box of unexposed photographic plates had been left in the drawer, wrapped in thick black paper and never opened; this led to another accidental discovery. When Becquerel took out the plates a few days later and developed the photographs taken with them, he found that they were ruined, as if they previously had been exposed to light. The uranium salts were emitting unseen rays that could affect the plates, even in pitch darkness.

Dusty disks around Sun-like stars. Instruments aboard the Hubble Space Telescope have obtained these images of the visible starlight reflected from thick disks of dust around two young stars that still may be in the process of forming planets. Viewed nearly face-on, the debris disk surrounding the Sun-like star known as HD 107146 (right) has an empty center large enough to contain the orbits of the planets in our solar system. Seen edge-on, the dust disk around the reddish dwarf star known as AU.

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