EAS 1601 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Red Giant, Planetary Nebula, White Dwarf
Document Summary
Molecular cloud: relatively dense regions of the interstellar medium containing h2, He, and dust; a type of nebula (cloud of stuff in the universe) Protostar: an infant star that has not yet begun fusion in its core. This stage of a star(cid:859)s life(cid:272)y(cid:272)le e(cid:374)ds whe(cid:374) the te(cid:373)p a(cid:374)d pressure at the (cid:272)e(cid:374)ter of the protostar become high enough to initiate nuclear fusion. Fusion creates a mass deficit made up by the giving off of energy. Luminosity (amount of energy given off) vs. brightness (measured energy from point of observation) Stars emit a ton of energy over a range of wavelengths. Instrumental in the early development of quantum theory. Developed a mathematical model to explain how the energy emitted by an object changed with the temperature of the object. Stars with higher temperatures will emit with shorter (cid:858)blue(cid:859) wavelengths and will have greater energy output. The herzsprung-russel diagram color vs. amount of energy being put off in a logarithmic space.