Lecture 4: The evolution of stars

Further reading

• If you'd like to try your hand at some classification of stellar spectra, take a look at the astronomy lab at http://astro.wku.edu/astr106/spectra.html. Here you are offered some spectra to classify, by comparing the spectrum with those of known spectral type – a good way to get a feeling for what Annie Jump Cannon was up against!
• Geoffrey Marcy's site "The History of Women in Astronomy" http://astron.berkeley.edu/~gmarcy/women/history.html has a ream of interesting information about the Harvard College "computers".
• Sky and Telescope has a nice article called "The Spectral Types of Stars": http://skyandtelescope.com/howto/basics/article_560_1.asp
• James Kaler has a web-site "Portraits of Stars and their Constellations: Dedicated to showing that all stars are not the same" at http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/sow.html

  Source for images

  • Harvard College Observatory women: from Geoffrey Marcy, "The History of Women in Astronomy" http://astron.berkeley.edu/~gmarcy/women/history.html
  • Spectral classes: adapted from "Spectral Classes" by Michael Lemke and C. S. Jefferey http://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/www/tot/spek/SPEK_E.HTML
  • Annie Jump Cannon: from Women in Astronomy http://astro.wsu.edu/worthey/astro/html/lec-women.html
  • Spectral types near the Sun: data from the Hipparcos catalogue http://astro.estec.esa.nl/SA-general/Projects/Hipparcos/
  • Comparison of Aldebaran with the Sun: from Astronomy 122: Birth and Death of Stars by Jim Schombert http://zebu.oregon.edu/~js/ast122/lectures/lec06.html
  • Antares from a planet: painting by Bill Hartmann http://www.psi.edu/hartmann/
  • Hertzsprung-Russell diagram: from Universe Today http://www.universetoday.com/39974/hertzsprung-russell-diagram/
  • Proton-proton chain: from Astronomy 162: Stars, Galaxies and Cosmology: The Proton-Proton Chain http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/energy/ppchain.html
  • Planetary nebula images: from Hubble Heritage, http://heritage.stsci.edu/gallery/gallery.html
  • NGC 7027: composite of HST optical and infrared images; Astronomy Picture of the Day 1996 January 17 http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960117.html
  • Structure of a massive star: from Astronomy 1301-02 by Tony Hall: Deaths of Massive Stars http://lepus.physics.uair.edu/~tahall/EXAM3/Week3.htm
  • Supernova 1998aq in NGC3982; from SEDS http://www.seds.org/~spider/spider/Misc/ngc3982_sn.html
  • Crab nebula: VLT image, from Astronomy Picture of the Day 2002 July 14 http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020714.html
  • Interior of a neutron star: from Science @NASA: Crusty star makes its presence felt http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast29sep98_1.htm
  • SN 1987A before and after: images by David Malin, http://www.aao.gov.au/images/captions/aat050.html
  • The life cycle of SN 1987A: from http://jupiter.as.arizona.edu/~burrows/papers/rob/Stellar_Evolution.jpg
  • NGC 3603: from Hubble News Center, http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/1999/20/
  • Stellar fates: from Chandra Resources: Stellar evolution http://chandra.harvard.edu/resources/illustrations/stellar_evolution.html

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  Last updated 20 October 2012

  Please let me know of any problems with these pages: H.Johnston@physics.usyd.edu.au