Stellar Measurements and Lutgen and Tarbuck's Method of Measuring

It is easy to flip to the index of an astronomy textbook to discover that, say, the Sun lies 150 million kilometers away from Earth.  It is far more difficult (if not impossible), however, to picture this distance in the human mind.  In this exercise, we will learn to access the often unpalatable distances encountered in astronomy by simply scaling the huge distances to more recognizable, pedestrian numbers.  So long as every distance within the system of interest is scaled by the same factor, we retain the meaningful information about relative distances between objects.

It is easy to flip to the index of an astronomy textbook to discover that, say, the Sun lies 150 million kilometers away from Earth. It is far more difficult (if not impossible), however, to picture this distance in our mind. In this exercise, we will learn to access the often unpalatable distances encountered in astronomy by simply scaling the huge distances to more recognizable, familiar numbers. So long as every distance within the system of interest is scaled by the same

[27] Scientists can determine what a distant star is made of by looking at ____.

7, 1906 at 10:02:06. This star was supposed to be located at 325’85, but was observed at 324’13. In conclusion, there was a +1’72 error. The distance from the sun was 12’04. My second star was observed on April 10, 1906 and had a distance of 10’70 from the sun, a very short distance for a star. The observed location was 178’90 and the actual location was 179’05 making a +0’15 error. The variables would be the distance from the sun and the gravitational force.

he could follow this requirement by using a heliocentric model of the universe where the distances of the

Influenced and inspired by others around him who were interested in astronomy, Herschel began building his own telescopes and studying the sky. Herschel’s early work focused on locating double stars, which is a pair of stars that appear visually close together in the sky. While working on a star mapping project on March 13, 1781, Herschel unexpectedly

When we set the coordinates to a specific asteroid that was quite larger than the others it seemed like the same old coordination skills and math. I ordered a nearby sergeant to give a set of coordinates and how many light years it will be to consider the amount of fuel we should consume. It came back to 389.96 light years away from our stationed headquarters. It looked very dim from the point of view I was at, and I knew it was a very large star compared to the other stars I’ve seen. I guess that’s the effect of apparent magnitude, from when it looks close but really it is high in brightness

Calculating stellar movements 5 millions years in the future is no simple math problem. Objects that are great distances appear to move much slower the those closer. We are only just beginning to learn about the behavior of the stars and we cannot know if the will behave the way we expect.

"Astronomy For Kids." Astronomy For Kids - KidsAstronomy.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2017. .

A binary star is a system consists of two stars orbiting around their common center of mass which discovered by Sir William Herschel in 1802. We can classify binary systems into four types by method of observation. This four types are visual binary, spectroscopy binary, astrometric binary and eclipsing binary. In this research, we focus on an eclipsing binary. The star Algol in the constellation of Perseus is a famous eclipsing binary and is a target for amateur astronomers. We study eclipsing binaries by monitoring their light curves, the changes in brightness with time. When the smaller, dimmer star passes in front of the brighter star, there is a primary eclipse. When the dimmer star passes behind the bright star there is a secondary eclipse.

According to the book, "If you know a star’s temperature and luminosity, you can determine its radius" (Seeds 151). The luminosity of a star is related to its absolute magnitude, and its spectral class has a relation to the star's temperature. So, in order to estimate the size of Betelgeuse, we would need both its luminosity (in which we can substitute its absolute magnitude) and its temperature (spectral class), which we have been provided. The absolute magnitude refers to the brightness of a star "if it were 10 pc away" (Seeds 145), and the lower the number the brighter the star (and vice versa). According to the spectral sequence, which goes O, B, A, F, G, K, then M, "O stars are the hottest...M stars, the coolest" (Seeds 148), with M stars being orange/red in color.

The universe is a vast and complex system that has fascinated astronomers for as far back as mankind can remember. Astronomers and scientists alike have imparted a common goal and that is to see as far into the cosmos as possible and shed light on some of universe’s great mysteries. Technology has allowed great advances in space exploration and given mankind the tools to be able to view the space in ways that were never thought possible. One such advancement was the Hubble Telescope which was launched in 1990 yet the brainchild of decades of research and composition. Now celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary, the Hubble Telescope has a rich history utilizing years of investigation and hard work.

The radial velocity method was used to detect the first exoplanet, 51 Pegasi b (51 Peg b) around a main sequence star, 51 Pegasi (51 Peg). The radial velocity method uses the variations in velocity of a star due to the gravitational pull from an exoplanet (Lissauer 2002). Furthermore the velocity isn’t measured in terms of actual speed but in terms of light based on the Doppler effect. The Doppler effect occurs when a star moves. When it moves toward us, its wavelengths of light are shortened and when a star moves away from us, its wavelengths of light are lengthened. Through the continued observation of the Doppler effect on a stars spectrum of light, the velocity of a star is inferred. Any change in a stars velocity is caused by a sufficiently massive companion, an exoplanet (Lissaeur 2002).

methods to obtain the information we have about our solar system. One method to tell the

In Star Wars terms, the key measurement of this study can roughly be likened to measuring the distance between the surface of the Death Star, where multiple rays of light shoot out, and the point where they converge into a single bright beam.