Foundations of Astronomy, Enhanced
Foundations of Astronomy, Enhanced
13th Edition
ISBN: 9781305980686
Author: Michael A. Seeds; Dana Backman
Publisher: Cengage Learning US
bartleby

Concept explainers

Question
Book Icon
Chapter 11, Problem 2DQ
To determine

Whether the ancient astronomers, philosophers, and poets could have made any observations to conclude that stars don’t live forever.

Blurred answer
Students have asked these similar questions
Astronomers frequently say that “there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches on the earth”. Given that a typical grain of sand is about 0.5 – 1.0 mm in diameter, estimate the number of grains of sand on all the earth’s beaches.  The diameter of the Earth is 12,742 km. About 1011       About 1016                                 About 1021.
Earth is about 150 million kilometers from the Sun (1 Astronomical Unit, or AU), and the apparent brightness of the Sun in our sky is about 1300 watts/m^2. Using these two facts and the inverse square law for light, determine the apparent brightness that we would measure for the Sun if we were located at the following positions. a) At the orbit of Venus (67 million km from the Sun). b) At the orbit of Jupiter (780 million km from the Sun). c) At the mean distance of Pluto (40 Astronomical Units).
Most stars (Main sequence) generate light through the same mechanism. Because of this, there is an empirical relation between their mass, M, and their Luminosity, L. This relation could be written in the form L/Lsun = (M/Msun, This relation is shown in the log-log diagram below. Find the value of a and round it to the nearest integer. 10 104 102 10-2 10-4 0.1 1.0 2.0 0.2 0.5 5.0 10.0 20.0 Mam (solar masses) Luminosty (solar units)
Knowledge Booster
Background pattern image
Physics
Learn more about
Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, physics and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.
Similar questions
Recommended textbooks for you
Text book image
Stars and Galaxies
Physics
ISBN:9781305120785
Author:Michael A. Seeds, Dana Backman
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Text book image
Astronomy
Physics
ISBN:9781938168284
Author:Andrew Fraknoi; David Morrison; Sidney C. Wolff
Publisher:OpenStax
Text book image
The Solar System
Physics
ISBN:9781337672252
Author:The Solar System
Publisher:Cengage
Text book image
Foundations of Astronomy (MindTap Course List)
Physics
ISBN:9781337399920
Author:Michael A. Seeds, Dana Backman
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Text book image
Stars and Galaxies (MindTap Course List)
Physics
ISBN:9781337399944
Author:Michael A. Seeds
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Text book image
An Introduction to Physical Science
Physics
ISBN:9781305079137
Author:James Shipman, Jerry D. Wilson, Charles A. Higgins, Omar Torres
Publisher:Cengage Learning