Part I: Introduction
1) One method scientists use to measure the distance of the star is called parallax. Parallax shift is when closer stars shift positions against the farthest stars. In order for astronomers to measure that distance, they measure the distance of the shift, also considering the diameter of the Erath’s orbit. Then the angle of the parallax is measured. The smaller the angle of the parallax shift is, the farther away the star is from the earth
2) The way that we determine the luminosity of a star is by using a formula L = 4πd^2b.
3) To measure stellar masses we need to measure the properties of the stars in binary systems.
4) In order to measure the radius of the star there are 3 things …show more content…
a) I see White Dwarfs, Main Sequence (Dwarfs), Red Giants, Supergiants.
b) White Dwarfs have luminosity from 0.001-0.02 and temperature from 7,000-24,000. Mass sequence have luminosity between 0.005-70,000 and temperature from 2,000-30,000. Red Giants’ luminosity is from 70-1000 while the temperature is from 3,000-5,000. Supergiants have luminosity between 100,000-1,000,000, temperature at 3,000-10,000.
7) Temperature is what determines the amount of energy per unit on the surface of the star. A cool star will have low energy meaning if the star is very luminous then its surface area is large. If the surface area is large so is the radius.
8) If the star is hot but has low luminosity its radius will stay the same. Apparently a star can get cooler without changing its radius.
9) No, mainly because luminosity greatly depends on distance, temperature and size. For example if one star is much farther away than another star it will appear as bright as the other star. Both stars can have the same temperature but different luminosity.
10) Main sequence stars have very different temperatures, as they get hotter-means more luminous. The stars of this sequence are fusing hydrogen to helium within their cores. I don’t think that this makes much sense because aren’t all of these stars supposed to have around the same temperature and