Modern Astronomy: Lives of the Stars Spring 2016

"Lives of the Stars " began October 2016: check the Continuing Education web-site for enrolment information.

Born in the interstellar gas clouds, stars enjoy a long maturity controlled by the mysteries of quantum mechanics, before dying, sometimes quietly and sometimes with unbelievable violence. Through lectures, demonstrations and the extraordinary images flowing from the Hubble Space Telescope, this series builds a picture of each stage in the life cycle of a star. An evening of star viewing in the Blue Mountains is included. Copy of Mt Wilson handout

Sources for images and animations are given at the end of each lecture and on the "Links" page.

Course outline

Lecture	Links	PDF version	Animations	Podcast
1. Star types: a guided tour We begin with a review of some basic concepts, then take a tour around the various types of stars.	Lecture 1 links	LS1-Tour.pdf (12 Mb)	• Black hole binary	Lecture 1
2. Atoms and quantum mechanics: a gentle introduction We take a look at the smallest constituents of matter; as we will see, the strange realm of quantum mechanics and subatomic particles governs the behaviour of stars.	Lecture 2 links	LS2-QM.pdf (3.8 Mb)		I wasn't able to edit this recording, so you'll have to skip the break Lecture 2
3. What makes a star? We look at how stars work, and what keeps them shining.	Lecture 3 links	LS3-what-makes-a-star.pdf (4.3 Mb)		Lecture 3
4. The Sun: a typical star We compare what we've learned so far with observations of the we can study best: our own Sun.	Lecture 4 links	LS4-Sun.pdf (20 Mb)	• Granulation: gran_mov27M_99_crea.mpg (472 kb) • Solar oscillations: movie1.mpg (3.8 Mb) • Coronal loops: T171_13-21March2001_AR9373.mov (10.1 Mb) • Coronal mass ejection: c3april.mpg (3.3 Mb) • Formation of sunspots: SunspotsForm.mov (1.9 Mb) • Aurora formation: recon.mov (8.5 Mb)	From here on, I wasn't able to edit recordings, so you'll have to skip the break Lecture 4
5. Star formation We look at how stars form out of the giant interstellar gas clouds.	Lecture 5 links	LS5-star-birth.pdf (11.4 Mb)	• Spiral structure: Spiral1.gif (140 kb) • Binary formation: triple.mov (21.3 Mb) • Cluster collapse: cluster4.avi (30.3 Mb) (both from Matthew Bate's animations)	Video didn't record, but sound is OK Lecture 5
x. Binaries Most stars have at least one companion; we look at how binary star systems work.	Lecture x links	LSx-binaries.pdf (5.6 Mb)	• Elliptical orbits: circ1.gif (208 kb), ellipse1.gif (208 kb), ellipse2.gif (208 kb) • Relative orbits: relative.gif (460 kb) • Spectroscopic binary: spbin.mov (948 kb) • Eclipsing binaries: eclipsing1.gif (212 kb), eclipsing2.gif (304 kb)	Lecture x
6. Stellar evolution We look at what happens when stars run out of fuel, and examine the massive changes stars go through at the end of their lives.	Lecture 6 links	LS6-evolution.pdf (5.4 Mb)	• Formation of the Helix Nebula: Helix.mpg (1.1 Mb) (from http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/1996/13/) • Sun becoming a red giant: RedGiant6.mov (12 Mb) (from http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast11jul_1.htm)	Lecture 6
7. Supernovae We look at the violent ways that (some) stars end their lives; along the way, we discover the answer to how the heaviest elements are formed.	Lecture 7 links	LS7-SNe.pdf (7.2 Mb)	• Core collapse: smv1.mpeg (1.9 Mb) (from http://jupiter.as.arizona.edu/~burrows/) • SN1987A rings geometry: SN87A-rings.mov (4.1 Mb) (from http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/1997/14/)	Lecture 7
8. Stellar graveyards: white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes We look at the end products of stellar evolution: the remnants which are left behind.	Lecture 8 links	LS8-graveyards.pdf (8.5 Mb)	• Pulsar: pulsarSmall.gif (172 kb) • Double pulsar: PulsarsCurrent320x256.mpg (3.3 Mb), PulsarsEvolution320x256.mpg (5.1 Mb) (from http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/news/doublepulsar/ • Stars near Galactic centre: motions.avi (2.6 Mb) (from http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso0226/) • Stellar orbits in the central parsec: videos_2016_Orbits.mp4 (1.7 Mb) (from http://www.galacticcenter.astro.ucla.edu/animations.html	Lecture 8
10. Late breaking news We cover some topics of recent interest.	Lecture 10 links	LS10-interacting-binaries.pdf (8.5 Mb)	• Gravitational wave: gw-waves-wave.gif (4.4 Mb) (from ) • Interferometer: ligo20160211v6.m4v (72 Mb) and Colliding black holes: ligo20160211v10.m4v (85 Mb) (both from https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/videos)	Lecture 10



Last updated 9 January 2017

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