2

Man must rise above the Earth—to the top of the

atmosphere and beyond—for only thus will he fully
understand the world in which he lives.

— Socrates

3
 Syllabus of UPTU
EOE-034/EOE-044: SPACE SCIENCES

1. Introduction:
Introduction to space science and applications, historical
development

2. Solar System:
Nebular theory of formation of our Solar System.
Solar wind and nuclear reaction as the source of energy.

Sun and Planets: Brief description about shape size, period of

rotation about axis and period of revolution, distance of planets
from sun, Bode’s law, Kepler’s Laws of planetary motion,
Newton’s deductions from Kepler’s Laws, Newton’s Law of
gravitation, correction of Kepler’s third law, determination of
mass of earth, determination of mass of planets with respect to
earth.
Brief description of Asteroids, Satellites and Comets.

3. Stars:
Stellar spectra and structure, stellar evolution, nucleo-synthesis
and formation of elements.

Classification of stars: Harvard classification system,

Hertzsprung-Russel diagram, Luminosity of star, variable stars;
composite stars (white dwarfs, Neutron stars, black hole, star
clusters, supernova and binary stars); Chandrasekhar limit.

4. Galaxies:
Galaxies and their evolution and origin, active galaxies and
quasars.

5. Creation of Universe:

4
 Early history of the universe, Big-Bang and Hubble expansion
model of the universe, cosmic microwave background radiation,
dark matter and dark energy.

Preface
Over Last few decades there have been exciting times for science in
general and space science in particular. We have been able to probe
the dense atmosphere of Venus. We think we have discovered the
dying glow of big bang that began the expansion of the universe. We
have identified the gravitational lenses in space, and we think we
have found the black holes. We are thrilled with the discoveries from
our exploration of solar system to find the dry rivers on Mars,
volcanoes on the Jupiter’s satellite Io, rings around Jupiter, hundred
of ringlets around the Saturn. We are able to map more than a dozen
of new worlds in orbits about the giant planets of solar system with
each comparable to our own Moon. The spacecrafts Voyager I and II
have crossed the heliosphere. Further, we have been able to probe
deep into the space by Hubble telescope which provides us the
beautiful pictures of the objects.
I am pleased that the interest in space science has increased
manifold in last couple of decades. People are becoming more
fervent in their desire to understand as much as they can about the
cosmos and they are aware what space science can offer to human
perspective. What they are not aware of is the method of science- of
the exacting procedure and rigid rules of the scientific method. It is
here there is a gap in communications that exists between scientist
and nonscientist. The communication gap become obvious, when we
notice that many people, have turned to all manner of unreliable
sources for their information to satisfy their thirst for knowledge. As a
scientist, we have an obligation to the public to increase our efforts in
presenting the honest views of science. We must show not only how
the universe is, but also how, by simple rational processes, we can
probe its mysteries. We know that science has no pipeline to absolute
knowledge; it can only interpret observed facts in terms of rules that
seem to be revealed by objective analysis, therefore, science also
has limitations. The book is designed to cover the syllabus of the
UPTU. Various celestial processes and objects are described in detail

5
with illustrations to clear the confusion between science and
pseudoscience and give better understanding to the students. I have
avoided mathematics beyond the simplest algebra throughout the text
and have tried to stress that the space science is very human
endeavor that is related to those men and women who created the
science.
The book is divided into nine chapters; we introduce the subject of
space science in chapter 1. Solar system is described in chapter 2.
The sun, the planets and satellites are discussed in chapter 3.
Chapter 4 deals with the various laws of celestial mechanic. In
chapter 5 we study stars and their common features. Chapter 6 deals
with Stellar Evolution, while Final Stage of Stellar Evolution is
discussed in chapter 7. In chapter 8 galaxies and various galactic
processes are discussed. Finally, in chapter 9 we discuss the origin,
evolution and other aspects of the universe.

6
 Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Mr. D. K. Gupta Founder cum Chairman, of Dr.
R. N. Gupta Technical Education society and Anupama College of
Engineering for his encouragement and allowing me to carry out this
project, Dr. B. K. Gupta Secretary and Mr. Y. K. Gupta joint Secretary
for their unflagging support.

I would like express my appreciation to my friend Dr. V. K. Jain for

motivating to write this book, careful reading of the manuscript and
his comments which have done much to improve it.

I acknowledge the inspiration and blessings of my respected father in

law Mr. V. N. Sharma.

Special thanks are due to my son Master Udbhav Garg whose many
questions helped me to shape my thoughts properly.

A brief paragraph here cannot suffice to express my gratitude to my

wife Anju Garg and Brother in law Mr. Mayank Sharma who has
joined me to bring up this book by reading, correcting, criticizing and
trying to make it more meaningful to you all. Loving care by my
daughter Miss Ishita Garg is deeply appreciated.

Rajeev Garg

7
Dedicated to my Parents
Late Mr. R. S. Garg & Omwati Garg

8
Introduction to space
science

Unit I

9
 Chapter 1
Galileo Galilei (15
February 1564 – 8
January 1642) was
an Italian physicist,
mathematician,
astronomer,
and philosopher who
played a major role in
the Scientific
Revolution. His
achievements include
improvements to the
telescope and consequent astronomical
observations, and support for Copernicanism.
Galileo has been called the "father of modern
observational astronomy, " the "father of
modern physics, " the "father of science," and "the
father of Modern Science. ” Stephen Hawking says,
"Galileo, perhaps more than any other single
person, was responsible for the birth of modern
science."

Space Science
Four and half billion years ago, a rotating cloud of gaseous and dusty
material on the fringes of Milky Way Galaxy flattens into disk, forming
a star from the innermost matter. Collisions among dust particles
orbiting a newly formed star, which humans call the sun, formed
kilometer sized bodies called planetesimals, which in turn aggregated
to form present day planets. On the third planet from the sun, several
billions of years of evolution gave rise to a species of living beings
equipped with intellectual capacity to speculate about the nature of
the heavens above them.
Thousands of years ago, on this small rocky planet orbiting the sun in
an ordinary spiral galaxy ancestor looked up and wondered about

10
their place between the earth and sky. In twenty-first century people
ask same profound question about how the universe began and
evolved, how people got here, where they are going and whether
they are alone in the universe. After only blink of an eye in cosmic
time scale, those questions are beginning to be answered. In the last
60 years, space probes and space observatories have played central
role in the progress of human exploration and development in
understanding of space which is augmented by manned spacecrafts
and space stations acting as the carriers of space equipments.
The seed of modern science began to sprout following the
reformation. The 17th century German astronomer Johannes Kepler
discovered for the first time certain simple mathematical rules that
describe accurately the motions of the planets. His contemporary, the
Italian physicist Galileo Galilei, discovered some other precise rules
that described the behavior of bodies on the earth. Though the seeds
of experimental science have been shown by certain of later Greek
scholars, notably Archimedes, the practice of performing the
experiments to learn the physical laws was not standard procedure
even in Galileo’s time. Later in the same Seventeenth century, Isaac
Newton showed that Kepler’s celestial rules and Galileo’s terrestrial
ones are united by the same underlying Laws. Newton had the insight
to recognize that the force that makes planets fall in ellipses about
the sun and the force that makes apples fall with uniform acceleration
near the earth’s surface are different manifestations of the same thing
the gravitation.
The speculation on the nature of the universe must date from
prehistoric times. It is difficult to state definitely when the earliest
observations of a more or less quantitative sort were made or when
astronomy as a science began. Certainly in many of the civilizations
the regularity of motions of celestial bodies was recognized, and
attempts were made to keep the track of and predict celestial
phenomenon. It was thought that there is sort of unity between the
heavens and the earth. To be sure, in classical Greece the earth was
thought to be composed of base stuff- the four “elements”, the earth,
water, air and fire- and heavens of crystalline material, the planets

11
were gods, in some early cultures. And gods, presumably, control or
influence the human affairs. By understanding the regularity in the
motions in the heavens Ancients quite naturally understand the
motions of their planet gods; they better understood the individual lots
of men and women and sought a unity between the earth and
heavens through primitive religion of astrology. Ironically, today in
twenty first century enlightenment, a large fraction of all people still
believe in that ancient religion. Thus the astronomy - the science
involved with the observation, explanation and measuring of objects
in outer space, began to develop to fulfill the human thirst of
knowledge about heavens initiating the development in space
science.

Astronomy compels the soul to look upward, and leads us

from this world to another.

— Plato, The Republic, 342 BC

What is Space?
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects
and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical
space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern
physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of the boundless
four-dimensional continuum known as spacetime. In mathematics
one examines 'spaces' with different numbers of dimensions and with
different underlying structures. The concept of space is considered to
be of fundamental importance to an understanding of the
physical universe although disagreement continues between
philosophers over whether it is itself an entity, a relationship between
entities, or part of a conceptual framework. Many of the philosophical
questions arose in the 17th century, during the early development
of classical mechanics. In Isaac Newton's view, space was absolute -
in the sense that it existed permanently and independently of whether
there were any matter in the space. Other natural philosophers,
notably Gottfried Leibniz, thought instead that space was a collection
of relations between objects, given by their distance and direction

12
from one another. In the 18th century, Immanuel Kant described
space and time as elements of a systematic framework which
humans use to structure their experience. In 1905, Albert
Einstein published a paper on a special theory of relativity, in which
he proposed that space and time be combined into a single construct
known as spacetime.
Thus we conclude that space is one of the few fundamental quantities
in physics, meaning that it cannot be defined via other quantities
because nothing more fundamental is known at the present. On the
other hand, it can be related to other fundamental quantities. Thus,
similar to other fundamental quantities (like time and mass); space
can be explored via measurement and experiment.
Today the space science is an all-encompassing term that describes
all the various science fields that are concerned with the study of
the Universe, generally also meaning "excluding the Earth" and
"outside of the Earth's atmosphere". Originally, all of these fields were
considered part of astronomy. However, in recent years the major
sub-fields within astronomy, such as astrophysics, have grown so
large that they are now considered separate fields on their own.
There are eight overall categories that can generally be described on
their own; Astrophysics, Galactic Science, Stellar Science, non-Earth
Planetary Science, Biology of Other Planets, Astronautics/Space
Travel, Space Colonization and Space Defense.
The thrust in modern space science really began in 1946 when
scientists first started to use balloons and sounding rockets to carry
instruments to the outer fringes of the earth’s upper atmosphere.
These efforts were followed by International Geophysical year in
1957-1958 when scientists planned to orbit satellites for their
research. On October 4, 1957, when former Soviet Union launched
sputnik-1 in the orbit, public reaction foster great efforts in space
science by USA as an attempt to atone for cold war humiliation. As a
result USA began to pour heretofore-undreamed resources into
space science and hundreds of scientists shifted their research area
to space science. In the year following World War II, the US scientific
community turned its attention from the support of the war effort to

13
scientific questions that has been the focus of attention before the
war. The 1970 were the “golden age” of space science. In 1976 two
Viking spacecrafts landed on the surface of the Mars and in 1977 two
Voyager spacecrafts began their journey to Jupiter and Saturn and
perhaps on to Uranus and Neptune.
1.1 The Astronomical methods
Astronomical methods are the equipment and techniques used to
collect data about the objects in Space. Galileo's first astronomical
method was to find and buy the best telescope of the time and then
point that telescope to the heavens. Methods can be categorized
according to the wavelength they are attempting to record.
Radio astronomy includes radio telescopes; devices that receive and
record radio waves from outside the Earth. They record cosmic
microwave background radiation resulting from the Big
Bang, Pulsars and other sources. Optical astronomy is the oldest kind
of astronomy. X-ray observatories include the Chandra X-ray
Observatory and others; gamma ray includes the Compton Gamma
Ray Observatory and others. Neutrino astronomy observatories have
also been built, primarily to study our Sun. Gravitational
wave observatories have been theorized. A space telescope is a
telescope orbiting or traveling from the Earth, such as the Hubble
space telescope. RXTE is Long Exposure Time Astronomy used to
study millisecond pulsars and pulsar deceleration.

14
Figure 1.1 Palomar Telescope.
1.2 Descriptive astronomy
Galileo's second astronomical method was to describe what he saw
in the telescope. Descriptive Astronomy is the highest sub-category
of Astronomy to classify any knowledge related to describing celestial
objects. Because we are seeing today portions of the Universe as
they actually looked millions or billions of years ago we should have a
historical section within descriptive astronomy: The history of the
Universe includes the size, shape and structure of the historical
universe, Cartography of The historical Universe, Early Universe and
others. The Current Universe includes size shape and structure of the
current Universe, cartography of the current Universe and others.
1.3 Cartography of Space Bodies.
Recording photographic or similar images of the Earths surface from
space is a well developed science, yet still expanding because of
advances in the actual resolution of images taken from space or
atmosphere and because of advances in digitizing and manipulating
the images. Most of these advances are being applied to the
cartography of space-located bodies, even though acquiring the
original images of those bodies is extremely complicated and
expensive, usually requiring long distance probes to carry the
cameras. Visible matter in the universe is apparently organized
geographically into structures with large amounts of space between

15
them; the space between planets, the space between stars or the
space between galaxies. Even galaxies themselves are not spread
uniformly but appear to be located in filaments. Therefore the
Universe can be divided geographically into regions that follow this
structure
1.3.1 The Filaments of Galaxies
They are the furthest visible structures made
of superclusters, tending to line up in filaments. Our Milky
Way Galaxy is a galaxy in what is called the Supercluster of
Galaxies. It is some 150 million light-years across; and a
great aggregation of perhaps thousands of smaller clusters
of galaxies. The largest of these smaller clusters is called the
Virgo Cluster. The Virgo Cluster contains the center of mass
of Our Supercluster. Although The Milky Way Galaxy is a
part of Our Supercluster, it is not a part of the Virgo Cluster.
Our Milky Way Galaxy is part of a cluster called the Local
Group. Gravitationally, our Local Group plays a small role in
Our Supercluster because it is a small and distant cluster
from the center. A much larger cluster within in Our
Supercluster is the Ursa Major Cluster. The following objects
are located within Our Supercluster but not within the Local
Group; they are objects 100,000,000 light-years to
10,000,000 light-years from the Sun for example: M49,
M51, M58, M59, M60, M61, M63, M64, M65, and M66.
1.3.2 Local Group: Our Milky Way Galaxy is one of about 30
galaxies called the Local Group. The Local Group is about 4
million light-years across. In the Local Group our Milky Way
Galaxy plays a large gravitational part because our galaxy is
the second largest galaxy in our Local Group, second only to
the Andromeda Galaxy. All of the other galaxies in our Local
Group are gravitationally bound either to the Andromeda
Galaxy or to our Milky Way Galaxy. Inside of our local group
but outside of our Galaxy are objects 4,000,000 LY to

16
 1,000,000 LY from the Sun for example: M31, M32, and
M33.

Figure 1.2 Image of the Orion and neighboring arms

1.3.3 Milky Way Galaxy: Our Milky Way Galaxy is

massive mass-containing structure 100,000 light-years
across and 30,000 light-years tall. Most of its billions of
suns are organized into approximately 12 structures
called "arms". Our Sun is located in what is called the
"Orion Arm". The next arm outside of us is called the
"Perseus Arm". The Crab Nebula M1 is located in the
Perseus Arm. The arm outside of the Perseus Arm is
called the Outer Arm. Palomar 1 is located in the Outer
Arm. The next arm inside of us is called the Sagittarius
Arm. The Ring Nebula M57 and the Carina Nebula
(NGC 3372) are located in the Sagittarius Arm. The
next arm inside of the Sagittarius Arm is called the
Crux Arm. The inner arms are much shorter, obviously
from being shifted by gravitational forces. Arms beside
each other today may have at an earlier time been
one. Orion Arm: The Orion Nebula M42 is located in
our Arm. With Celestial Objects 1000 LY to 100 LY
from the Sun for example: M39, M44, and
M45. Celestial Objects 100 LY to 16LY From the

17
 Sun. Celestial Objects less than 16 LY from the Sun
lies within this arm.
1.4 Nearby-Stars Solar Systems: By measuring the extremely
small movements of nearby stars astronomers have been able
to prove that there are planets going around these Suns,
therefore these suns have become "Solar Systems”. Solar
system includes Scientific Study of Solar System Planets,
Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Mars,
and Moon.
1.5 Physics of the universe / Astrophysics
After first looking at the planets, then describing what he saw,
Galileo's third astronomical method was to theorize about the
reasons for what he saw in the telescope, specifically to theorize that
the Earth goes around the Sun? The Physics of the Universe can be
divided into several broad categories:
(a) Astrophysical Theory That includes general relativity and
others.
(b) Astrophysical Processes It includes baryonic and others
physical processes that generally includes mechanics
electromagnetism, electromagnetic forces, statistical mechanics,
thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, relativity, gravity and
others.
(c)Origins Of The Universe The theories of the Origins of the
Universe, Big Bang Theory, Early Universe, Evidence, Cosmic
Microwave Background, Dark Ages, etc are included in it.
(d) Interstellar Medium, voids, Filaments of Galaxies, galaxy
clusters and others.
(e)Astrophysical Plasma It includes plasma and
quasineutrality and others.
(f) Cosmic Plasmas between Stars, (Diffuse Plasmas) It
includes intergalactic space, intergalactic medium, interstellar

18
 medium, interplanetary medium, heliosphere current
sheet, interplanetary medium, Solar wind and others.
(g) Cosmic Plasmas inside Stars, (Dense Plasma) It
includes Stars, active galactic nuclei, and fusion power,
magnetohydrodynamic, X-rays, bremmstrahlung, Cosmology,
recognized, ambipolar diffusion, Particle Physics and others.
1.6 Galactic Science /Cosmology
Physics can explain the underlying physical science of any galaxy,
yet many aspects of galaxies are not best described through the
physics. Galactic physical science is the general term for all physical
sciences that can be applied to any galaxy in the Universe or to a
particular galaxy.
(a) Galaxy Formation and Evolution includes galaxies,
elliptical galaxies giant galaxies, spiral galaxies,
M31 the Andromeda galaxy and others.
Intra-Galactic Processes includes Black Hole, Globular
Clusters, Satellite Galaxy, and Retrograde Rotation, Halo stars,
High Velocity Clouds, Monoceros Ring, accretion disc,
Gravitation, Angular momentum, Centripetal force, tidal
effects, Viscosity, orbital momentum, Accretion disk, Active
galactic nuclei, Protoplanetary discs, Gamma ray bursts and
others.

19
Figure 1.3 Galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field.

(b) Milky Way Galactic Physical Science is the overall

science containing all the physical sciences related directly to the
Milky Way Galaxy: Halo stars, Milky Way High Velocity Clouds,
Milky Way Monoceros Ring, Milky Way accretion disc, Milky
Way Gravitation, Milky Way Angular momentum, Milky Way
Centripetal force, Milky Way tidal effects, Milky Way Viscosity,
Milky Way orbital momentum, Milky Way event horizon, Milky
Way black hole and others.
1.7 Stellar science
It is the general term for ALL physical sciences that can be applied to
any star in the Universe or to a particular star it comprises of:

(a) Solar science of the Sun Sun is the overall science

containing all of the physical sciences related directly to our local
Sun.
Stellar-Processes, General Stellar dynamics, stars, Stellar
Evolution, event horizon, black hole, x-rays, nuclear fusion and
others. In astronomy, stellar evolution is the sequence of
changes that a star undergoes during its lifetime; the hundreds of
thousands, millions or billions of years during which it emits light
and heat. Over the course of that time, the star will change
radically. Stellar evolution is not studied by observing the life
cycle of a single star—most stellar changes occur too slowly to
be detected even over many centuries.
Instead, astrophysicists come to understand how stars evolve by
observing numerous stars, each at a different point in its life
cycle, and simulating stellar structure with computer models.

(b) Stellar evolution begins with a giant molecular cloud (GMC),

also known as a stellar nursery. Most of the 'empty' space inside
a galaxy actually contains around 0.1 to 1 particle per cm³, but

20
 inside a GMC, the typical density is a few million particles per cm³.
A GMC contains 100,000 to 10,000,000 times as much mass as
our Sun by virtue of its size: 50 to 300 light-years across.
Very small protostars never reach temperatures high enough
or nuclear fusion of hydrogen to begin; these are brown dwarfs of
less than 0.1 solar mass. Brown dwarfs heavier than
13 Jupiter masses (MJ) do fuse deuterium, and some astronomers
prefer to call only these objects brown dwarfs, classifying anything
larger than a planet but smaller than this a sub-stellar object. Both
types, deuterium-burning or not, shine dimly and die away slowly,
cooling gradually over hundreds of millions of years. The central
temperature in more massive protostars, however, will eventually
reach 10 mega Kelvin, at which point hydrogen begins to fuse by
way of the proton-proton chain reaction to deuterium and then
to helium.

Figure 1.4 Quintuplet Cluster- Very young and near the Galactic
Center.
The onset of nuclear fusion leads over a relatively short time to
a hydrostatic equilibrium in which energy released by the core

21
prevents further gravitational collapse. The star thus evolves
rapidly to a stable state.
New stars come in a variety of sizes and colors. They range
in spectral type from hot and blue to cool and red, and in mass
from less than 0.5 to more than 20 solar masses. The brightness
and color of a star depend on its surface temperature, which in
turn depends on its mass.
A new star will fall at a specific point on the main sequence of
the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Small, cool red dwarfs’ burn
hydrogen slowly and may remain on the main sequence for
hundreds of billions of years, while massive hot supergiants will
leave the main sequence after just a few million years. A mid-sized
star like the Sun will remain on the main sequence for about 10
billion years. The Sun is thought to be in the middle of its lifespan;
thus, it is on the main sequence. Once a star expends most of the
hydrogen in its core, it moves off the main sequence. It can be
seen that on :
a. Maturity After millions to billions of years, depending on
its initial mass, the continuous fusion of hydrogen into
helium will cause a build-up of helium in the core. The
later years and death of stars:
b. Low-mass star some stars may fuse helium in core
hot-spots, causing an unstable and uneven reaction as
well as a heavy solar wind. In this case, the star will form
no planetary nebula but simply evaporate, leaving little
more than a brown dwarf. But a star of less than about
0.5 solar mass will never be able to fuse helium even
after the core ceases hydrogen fusion. There simply is not
a stellar envelope massive enough to bear down enough
pressure on the core. These are the red dwarfs, such
as Proxima Centauri, some of which will live thousands of
times longer than the Sun. Recent astrophysical models
suggest that red dwarfs of 0.1 solar masses may stay on
the main sequence for almost six trillion years, and take

22
 several hundred billion more to slowly collapse into
a white dwarf.
c. Mid-sized stars once a medium-size star (between
0.4 and 3.4 solar masses) has reached the red
giant phase, its outer layers continue to expand, the core
contracts inward, and helium begins to fuse into carbon.
In stars of less than 1.4 solar masses, the helium fusion
process begins with an explosive burst of energy
generation known as a helium flash. Helium burning
reactions are extremely sensitive to temperature, which
causes great instability. Huge pulsations build up, which
eventually give the outer layers of the star enough kinetic
energy to be ejected as a planetary nebula. At the center
of the nebula remains the core of the star, which cools
down to become a small but dense white dwarf, typically
weighing about 0.6 solar masses, but only the volume of
the Earth.
d. White dwarfs White dwarfs are stable because the
inward pull of gravity is balanced by the degeneracy
pressure of the star's electrons. (This is a consequence of
the Pauli Exclusion Principle.) With no fuel left to burn, the
star radiates its remaining heat into space for thousands
of millions of years. In the end, all that remains is a cold
dark mass sometimes called a black dwarf. However, the
universe is not old enough for any black dwarf stars to
exist.
e. Supermassive stars After the outer layers of a star
greater than five solar masses have swollen into a
gigantic red supergiant; the core begins to yield to gravity
and starts to shrink. As it shrinks, it grows hotter and
denser, and a new series of nuclear reactions begin to
occur. These reactions fuse progressively heavier
elements, temporarily halting the collapse of the core.
f. Neutron stars

23
 It is known that in some supernovae, the intense gravity
inside the supergiant forces the electrons into the atomic
nuclei, where they combine with the protons to
form neutrons. The electromagnetic forces keeping
separate nuclei apart are gone (proportionally, if nuclei
were the size of dust motes, atoms would be as large as
football stadiums), and the entire core of the star
becomes nothing but a dense ball of contiguous neutrons
or a single atomic nucleus.
g. Black holes it is widely believed that not all
supernovae form neutron stars. If the stellar mass is high
enough, the neutrons themselves will be crushed and the
star will collapse until its radius is smaller than
the Schwarzschild radius. The star has then become a
black hole.

1.8 Earth planetary science

Figure 1.5 Solar System Planets.

The Earth and Planetary science includes the study of the following:
(a) Planetary Processes, Generally includes planetary
science, Planets, Extrasolar Planet, Dwarf Planets,
Comets, Asteroids and others.
(b) Geophysics is the study of the earth by quantitative physical
methods, especially by seismic, electromagnetic, and
radioactivity methods, therefore Planetary Geophysics is the study

24
 of the planets by quantitative physical methods, especially by
seismic, electromagnetic, and radioactivity methods. It includes the
branches of: Seismology (earthquakes and elastic waves),
planetary gravity, geodesy, Tectonophysics (geological processes
in the planets), Mineral Physics and others. Geophysics can be
both a part of physics and a part of Geology.
(c)Geodesy of the Solar System, also called geodetics of the
solar system, is the scientific discipline that deals with the
measurement and representation of the planets of the Solar
System, their gravitational fields and geodynamic phenomena
(polar motion in three-dimensional, time-varying space. The
science of geodesy has elements of both astrophysics and
planetary sciences. The shape of the Earth is to a large extent the
result of its rotation, which causes its equatorial bulge, and the
competition of geologic processes such as the collision of plates
and of volcanism, resisted by the Earth's gravity field. These
principles can be applied to the solid surface of Earth (orogeny;
Few mountains are higher than 10 km, few deep sea trenches
deeper than that because quite simply, a mountain as tall as, for
example, 15 km, would develop so much pressure at its base, due
to gravity, that the rock there would become plastic, and the
mountain would slump back to a height of roughly 10 km in a
geologically insignificant time. Some or all of these geologic
principles can be applied to other planets besides Earth. For
instance on Mars, whose surface gravity is much less, the largest
volcano, Olympus Mons, is 27 km high at its peak, a height that
could not be maintained on Earth. The Earth geoid is essentially
the figure of the Earth abstracted from its topographic features.
Therefore the Mars geoid is essentially the figure of Mars
abstracted from its topographic features. Surveying and mapping
are two important fields of application of geodesy. Physics is the
underlying physical science of any planet, yet many aspects of
planets are not best described through their physics. Planetary
science is the general term for all physical sciences that can be
applied to planets in the Universe or else to a particular planet.

25
(d) Planetary science of the Earth is the overall physical
science containing all the physical sciences related directly to our
Earth. Planetary Science can be broadly divided into several major
sciences: Geology, Oceanography and Atmospheres.
(e)Geology of Solar System Planets contains geology of
Mercury, geology of Venus, geology of the Moon, geology of
Mars, geology of Jupiter, geology of Saturn, geology of
Uranus, geology of Neptune, and geology of Pluto
(f) Geology of Other Planets Planetary geology (sometimes
known as Astrogeology) refers to the application of geologic
principles to other bodies of the solar system. However,
specialized terms such as selenology (studies of the Moon),
areology (of Mars), etc., are also in use. Most of the geological
sciences related to the Earth can be directly applied to the study of
non-Earth planets:
(g) Geology Fields or related disciplines Structural
geology, Geomorphology., Economic geology, Mining geology,
Geodetics, Geomorphology, Geophysics, Historical geology,
Hydrogeology or geohydrology, Mineralogy, Paleoclimatology,
Sedimentology, Seismology, Stratigraphy, Structural geology,
Volcanology, Hydrology, Geothermometry (heating of the earth,
heat flow, volcanology, and hot springs), Hydrology (ground and
surface water, sometimes including glaciology).
(h) Extrasolar Geology is currently a young science because
only recently have extrasolar planets been found.
(i) Atmospheres of Solar System Planets refers to the
application of meteorological principles to other bodies of the solar
system including the application of: Atmospheric
electricity and terrestrial magnetism (including ionosphere, Van
Allen belts, telluric currents, Radiant energy, etc.),
Meteorology and Climatology. Aeronomy the study of the physical
structure and chemistry of the atmosphere. Atmosphere of
Planets of the Solar System that includes Mars atmosphere,
Jupiter atmosphere, atmosphere on Jupiter’s-Moons,

26
 atmosphere, atmosphere on Uranus and atmospheres of
Extrasolar Planets is currently a young science because only
recently have extrasolar planets been found. Astronomers are
currently theorizing that the recently discovered extrasolar Jupiter-
sized planets have continuous surface winds of many thousands
of miles per hour caused by their highly elliptical orbit which brings
them close to their parent star.

(j) Planets around other stars

Figure 1.6 Planets around other stars

Over the last few years, intensified research and improved

observational techniques have led to the discovery of stars which are
orbited by companions of very low mass. The data so far available
indicate that at least the majority of these have masses comparable
to that of Jupiter, the largest planet in our own solar system. Efforts to
discover more planetary companions to other stars in the Milky Way
galaxy are being vigorously pursued and will no doubt feature
prominently in astronomical research over the next several decades.

The International Astronomical union (IAU) provides a forum for

international discussion and coordination of research in this exciting
new branch of astronomy.

In order to facilitate international research in the field, and as part of

these discussions, the IAU is also developing a system for clear and
unambiguous scientific designation of these bodies at all stages

27
during their study, from tentative identification to fully-characterized
objects. Such a system must take into account that discoveries are
often tentative, later to be confirmed or rejected, possibly by several
different methods, and that several planets belonging to the same
star may eventually be discovered, again possibly by different
means. Thus, considerable care and experience are required in its
design.

In response to frequent questions about plans to assign actual names

to extra-solar planets, the IAU sees no need and has no plan to
assign names to these objects at the present stage of our
knowledge. Indeed, if planets are found to occur very frequently in
the Universe, a system of individual names for planets might well
rapidly be found equally impracticable as it is for stars, as planet
discoveries progress.

Exobiology / Extraterrestrial life

Earth telescopes can resolve some surface features of the nearby
planets and so far, no life can be seen through the telescopes.
However, Earth telescopes cannot resolve the surface features of any
planet outside the solar system, so the search for life on other planets
continues. While no incontestable evidence has been found for life
outside of Earth, the scientific study of the theoretical basis for life on
other bodies is progressing. Some scientists are trying to theorize
which kinds of stars would have planets that hold life. Because life
has overall fragile parameters for survival the general consensus is
that only older stars would have planets circling them with life. From
this they theorize which sections of our Milky Way Galaxy would most
likely hold life. Other scientists theorize the quantity of civilizations
that might exist in a galaxy and others are actually listening for the
possible radio chatter of extraterrestrial technical civilizations. These
sub-sciences of exobiology can be categorized as follows:

28
Figure 1.7 Silicon Based Life-A picture of silent, the silicon-based
analogue of methane.
(a) Habitable Zone Astrobiology is discussed in Galactic
Habitable Zone and Solar System Habitable Zone.
(b) Astrobiochemistry Exogenesis most scientists hold that if
extraterrestrial life exists, its evolution would have occurred
independently in different places in the universe. An alternative
hypothesis, held by a minority, is panspermia, which suggests that
life in the universe could have stemmed from a smaller number of
points of origin, and then spread across the universe,
from habitable planet to habitable planet. These two hypotheses
are not mutually exclusive. Alternative biochemistry includes
Alternative Carbon Biochemistry where water is not the Solvent of
Carbon Chains: Life forms based in ammonia rather than water
are also considered, though this solution appears less optimal than
water Also included is Alternative Non-Carbon Biochemistry- non-
carbon based chemistry Silicon is usually considered the most
likely alternative to carbon, though this remains improbable. Silicon
life forms are proposed to have a crystalline morphology, and are
theorized to be able to exist in high temperatures, such as planets
closer to the sun.
(c)Astrobiosphere is the entire area of a planet that supports life
and includes Biosphere, Theory of Biosphere, Planetary

29
 Habitability Extrasolar planets Astronomers also search for
extrasolar planets that would be conducive to life, especially those
like OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb which have been found to have
Earth-like qualities.
(d) Plants On Other Planets includes Extremophiles,
Theoretical Astrobotany, Life On Jupiter, Life on Mars scientific
theory, Independently in 1996 structures resembling bacteria were
reportedly discovered in a meteorite, ALH84001, thought to be
formed of rock ejected from Mars. This report is also controversial
and scientific debate continues.
(e)Humanoids-On-Other-Planets include Humanoids – On -
Other S-Planets Origins- Speculations and Scientific
Theory Panspermia. Extraterrestrial life along with the biochemical
basis of extraterrestrial life, there remains a broader consideration
of evolution and morphology.
(f) Humanoids- On- Other- Planets Technical
Civilizations includes Humanoids – On – Other – Planets,
Technical - Civilizations, Speculation and theory. Most scientists
hold that if extraterrestrial life exists, its evolution would have
occurred independently in different places in the universe. An
alternative hypothesis, held by a minority, is panspermia, which
suggests that life in the universe could have stemmed from a
smaller number of points of origin, and then spread across the
universe, from habitable planet to habitable planet.
(g) Humanoids-On-Other-Planets-Civilizations on Local
Stars includes Search for Humanoids-On-Other-Planets-
Civilizations on Local-Stars.
1.10 Space Exploration through space travel
Astronomy is exploration of space through instruments based on
Earth. Space Exploration through space travel is exploration of
space by travel through it, either in person or by drone. Closely
associated with Space travel is Space Station, either manned or

30
 unmanned. All man-made satellites are a form of unmanned or
manned space stations

(a) Unmanned Space travel includes

the sciences of
Spacecraft Propulsion, Rocket launch technology, Rocket,
Astrodynamics, Unmanned space missions, and others.
(b) Manned Space travel further includes the sciences of
Microgravity environment, Space transport, manned space
missions, interplanetary travel, Interstellar travel and Generation
ship.
Unmanned space station There are Astronomical
satellites, Biosatellites, Communications satellites,
miniaturized satellites, Navigation satellites, Reconnaissance
satellites, Earth observation satellites, Earth observation
satellites and others. There are many different kinds of orbits
possible for these devices.
(c)Manned Space Station includes the sciences of Space
Station and Floating cities.

Figure 1.8 Orion approaching the ISS.

1.11 Space colonization

31
Space colonization is a colossal science that includes all of the
scientific disciplines needed to be able to build colonies on non-Earth
planets and planetoids.
(a) Space Colonization Justification includes the sciences
of Space and survival.
(b) Space Colony Research And Development Man can
practice living on other worlds by building permanently inhabitable
cities in extremely hostile environments of the Earth: The poles
and the deserts. Currently manned Earth hostile-environment
stations include Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Devon
Island, Mars Arctic Research Station, Mars Desert Research
Station, climate, underwater structures for planets with oceans or
very heavy atmospheres and others.
(c)Space Colony Location is the science of figuring out the best
planets and the best locations on those planets for colonization.
Because water is such a necessity for human survival most
searches are for locations close to some kind of water. In the
planets such as Mars Colonization, Colonization of
Mercury, Colonization of Venus, Venusians terraforming,
Colonization of the Moon, Artemis Project, Europa, Phobos,
colonization of the asteroids and others.
(d) Space Colonization Habitat science includes Space
habitat, Human adaptation to space, Manmade closed ecological
system, planetary habitability, domed city, Ocean colonization,
Underground city and other sub-sciences.
(e)Space Colonization Agriculture includes Biosphere
2 and BIOS-3 and others.
(f) Space Colonization Food Processing includes Space
food and others.
(g) Space Colonization Housing includes International
Space Station.
(h) Space Colonization Clothing includes Space suits.

32
(i) Space Colonization Construction includes Orbital Mega
structures, station-keeping, Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station,
Devon Island, Mars Arctic Research Station, Mars Desert
Research Station, climate, underwater structures for planets with
oceans or very heavy atmospheres and others.
(j) Space Colonization Transportation includes lunar rover.
(k) Space Colonization Materials includes Recycling.
(l) Space Colonization Energy includes Renewable energy.
(m) Space Colonization General Manufacturing includes
Space Manufacturing.
(n) Space Colonization Economics: includes Space Frontier
Foundation, Private space flight and space tourism, solar power
satellites, Asteroid mining, space manufacturing,
(o) Space Colonization Operations: includes space
agencies, Space advocacy, Colonize the Cosmos, Artemis
Project, National Space Society, Planetary Society, robotic
exploration, search for extraterrestrial life.

1.12 Space Defense

33
Figure 1.9 Space Lasers.

Space Defense is the science of defending the Earth from natural or

unnatural threats from Space. Natural threats include Near Earth
Asteroids and similar. Other issues are discussed in Missile Defense
Command, United States Army Space and Missile Defense
Command, Department of Defense Manned Space Flight Support
Office, European Aeronautic Defense & Space and Joint Defense
Space Research Facility.

1.13 Applications of Space Science

(a) Space technology can be used to support the disaster

management by use of the earth observation satellites accurate
picture of the damage can be obtained.
(b) Global Navigational Satellite System (GNSS) are space based
radio positioning systems that provide round the clock three
dimensional positions, velocity and time information to suitably
equipped users anywhere on or near the surface of the earth. It
makes significant contribution in the areas of aviation, land and
maritime transportation, mapping and surveying, precision

34
 agriculture, power and telecommunications networks, disaster
warnings and emergency response.
(c) Communication satellites have the potential of bridging “the
knowledge gap” between rich and poor countries by leapfrogging
certain stages of developments, by improving education, health
services and promoting favorable conditions for environmental
protection.
(d) Natural resource assessment can be done by using GIS layers.
(e) Space technology has improved vastly the Broadcasting, tele-
education, tele-medicine services.

Summery
• Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which
objects and events occur and have relative position and
direction.
• Space is one of the few fundamental quantities in physics
• In the last 60 years, space probes and space observatories
have played central role in the progress of human exploration
and development in understanding of space.
• The thrust in modern space science really began in 1946 and
the 1970 were the “golden age” of space science.
• The space science is an all-encompassing term that describes
all the various science fields that are concerned with the study
of the Universe.
• Astronomical methods are the equipment and techniques used
to collect data about the objects in Space.
• The Physics of the Universe can be divided into several broad
categories.
• There are eight overall categories in space science that can
generally be described on their own; Astrophysics, Galactic
Science, Stellar Science, non-Earth Planetary Science, Biology
of Other Planets, Astronautics/Space Travel, Space
Colonization and Space Defense.
• Space technology can be used Broadcasting, tele-education,
tele-medicine services, and disaster management etc.

35
 Exercises
Fill in the blanks

1. ______ cannot be defined via other quantities because

nothing more fundamental is known at the present.

2. The 1970 were the _______________ of space science.

3. The space science is a ______________ term that describes

all the various ___________ fields that are concerned with the
study of the Universe.

4. There are _________ overall categories in space science that

can generally be described on their own.

5. The equipment and techniques used to collect data about the

objects in Space is called ________________.

6. ___________________ is Galileo's second astronomical

method was to describe what he saw in the telescope.

7. Most of the 'empty' space inside a galaxy actually contains

around _______ to ______particle per cm³.

8. Space ____________ is a colossal science that includes all of

the ____________disciplines needed to be able to build
colonies on non-Earth planets and planetoids.

9. Space Defense is the science of defending the Earth from

natural or __________threats from Space.

10. _____________ is the entire area of a planet that supports

life and includes Biosphere.

Short questions with answer

36
Q1. What do you understand by space science?
Ans. Today the space science is an all-encompassing term that
describes all the various science fields that are concerned with
the study of the Universe, generally also meaning "excluding
the Earth" and "outside of the Earth's atmosphere".
Q2. How exploration and development in our understanding of
space augmented?
Ans. In the last 60 years, space probes and space observatories
have played central role in the progress of human exploration
and development in understanding of space which is
augmented by manned spacecrafts and space stations acting
as the carriers of space equipments.

Q3. What was the golden period of space science?

Ans. The 1970 were the “golden age” of space science. In 1976 two
Viking spacecrafts landed on the surface of the Mars and in
1977 two Voyager spacecrafts began their journey to Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune and beyond heliosphere.
Q4. What are the major subfields within astronomy?
Ans. The major sub-fields within astronomy, such as astrophysics,
have grown so large that they are now considered separate
fields on their own. There are eight overall categories that can
generally be described on their own; Astrophysics, Galactic
Science, Stellar Science, non-Earth Planetary Science, Biology
of Other Planets, Astronautics/Space Travel, Space
Colonization and Space Defense.

Q5. What was Galileo’s first method of astronomy?

Ans. Galileo's first astronomical method was to find and buy the best
telescope of the time and then points that telescope to the
heavens.

Q6. What is the role of Milky Way in its Local Group?

Ans. In the Local Group our Milky Way Galaxy plays a large
gravitational part because our galaxy is the second largest
galaxy in our Local Group, second only to the Andromeda
Galaxy.
Q7. What is stellar evolution?

37
Ans. It is the sequence of changes that a star undergoes during its
lifetime.
Q8. What are brown dwarfs?
Ans. A very small protostars where temperatures never reach high
enough or nuclear fusion of hydrogen cannot begin is brown
dwarfs of less than 0.1 solar mass. In brown dwarfs heavier
than 13 Jupiter masses (MJ) there is a fusion to deuterium, and
some astronomers prefer to call only these objects brown
dwarfs, thus, classifying anything larger than a planet but
smaller than this a sub-stellar object as brown dwarfs.
Q9. What is main sequence star?
Ans. It is the sequence of changes that a star undergoes during its
lifetime.
Q10. What is stellar evolution?
Ans. It is the sequence of changes that a star undergoes during its
lifetime.
Q11. What is the main factor to ignite helium burning in a star?
Ans. Temperature is the main factor to ignite helium burning in a
star.
Study Questions
Q1. Define Space? Write a note on its development?
Q2. Discuss Astronomical Methods?
Q3. What do you understand with cartography of space bodies?
Q4. Discuss the various processes of stellar science?
Q5. What is the importance of Exobiology?
Q6. Describe Space colonization?
Q7. What you understand with Geodesy of the Solar System?
Q8. What is the importance of space travel?
Q9. Give some of the applications of space science?
Q10. How Space travel is important in the exploration of the space?

38
Solar System

Unit II

39
 Chapter 2
Nicolaus
Copernicus (1
9 February
1473 – 24 May
1543) was a
renaissance
astronomer
and the first to
formulate a
comprehensive
heliocentric
cosmology,
which
displaced
the Earth from
the center of
the universe.

Solar System
In ancient times the earth was considered to be the central and
dominant in the universe, while the sun, moon and planets were
considered to be luminous orbs that moved about on the celestial
sphere through the zodiac. However, our solar system is indeed
dominated by one body the sun, not the earth. The sun though
very important to us is an ordinary star. Only careful scrutiny at a
close range would reveal the tiny planets to an imaginary
interstellar visitor. First the Jupiter, the largest, would be seen;
then Venus and Saturn; and perhaps only with the greatest
difficulty, the earth and other planets. Almost 99.99 percent of the
matter in the system is the sun itself; the planets comprise most of
what is left- the earth scarcely counts among them. The countless
millions of other objects in the solar system, mostly unknown to
ancients would probably remain unnoticed by a casual traveler
passing through solar neighborhood.

For many thousands of years, humanity, with a few notable

exceptions, did not recognize the existence of the Solar System.

40
They believed the Earth to be stationary at the centre of
the universe and categorically different from the divine or ethereal
objects that moved through the sky. Although the Indian
mathematician-astronomer Aryabhata and the Greek philosopher
Aristarchus of Samos had speculated on a heliocentric reordering of
the cosmos, while Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to develop a
mathematically predictive heliocentric system. His 17th-century
successors, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton,
developed an understanding of physics which led to the gradual
acceptance of the idea that the Earth moves around the Sun and that
the planets are governed by the same physical laws that governed
the Earth. In more recent times, improvements in the telescope and
the use of unmanned spacecraft have enabled the investigation of
geological phenomena such as mountains and craters, and seasonal
meteorological phenomena such as clouds, dust storms and ice
caps on the other planets.
2.1 Inventory of Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and those celestial
objects bound to it by gravity, all of which formed from the collapse of
a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. Of the
retinue of objects that orbit the Sun, most of the mass is contained
within eight relatively solitary planets whose orbits are almost circular
and lie within a nearly-flat disc called the ecliptic plane. The four
smaller inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, also called
the terrestrial planets, are primarily composed of rock and metal. The
four outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, also called
the gas giants, are composed largely of hydrogen and helium and are
far more massive than the terrestrials.
The Solar System is also home to two regions populated by smaller
objects. The asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter, is
similar to the terrestrial planets as it is composed mainly of rock and
metal. Beyond Neptune's orbit lie trans-Neptunian objects composed
mostly of ices such as water, ammonia and methane. Within these
regions, five individual objects, Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake

41
and Eris, are recognized to be large enough to have been rounded by
their own gravity, and are thus termed dwarf planets. In addition to
thousands of small bodies in those two regions, various other small
body populations, such as comets, centaurs and interplanetary dust,
freely travel between regions.
The solar wind, a flow of plasma from the Sun, creates a bubble in
the interstellar medium known as the heliosphere, which extends out
to the edge of the scattered disc. The hypothetical Oort cloud, which
acts as the source for long-period comets, may also exist at a
distance roughly a thousand times further than the heliosphere.
Six of the planets and three of the dwarf planets are orbited
by natural satellites, usually termed "moons" after Earth's Moon.
Each of the outer planets is encircled by planetary rings of dust and
other particles.
The relative prominence of various kinds of members of solar system
is indicated in Table 2.1 which lists the approximate distribution of
mass among the bodies of solar system. The last four entries in
the table are order of magnitude guesses only.

Object Percentage of Mass

Sun 99.85
Planets 0.135
Comets 0.01 (?)
Satellites 0.00005
Minor Planets 0.0000002 (?)
Meteoroids 0.0000001(?)
Interplanetary medium ‹‹ 0.0000001

Table 2.1 Distribution of Mass in Solar System

2.2 Origin of Solar System

Analysis of rocks in the earth and moon and of meteorites revels that
the oldest of them all have ages of about 4500 million years. The
theoretical studies of the early evolution of sun suggest the age of

42
 the sun to be same. Thus we can say our solar system was
formed slightly less than 5000 million years ago. Further the
organization of planets in the solar system is quite orderly. They
all lie nearly in same plane with orbits nearly circular in shape and
are regularly spaced. All the planets revolve in the same direction
– from west to east (same as the direction of rotation of the sun).
Most of the planets and most of the satellites of the planets rotate
from west to east as well. These facts alone rule out once popular
catastrophic theory of origin of solar system. According to this
theory, a passing star pulled out the matter from the sun that later
condensed into planets. Any matter so extracted even if it were
not lost to solar system, could hardly have formed into planets
with regularly spaced near circular orbits, and hot gases would
have been dispersed, not formed into planets. Moreover, such
close encounters of passing stars are exceedingly rare.
Today it is generally accepted that the sun and planets formed
together from the same original tenuous cloud of interstellar gas
and dust called solar nebula. The idea appears to have been first
suggested by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, in mid 18th
Century, and was developed into the specific model by French
astronomer Marquis Pierre Simon de Laplace near the end of
same century. This Kant- Laplace idea is known as nebular
hypothesis. This Kant –Laplace model cannot be correct in detail,
but the modern versions are consistent with well known laws of
mechanics. There is broad general agreement on the broad
outline of the formation of the solar system; however its details
are uncertain and are still rather speculative- not because of the
subject is particularly mysterious but because we simply do not
yet have enough information to choose among the models.

In the nebula model it is assumed that about 5000 million years ago
the solar system condensed from a tenuous cloud of gas and dust
formed the solar nebula having the diameter thousands of times
that of orbit of most distant present planet- perhaps as much as a
light year or so It would have to have had some original net
rotation probably due to differential rotation of the Galaxy itself.
The rotation of the original cloud has been exceedingly slight-
merely a slight net unbalance of the many random motions of the
gases within it. It is seen that some stars eject matter into space.
Thus the interstellar medium from which our solar system is

43
 condensed was not simply the left over matter that did not
condensed into star when the Galaxy was formed, but also it
contains a good deal of matter that was formerly part of another
star.

Most stars derive their energy by thermonuclear conversion of light

atoms into heavier ones, thereby slowly changing their chemical
composition. The solar nebula therefore, contained many atoms
that have been built up by nuclear reactions of another stars. It
may be noted that our own bodies are made up of atoms, many or
most of which are formed in earlier stars. The solar nebula so
formed perhaps represented a fluctuation of density, so that it was
very slightly denser than the gas in the interstellar medium
surrounding it. Thus it must have been gravitationally unstable so
that its gravitation was enough to pull its parts together, that is, the
random motion of its gaseous parts and dust particles were great
enough for them to escape each other dispersing the cloud, so it
began to contract under its own gravity. As it contracted, it has to
conserve the angular momentum which force it to rotate faster
and faster as it draw itself together .After some time the rotation
began to produce orderly structures. Eventually, the matter in the
outer equatorial region of the rotating cloud, moving ever faster as
it contracted, had a high enough speed to stay in a circular orbit
about the center of mass of cloud. The material in that part of
nebula could not come any closer to the center. To do so it would
have to speed up still more (to conserve angular momentum); an
increase in speed, however would force it to move out away from
the center into larger orbit, and there was no energy available to
move it out against the pull of gravity. Thus the material in the
equatorial region was simply left behind in roughly circular orbit as
the rest of the cloud continued to fall inward. As the time went on
more and more material was left behind the shrinking cloud,
moving in a circular orbits and forming a disk of materials. The
matter in the disk could no longer contract towards its center,
although matter on either sides of the disk could fall towards it
(falling towards disk in the direction parallel to the axis of
rotation).In this way rotating solar nebula flattened itself into disk.

44
The in falling atoms picked up speed as they fall, and when the gas
density become high enough for them to collide with each other,
the kinetic energy was distributed among atoms becoming heat.
Most of this heat was radiated away from the disk, but in central
condensation- to become the sun-the density grow until gases of
the gases of the protosun become opaque. The opacity trapped
the heat inside and the pressure produced by heat slowed down
the contraction. The shrinking nebula had become a great globe
of hot gases that could contract only very gradually, as it was able
to slowly radiate away the heat trapped in the interior .Thus a star
(the sun) was born at the center, containing perhaps half or more
of the material of the original cloud. The rest of the nebula was in
the form of a relatively cold rotating disk, from which the planets
and their satellites ware formed.

In the inner part of solar nebula the high luminosity of young sun
would have evaporated the gases that were composed of volatile
substances. Thus Particles of water ice and frozen carbon di
oxide could exist only far away out in the disk. Rocks and the
metallic grains, on the other hand, could survive throughout the
disk. In all parts of that rotating disk, though, the orbiting particles
were constantly colliding and often sticking together, and many
grow by accretion. A few began to get big enough to
gravitationally affect those which come near. Sometimes the
smaller particles would pass close enough to the bigger one to
bump into them and stick. But if they do not pass close enough to
hit; they could be gravitationally deflected to the another part of
the disk, or even out of solar system altogether

In this way, a few large chunks gradually won out over their
neighbors, either capturing them or getting rid of them thereby
sweeping out ring shaped swaths in the solar nebula all centered
on the sun. They become planets. In the final stage of this
accretion the young planets swept up the last of the solid chunks
remaining on the disk. There must have been many craters
producing explosions as these chunks smashed home on the
planets without dense atmospheres. We can still observe the
heavy catering produced in this period.

45
The planets in the inner part of the solar system Mercury, Venus,
Earth and Mars build up of rocky and metallic particles. They have
lot in common and are called the terrestrial (earth like) planets.
They could attract and hold on to none of the gases in the solar
nebula. Their present atmospheres have out gassed from rocks
beneath their surfaces; Mercury however, is too small to retain
even this kind of atmosphere.

Far out in the nebula, on the other hand, it was cool enough for grains
to exist; along with rocky and metallic ones. The planets that
accreted out there Jupiter, Saturn Uranus and Neptune formed
out of lots of ices as well as rocks and metals. They have lot in
common, and are called Jovian (Jupiter like) planets. Jupiter and
Saturn were large enough to even attract and hold a large amount
of gases in the solar nebula. Jupiter in particular, has the present
composition almost like that of the sun; it is mostly the hydrogen
and helium.

The favored theory of the origin of moon is that it and the earth
formed together, the moon accreting from the material in the orbit
about the primordial earth. Some, theorists, however, argue that the
moon and earth could have formed independently in different parts of
the solar nebula but at the same distance from the sun. In this case
earth and moon would have to have been trapped in each others
mutual gravitational field at later time. Most of the other planets have
satellites, and many of them are believed to have formed by accretion
from the material in the orbit about their parent planets. Some
satellites however, such as the outer ones of Jupiter, have
eccentric orbits and even revolve from east to west (opposite to
the revolution of the planet and most of the satellites) these were
probably captured after their formation.

The Asteroids may simply be the objects that never accreted to single
large planets, perhaps because there were too little mass in that
part of solar system to begin with or perhaps due to the tidal
influence of Jupiter. They may however, be still fragmenting by
collisions and have started from a much smaller original number
of bodies. Planets and minor members of the solar system

46
 contribute only minutely to its total mass. The original mass of the
disk must have been much greater, for it is doubtful if practically
all of the solar nebula could be condensed into the sun itself. We
know when a star first began to shine it is temporarily much more
luminous than when it is fully developed. In that period of the
Sun’s existence a large flux of energy from it both in form of
photons and corpuscular radiation (atomic nuclei and electrons)
may have interacted with uncondensed gases and tiny unaccerted
particles and “blown” them from solar system. Such an early solar
winds of corpuscular radiation could also have carried away most
of the sun’s angular momentum comprises only about 2 percent of
that of solar system, despite the fact that the sun has more than
99.8 percent of the systems present mass.
The study of stars has indicated that all stars are not formed in the
manner the sun was formed. Often, the original protostar fissions
into two condensations to become a double star, and the original
angular momentum are conserved in the orbital motions of two
stars rather than in one star with the system of planets. Other
times the cloud breaks up into cluster of stars. We don’t know how
often planetary systems are formed. At most it’s only half the
times, because about half the stars around us are member of
binary star systems. Some recent studies have indicated that the
formation of planetary systems might be relatively rare.

Figure 2.1 Schematic representation of the formation of the solar system(1) the
solar nebula condensed from the interstellar medium and contracts (2) as the

47
 nebula shrinks its rotation causes it to flatten, until (3) the nebula is a disk of
matter with the concentration near the center, which (4) becomes the
primordial sun. Meanwhile, solid particles condense to the inner solar nebula.
These (5) accrete to form the terrestrial planets. The pressure of radiation
and wind of corpuscular radiation from the primordial sun blow the solar
system clean of most of the matter in the disk that did not form into the
planets. The figures are not to the same scale, the original nebula has to
contract greatly before its rotation produces appreciable flattening.

2.3 The Structure of Solar System

The principal component of the Solar System is the Sun, a main
sequence G2 star that contains 99.86 percent of the system's known
mass and dominates it gravitationally. The Sun's four largest orbiting
bodies, the gas giants, account for 99 percent of the remaining mass,
with Jupiter and Saturn together comprising more than 90 percent.
Most large objects in orbit around the Sun lie near the plane of
Earth's orbit, known as the ecliptic. The planets are very close to the
ecliptic while comets and Kuiper belt objects are frequently at
significantly greater angles to it. All of the planets and most other
objects also orbit with the Sun's rotation (counter-clockwise, as
viewed from above the Sun's North Pole). There are exceptions, such
as Halley's Comet.
To cope with the vast distances involved, many representations of the
Solar System show orbits the same distance apart. In reality, with a
few exceptions, the farther a planet or belt is from the Sun, the larger
the distance between it and the previous orbit. For example, Venus is
approximately 0.33 astronomical units (AU) farther out from the Sun
than Mercury, while Saturn is 4.3 AU out from Jupiter, and Neptune
lies 10.5 AU out from Uranus. Attempts have been made to
determine a correlation between these orbital distances (for example,
the Titius-Bode law), but no such theory has been accepted.

48
Figure 2.2 The orbits of the bodies in the Solar System to scale
(clockwise from top left)
Kepler's laws of planetary motion describe the orbits of objects about
the Sun. According to Kepler's laws, each object travels along
an ellipse with the Sun at one focus. Objects closer to the Sun (with
smaller semi-major axes) have shorter years. On an elliptical orbit, a
body's distance from the Sun varies over the course of its year. A
body's closest approach to the Sun is called its perihelion, while its
most distant point from the Sun is called its aphelion. Each body
moves fastest at its perihelion and slowest at its aphelion. The orbits
of the planets are nearly circular, but many comets, asteroids and
Kuiper belt objects follow highly elliptical orbits.
Most of the planets in the Solar System possess secondary systems
of their own. Many are in turn orbited by planetary objects
called natural satellites, or moons, some of which are larger than the
planet Mercury. Most of the largest natural satellites are
in synchronous rotation, with one face permanently turned toward
their parent. The four largest planets, the gas giants, also
possess planetary rings, thin bands of tiny particles that orbit them in
unison.
2.4 Terminology
Informally, the Solar System is sometimes divided into separate
regions. The inner Solar System includes the four terrestrial planets
and the main asteroid belt. The outer Solar System is beyond the

49
asteroids, including the four gas giant planets. Since the discovery of
the Kuiper belt, the outermost parts of the Solar System are
considered a distinct region consisting of the objects beyond
Neptune.
Dynamically and physically, objects orbiting the Sun are officially
classed into three categories: planets, dwarf planets and small Solar
System bodies. A planet is any body in orbit around the Sun that has
enough mass to form itself into a spherical shape and has cleared its
immediate neighborhood of all smaller objects. By this definition, the
Solar System has eight known planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Pluto does not fit this
definition, as it has not cleared its orbit of surrounding Kuiper belt
objects. A dwarf planet is a celestial body orbiting the Sun that is
massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity but which has not
cleared its neighboring region of planetesimals and is not a satellite.
By this definition, the Solar System has five known dwarf planets:
Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris. Other objects may be
classified in the future as dwarf planets, such as Sedna, Orcus,
and Quaoar. Dwarf planets that orbit in the trans-Neptunian region
are called "plutoids". The remainder of the objects in orbit around the
Sun is small Solar System bodies.

50
Figure 2.3 Planets and dwarf planets of the Solar System. Sizes are
to scale, but relative distances from the Sun are not.

Planetary scientists use the terms gas, ice, and rock to describe the
various classes of substances found throughout the Solar
System. Rock is used to describe compounds with
high condensation temperatures or melting points that remained
solid under almost all conditions in the protoplanetary
nebula. Rocky substances typically include silicates and metals
such as iron and nickel. They are prevalent in the inner Solar
System, forming most of the terrestrial planets
and asteroids. Gases are materials with extremely low melting
points and high vapor pressure such as molecular hydrogen,
helium, and neon, which were always in the gaseous phase in the
nebula. They dominate the middle region of the Solar System,
comprising most of Jupiter and Saturn. Ices, like water, methane,
ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide, have melting
points up to a few hundred Kelvin, while their phase depends on
the ambient pressure and temperature. They can be found as
ices, liquids, or gases in various places in the Solar System, while
in the nebula they were either in the solid or gaseous phase. Icy
substances comprise the majority of the satellites of the giant
planets, as well as most of Uranus and Neptune (the so-called
"ice giants") and the numerous small objects that lie beyond
Neptune's orbit. Together, gases and ices are referred to
as volatiles.
2.5 Solar Winds

The solar wind is actually an extension of the solar corona (outer

atmosphere of the sun) in the form of more or less continuous
outflow of ions and electrons. This is due to high temperature and
more importantly small temperature gradient with height. As a
result the solar corona is not at the hydrostatic equilibrium but is
continuously by expanding into interplanetary space. The resulting
outflow of coronal plasma is known as solar wind. Because of
very high electrical conductivity of coronal plasma the magnetic
field in the corona controls both the heat conduction and the
outflow of the material. In the regions where the magnetic field
lines reach high into corona the coronal expansion is greatly

51
 enhanced. The expansion speed is very low in the inner corona
but increases rapidly with height. At the critical radius the thermal
energy and the expansion kinetic energy become comparable; at
this point the velocity is close to the velocity of sound in the
plasma and the critical point is sometimes refer to as sonic point.
At large distances the expansion velocity increases still further
and solar wind becomes supersonic.
The magnetic field is now carried along with the expanding plasma
resulting in interplanetary magnetic fields. At about 20 R
(radius of the sun) from the sun, the coronal expansion becomes
very nearly radial but the rotation of the solar winds the
interplanetary magnetic field lines into Archimedes spirals on the
cones described by rotating radius vector Figure 2.4.

In early work on solar wind theory, incorrect assumptions about the

electric field produced by the coronal plasma called Rannekock-
Rossel and electric field derived under the assumption of static
equilibrium led to evaporative models of the coronal expansion
predicting much lower (subsonic) velocities that is solar breeze
rather than solar winds. In situ measurements by space crafts
have confirmed the basic velocity of the solar wind as measured
near the earth are give in Table 2.2 The observations indicate the
essentially continuous presence of magnetic field fluctuations in
the solar wind plasma that seems to be predominantly Alfvěn
waves being convected outward from the sun. In addition to being
convected the waves move s outward from the sun with respect to
plasma. Because of overall propagation it is presumed that the
waves are originated near the sun-at least inside the critical
radius. It has been suggested that photospheric supergranulation
is the source of these waves.

Solar wind magnetic field lines are convected away from the sun by
expanding solar wind. This interplanetary magnetic field is
originated and ordered on large scale Observations made near
the equatorial plane of the sun suggest that the magnetic field is
originated into a few (typically four) sectors or regions where the
magnetic field is predominantly directed either away from the sun
or towards the sun along the basic Archimedes spiral induced by
solar rotation as shown in Figure 2.4.

52
 Property Medium Average Maximum
8 -2 -2
Flux (10 ions cm s ) 1.0 3.0 100
-1
Velocity (km s ) 200 400 900
-3
Density (ions cm ) .4 6.5 100
Electron Temperature 5 200 1000
(1000 K)
Proton Temperature 3 50 1000
(1000 K)
Magnetic Field 0.2 6.0 80
-5
Strength (10 = ‫ץ‬
G)
Alfvěn speed (km –s) 30 60 150
Helium abundance 0.0 0.05 0.25
(fraction per
number)
Table 2.2 Properties of Solar Winds

Figure 2.4 Schematic diagram of the wrapped current sheet in the

inner solar system (inside 6 AU). This current sheet divides the
interplanetary magnetic field in the heliosphere into two regions
with oppositely directed field lines. In one region the field polarity

53
 is towards the sun, in the other region it is away from the sun. The
situation is shown for a four-sector structure. Formed by
Archimedes spiral formed by solar rotation Full and dashed lines
indicate the current sheet lying above and below the equatorial
plane, respectively. The extend in latitude of the current sheet was
assumed to be ±15º. The sun at the centre is not shown to scale.

The solar wind extend into the regions around the sun approximately
called the heliosphere and is expected to terminate at heliopause
are at a distance R at which the pressure of the wind balance the
pressure of interstellar space This interstellar pressure is due to a
combination of contribution from galactic magnetic fields and,
cosmic rays and interstellar gas. The value of R is not known but
R ≈ 50 to 100 AU is often quoted.
2.6 Energy Generation
The rate at which the sun emits electromagnetic radiation into the
space, and thus the rate at which energy must be generated
within it, is about 4 x 1033 ergs/s .Further, the power output of the
sun has been the same throughout the recorded history and
according to geological evidences, not very different since the
formation of the earth thousands of millions of years ago.
It was suggested about 1928 that the energy source in the stars
might be fusion of light elements into heavier elements. Since
hydrogen and helium accounts for about 98 to 99 percent of the
mass of most of the stars, we logically look first to these elements
as probable reactants in any such fusion reaction. The helium
atom s are about 4 times massive than that of hydrogen.
Therefore it would take four atoms of hydrogen to produce one
atom of helium. The masses of hydrogen and helium atoms are
1.007825U and 4.00268U, respectively. Let us compute the
difference in the initial and the final masses.

4x 1.007825 = 4.03130U (mass of initial hydrogen atoms)

- 4.00268U (mass of the helium atom)
0.02862U (mass loss in the transaction)

Here we include the mass of entire atoms not just the nuclei, because
the electrons are involved as well, even though, in the stellar
interiors, the hydrogen and helium are completely ionized. When

54
 hydrogen is converted into helium two positrons are created in the
nuclear reactions, and these annihilate with two free electrons,
adding to the energy produced.
Thus with the mass lost by 0.02862U is 0.71 percent of the mass of
the initial hydrogen. If 1 g of hydrogen turns into helium, 0.0071 g
of material is converted into energy. The velocity of light is 3 x 10 10
cm/s so the energy released is

M = m.c2 = 0.0071 x (3x1010)2

= 6.4 x1018 ergs

This = 6 x1018 ergs is enough energy to raise the 5-m telescope150

Km above the ground. To produce the sun’s luminosity of 4 x 1033
ergs/s, some 600 million tons of hydrogen must be converted into
helium per second with the simultaneous conversion of 4 million
tons of matter into energy. As large as these numbers are the
nuclear energy in the sun is still enormous. Suppose the half of
the suns mass of 2x1033g is hydrogen that can be ultimately
converted into helium, then the total store of nuclear energy in the
sun would be 6 x 1052 ergs. Even at the sun’s current rate of
expenditure the sun could survive more than 1010 years.

As a main sequence star the main source of energy of the sun is

thermonuclear conversion of four protons to one helium atom with
the release of the binding energy of 26.73 MeV. At the
temperature less than ≈ 2.3 x 107K most of the energy is provided
by proton –proton (PP) chain a series of reaction that yields 26.20
MeV in gamma rays and 0.53 MeV in neutrinos.

p (p, e+ +‫)ע‬d
e+ (e-)γ
d (p , γ)3He
3
He (3He, p+ p) 4He

At temperatures above 1.4 x 104 K alternative terminations involving

the heavier species are more frequent; firstly

3
He (4He, γ) 7Be

55
 7
Then either Be (e-, 7 (‫ע‬Li (pep reaction)
7
Li (p, α) 4He

7
Or Be (p, γ) 8B
8
B (e+ , +8 ( ‫ע‬Be☼
8
Be☼ 2 4He

This reaction produces neutrinos which should be detectable on the

earth.
At temperature above 1.7 x 107 K a very different reaction catalyzed
by carbon, nitrogen and oxygen (hence CNO cycle) takes over.
This is very sensitive to temperature (rate proportional to T17)
whereas the p-p chain is only weakly dependent (rate proportional
to T4). In solar model the CNO energy production is strongly
concentrated at the core but even there it provides only 6% of the
total energy production rate in the standard model. A lower core
temperature, that would be consistent with the observed neutrino
flux, would produce even less energy by the CNO cycle.

Summery
Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to develop a mathematically
predictive heliocentric system.
The Solar System consists of the Sun and those celestial
objects bound to it by gravity.
Solar System was formed from the collapse of a giant molecular
cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago.

• The four smaller inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and

Mars, also called the terrestrial planets they are primarily
composed of rock and metal.
• The four outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune,
also called the gas giants, are composed largely of hydrogen
and helium and are far more massive than the terrestrials.

56
 • Five individual objects, Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake
and Eris, are recognized to be large enough to have been
rounded by their own gravity, and are termed dwarf planets.
• Dwarf planets that orbit in the trans-Neptunian region are also
called "plutoids".
• The solar wind is actually an extension of the solar corona
(outer atmosphere of the sun) in the form of more or less
continuous outflow of ions and electrons.
• It was suggested about 1928 that the energy source in the stars
might be fusion of light elements into heavier elements.

Exercises
Fill in the blanks

Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to develop a mathematically

predictive ________________.

Solar System was formed approximately ___________ billion years

ago.

Asteroid belt lie between___________ and __________.

The _________ of Planets and _______ of dwarf planets are orbited

by their moons.

The sun comprises approximately ___________ percent of the mass

of the solar system.

57
The most popular theory of the formation of the solar system is
____________.

The star derives their energy by ______________ conversion.

Asteroids never accreted to large planets due to their very

low__________.

Most of the large objects in orbit round the sun lie near the orbit of the
earth called ___________

The solar winds can be detected as far as ______AU.

Short questions with answer

Q1. What is a solar system? When it is thought to be created?
Ans. The Solar System consists of the Sun and those celestial
objects bound to it by gravity, all of which formed from the
collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion
years ago.
Q2. What are the regions of solar system?
Ans. The Solar System is also home to two regions populated by
smaller objects. The asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and
Jupiter, is similar to the terrestrial planets as it is composed
mainly of rock and metal. Beyond Neptune's orbit lie trans-
Neptunian objects composed mostly of ices such as water,
ammonia and methane. Within these regions, five individual
objects, Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris, are
recognized to be large enough to have been rounded by their
own gravity, and are thus termed dwarf planets.
Q3. Name the planets of solar system?

58
Ans. There are four smaller inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth
and Mars, also called the terrestrial planets they are primarily
composed of rock and metal. The four outer planets, Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, also called the gas giants, are
composed largely of hydrogen and helium and are far more
massive than the terrestrials. Recently, five individual
objects, Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris, are
recognized to be large enough to have been rounded by their
own gravity, and are thus termed dwarf planets.
Q4. Do all planets and dwarf planets have natural satellites?
Ans. Six of the planets and three of the dwarf planets are orbited
by natural satellites, usually termed "moons" after
Earth's Moon. Each of the outer planets is encircled
by planetary rings of dust and other particles.
Q5. What is the catastrophic theory of the origin of solar system?
Ans. The Catastrophic theory of origin of solar system suggest that a
passing star pulled out the matter from the sun that later
condensed into planets.
Q6 What is the nebular theory of the origin of solar system? When
did it first appear?
Ans. It is generally accepted that the sun and planets formed
together from the same original tenuous cloud of interstellar gas
and dust called solar nebula. The idea appears to have been
first suggested by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, in
mid 18th Century, and was developed into the specific model by
French astronomer Marquis Pierre Simon de Laplace near the
end of same century. This Kant- Laplace idea is known as
nebular hypothesis. This Kant –Laplace model cannot be
correct in detail, but the modern versions are consistent with
well known laws of mechanics.
Q7. How often stars like the sun is formed?
Ans. The study of stars has indicated that all stars are not formed in
the manner the sun was formed. Often, the original protostar
fissions into two condensations to become a double star, and

59
 the original angular momentum are conserved in the orbital
motions of two stars rather than in one star with the system of
planets. Other times the cloud breaks up into cluster of stars.
Q8. How often planetary systems like that of sun is formed?
Ans. We don’t know how often planetary systems are formed. At
most it’s only half the times, because about half the stars
around us are member of binary star systems. Some recent
studies have indicated that the formation of planetary systems
might be relatively rare.
Q9. What is the heliosphere?
Ans. We don’t know how often planetary systems are formed. At
most it’s only half the times, because about half the stars
around us are member of binary star systems. Some recent
studies have indicated that the formation of planetary systems
might be relatively rare.
Q10. What amount of hydrogen must be converted into helium for the
sun to sustain its present luminosity?
Ans. To produce the sun’s luminosity of 4 x 1033 ergs/s, some 600
million tons of hydrogen must be converted into helium per
second with the simultaneous conversion of 4 million tons of
matter into energy.
Study Questions
Q1. Give brief idea about the members of solar system.
Q2. How solar system is thought to be originated? What are the two
important theories of its origin?
Q3. On what grounds the catastrophic theory of the origin of solar
system is discarded?
Q4. Explain the nebular theory of the origin of solar system.
Q5. How do the planets formed?
Q6. What is the theory of the formation of moons?
Q7. Discuss the structure of solar system.
Q8. What are solar winds?
Q9. What is the major source of energy of the sun?
Q10. Why do we not expect the nuclear fusion on the surface layer of
the star?

60
 Chapter 3
Sir Arthur Stanley

Eddington, OM, FRS

(28 December 1882 –

22 November 1944) was

a British astrophysicist

of the early 20th century.

The Eddington limit, the natural limit to the

luminosity of stars, or the radiation generated by

accretion onto a compact object, is named in his

honour

The Sun and the Planets

61
3.1 The Sun
The Sun is the Solar System's star, and far and away its chief
component. Its large mass produces temperatures and densities in
its core great enough to sustain nuclear fusion, which releases
enormous amounts of energy, mostly radiated into space as
electromagnetic radiation; peaking in the 400–to–700 nm band we
call visible light.
The Sun is classified as a type G2 yellow dwarf, but this name is
misleading as, compared to majority of stars in our galaxy, the Sun is
rather large and bright. Stars are classified by the Hertzsprung-
Russell diagram - a graph which plots the brightness of stars against
their surface temperatures. Generally, hotter stars are brighter. Stars
following this pattern are said to be on the main sequence, and the
Sun lies right in the middle of it. However, stars brighter and hotter
than the Sun are rare, while substantially dimmer and cooler stars,
known as red dwarfs, are common, making up 85 percent of the stars
in the galaxy. It is believed that the Sun's position on the main
sequence puts it in the "prime of life" for a star, in that it has not yet
exhausted its store of hydrogen for nuclear fusion. The Sun is
growing brighter; early in its history it was 70 percent as bright as it is
today.

Figure 3.1 A transit of Venus, showing the size of the Sun in

comparison to the planet

62
The Sun is a population I star; it was born in the later stages of
the universe's evolution, and thus contains more elements heavier
than hydrogen and helium ("metals" in astronomical parlance) than
older population II stars. Elements heavier than hydrogen and helium
were formed in the cores of ancient and exploding stars, so the first
generation of stars had to die before the universe could be enriched
with these atoms. The oldest stars contain few metals, while stars
born later have more. This high metallicity is thought to have been
crucial to the Sun's developing a planetary system, because planets
are formed from accretion of "metals". These metals are heated to
the gaseous state. The tremendous pressure is produced by the
great weight of the sun’s layers. The high temperature of its interior
and consequent thermonuclear reactions keeps the entire sun
gaseous. There is no distinct surface we observe optically only the
level in the sun at which the gases become opaque and prevent us
from seeing deep into its interior. The temperature of that region is
about 6000˚ K. Relatively, sparse outer gases extends for millions of
kilometers into space in all directions. The visible part of the sun is
1,390.000 Km across. This is 109 times the diameter of the earth. Its
volume is 1⅛ million times that of the earth. Its mass is 2 x 1033 g
exceeds that of the earth by 333,000 times. The suns energy output
is 5 x 1023 hp that provides all the light and heat for rest of the solar
system. Some solar data obtained by various techniques are
described in Table 3.1

Datum How Found Value

63
Mean distance Radar reflection from planets 1 AU

149,597892 km

Maximum distance from earth 1.521 X 108 km

Minimum distance from earth 1.471 X 108 km

Mass Acceleration of earth 333,400 earth mass

1.99 X 1033g

Mean angular diameter Direct Measurement 31’59’’.3

Diameter of photosphere Angular size and distance 109.3 times earths

diameter

1.39 x 10 cm

1.41g/cm3
Mean Density Mass/volume
27.9 times earths
Gravitational acceleration at GM/R2
surface gravity.
photosphere(surface gravity)
1.96 cal/min/cm2
Solar Constant
Measured by instruments such
1.368 x 106 ergs/s/cm2
as bolometer
3.8 x 1033 ergs/s
Luminosity Solar Constant times area of
the spherical surface 1 AU in
radius
Spectral Class
Spectrum
G2V

Table 3.1 Solar Data

3.2 Interplanetary medium
There are two main components of interplanetary medium namely
interplanetary dust and interplanetary gas. The interplanetary dust
can be considered as sparse distribution of micro meteorites
throughout the solar system, or at least throughout the main disk that
contains the orbits of the planets. These individual particles have
been detected as they strike the spacecrafts. Further, these particles
can be observed by the sunlight they reflect. On a dark clear night a
faint band of light can be seen circling along the ecliptic which is

64
brightest near the sun and can be seen in the west within a few hours
after the sunset or in the east within few hours before the sunrise.
Sometimes, it can be seen as the complete band confined to ecliptic
or zodiac, it is called as Zodiacal light. Spectrographic analysis of the
zodiacal light seems to be sunlight, presumably reflected from
microscopic solid particles. The stream of particles spreads outwards
at roughly 1.5 million kilometers per hour, creating a tenuous
atmosphere (the heliosphere) that permeates the Solar System out to
at least 100 AU (see heliopause). Apart from interplanetary dust it is
thought that planetary atmosphere do not end abruptly but thins out
gradually into interplanetary gas. The evidence to this effect is
provided by space probes which reveal that interplanetary gas
consists of ions and electrons ejected into space from the sun as
solar wind. Geomagnetic storms on the Sun's surface, such as solar
flares and coronal mass ejections, disturb the heliosphere,
creating space weather. The largest structure within the heliosphere
is the heliospheric current sheet, a spiral form created by the actions
of the Sun's rotating magnetic field on the interplanetary medium.
Thus we can say that interplanetary space contains minute widely
spread particles and very sparse gas. In the neighborhood of earth
there are only a few ions per cubic centimeter. This is a far better
vacuum than can be produced in any terrestrial laboratory.
Earth's magnetic field stops its atmosphere from being stripped away
by the solar wind. Venus and Mars do not have magnetic fields, and
as a result, the solar wind causes their atmospheres to gradually
bleed away into space. Coronal mass ejections and similar events
blow magnetic field and huge quantities of material from the surface
of the Sun. The interaction of this magnetic field and material with
Earth's magnetic field funnels charged particles into the Earth's upper
atmosphere, where its interactions create aurorae seen near
the magnetic poles.
Cosmic rays originate outside the Solar System. The heliosphere
partially shields the Solar System, and planetary magnetic fields (for
those planets that have them) also provide some protection. The
density of cosmic rays in the interstellar medium and the strength of

65
the Sun's magnetic field change on very long timescales, so the level
of cosmic radiation in the Solar System varies, though by how much
is unknown.
The interplanetary medium is home to at least two disc-like regions
of cosmic dust. The first, the zodiacal dust cloud, lies in the inner
Solar System and causes zodiacal light. It was likely formed by
collisions within the asteroid belt brought on by interactions with the
planets. The second extends from about 10 AU to about 40 AU, and
was probably created by similar collisions within the Kuiper belt.
Planets
Most of the material of the solar system that is not a part of the sun
itself is concentrated in the planets. In contrast to the sun the
planets are small, relatively cool and solid or liquid. They are not
self illuminating at visible wavelengths and shines with the
reflected light of the sun As far as the nomenclature of the planets
are concerned Two planets near the sun than the earth (mercury
and Venus) are called inferior planets., while the ones with the
orbit outside the earth’s are called superior planets. Four
innermost planets Mercury through Mars are called inner planets.
Jupiter, Saturn Neptune, Uranus are called outer planets. Finally,
the four largest planets Jupiter, Saturn Neptune, Uranus are
called jovian planets after Jupiter or occasionally major planets
and other planets the terrestrial planets. The masses of the
planets in terms of earths mass varies in the range from 0.055
(Mercury) to 318 (Jupiter). The mass of the Jupiter is greater than
that of all other planets combined together. In diameter the
planets range from 4878 Km (Mercury) to 143,000 Km (Jupiter).
Most but not all the planets are surrounded by the gaseous
atmospheres. All but two of the planets have natural satellites.
Jupiter and Saturn leads with at least 64 known moons each with
new ones keep turning up in our exploration to those worlds with
interplanetary probes.

All the planets revolve about the sun in same direction from west to
east. Their mean distance from the sun ranges from 0.39 AU (58
million kilometer) for mercury to 30.06 AU (Neptune).Their period
of orbital revolution range from 88 days for Mercury to163 years
for Neptune. The corresponding mean orbital velocities range

66
 from 48 Km/s to 5.4Km/s. the orbits of all planets are nearly in the
same plane, except Mercury whose orbit is inclined to that of
earth by 7˚. The orbits of the planets are nearly circular; and have
eccentricities less than 0.0 except mercury whose eccentricity is
0.21. All the planets rotate as they revolve about the sun. Rotation
is the turning of an object on an axis running through it. As
distinguished from the revolution, which is the motion of the object
as a whole about another object or a point, Jovian planets are
rapid rotators. Jupiter rotates rapidly in the period of 9h50m
mercury 1½ times during its 88 days of revolution about the sun.
Venus rotates still more slowly in 243 days but from east to west.
Reverse to the rotation of most of the planets (that is retrograde).
Some of the planets show marked oblateness or flattening due to
their rapid rotation. Some of the orbital and Physical Data of the
planets are indicated in the Tables 3.2 and Table 3.3

Planet Semi Orbital Orbital Orbital Inclination Rotation Inclination

major Period Speed Eccentricity of Orbit Period of Equator
Axis (yr) (km/s) (e) to Ecliptic (days) to Orbit
(AU) (°) (°)

Mercury 0.3871 0.2408 47.9 0.206 7.00 58.65 0

*
Venus 0.7233 0.6152 35.0 0.007 3.39 -243.01 177.3
Earth 1.000 1 29.8 0.017 0.00 0.997 23.4
Mars 1.5273 1.8809 24.1 0.093 1.85 1.026 25.2
Jupiter 5.2028 11.862 13.1 0.048 1.31 0.410 3.1
Saturn 9.5388 29.458 9.6 0.056 2.49 0.426 26.7
Uranus 19.1914 84.01 6.8 0.046 0.77 -0.746* 97.9
Neptune 30.0611 164.79 5.4 0.010 1.77 0.718 29.6
Dwarf Planets
Ceres 2.76596 4.599 17.882 0.07976 10.587 0.378 ~3
Pluto 39.5294 248.54 4.7 0.248 17.15 -6.4* 122.5
Haumea 43.335 285.4 4.484 0.18874 28.19 0.163 ?
Makemake 45.791 309.88 4.419 0.159 28.96 ? ?
Eris 67.6681 557 3.436 0.44177 44.187 > 8 hrs? ?

67
 Tables 3.2 Orbital Data of planets Negative values of rotation period
indicate that the planet rotates in the direction opposite to that in
which it orbits the Sun. This is called retrograde rotation.

Inner Solar System

The inner Solar System is the traditional name for the region
comprising the terrestrial planets and asteroids. Composed mainly
of silicates and metals, the objects of the inner Solar System are
relatively close to the Sun; the radius of this entire region is shorter
than the distance between Jupiter and Saturn.

Figure 3.2 The inner planets. From left to right: Mercury,

Venus, Earth, and Mars (sizes to scale, interplanetary distances not)

Planet Equatorial Mean Mass Bulk Sidereal Sidereal V(1,0) Geometric Equatorial Escap
Radius Radiu k(x Densit Rotation Orbit (mag) Albedo Gravity e
(km) s (km) 1024g) y Period Period (m s-2) Velocit
(g cm- (d) (y) y
3
) (km s-1)
Mercur 2439.7 2439.7 0.3301 5.427± 58.6462 0.2406\8 - 0.106 3.70 4.25
y ±1.0 ±1.0 04±00 007 467 0.60±0.1
0036 0
Venus 6051.8 6051.8 4.8673 5.243± -243.018 0.615197 - 0.65 8.87 10.36
±1.0 ±1.0 2±000 003 26 4.47±0.0
49 7
Earth 6378.14±0 6371.0 5,9721 5.5134 0.997269 1.000017 -3.86 0.367 9.80 11.19
1 0±01 9±000 ±0006 68 4
60
Mars 3396.19±1 3389.5 0.6416 3.9340 1.025956 1.880847 -1.52 0.150 3.71 5.03
0±2 93±00 ±0008 76 6
0064
Jupiter 71492±4 69911 1898.1 1.3262 0.41354 11.86261 -9.40 0.52 24.79 60.20
±6 3±19 ±0004 5
Saturn 60268±4 58232 568.31 0.6871 0.44401 29.44749 -8.88 0.47 10.44 36.09
±6 9±057 ±0002 8

68
 Uranus 2559±4 25362 86.810 1.270± -0.71833 84.01684 -7.15 0.51 8.87 21.38
±7 3±008 001 6
7
Neptun 24765±15 24622 102.41 1.638± 0.67125 164,7912 -6.87 0.41 11.15 23.56
e ±19 0±010 004 3
Pluto 1151±6 1151± . 2.05±0 -6.3872 247.9206 -1.0 0.3 0.66 1.23
6 01309 4 5
±0001
8

Table 3.3 Physical Data of planets and Pluto

The four inner or terrestrial planets have dense, rocky compositions,

few or no moons, and no ring systems. They are composed largely
of refractory minerals, such as the silicates which form their crusts
and mantles, and metals such as iron and nickel, which form their
cores. Three of the four inner planets (Venus, Earth and Mars) have
atmospheres substantial enough to generate weather; all have impact
craters and tectonic surface features such as rift valleys and
volcanoes. The term inner planet should not be confused with inferior
planet, which designates those planets which are closer to the Sun
than Earth is (i.e. Mercury and Venus).
Mercury
Mercury (0.4 AU from the Sun) is the closest planet to the Sun
and the smallest planet (0.055 Earth masses). Mercury has no
natural satellites, and it’s only known geological features
besides impact craters are lobed ridges or rupes, probably
produced by a period of contraction early in its history.
Mercury's almost negligible atmosphere consists of atoms
blasted off its surface by the solar wind. Its relatively large iron
core and thin mantle have not yet been adequately explained.
Hypotheses include that its outer layers were stripped off by a
giant impact, and that it was prevented from fully accreting by
the young Sun's energy.
Venus
Venus (0.7 AU) is close in size to Earth, (0.815 Earth masses)
and like Earth, has a thick silicate mantle around an iron core, a
substantial atmosphere and evidence of internal geological

69
 activity. However, it is much drier than Earth and its atmosphere
is ninety times as dense. Venus has no natural satellites. It is
the hottest planet, with surface temperatures over 400 °C, most
likely due to the amount of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere. No definitive evidence of current geological activity
has been detected on Venus, but it has no magnetic field that
would prevent depletion of its substantial atmosphere, which
suggests that its atmosphere is regularly replenished by
volcanic eruptions.
Earth
Earth (1 AU) is the largest and densest of the inner planets, the
only one known to have current geological activity, and is the
only place in the universe where life is known to exist. Its liquid
hydrosphere is unique among the terrestrial planets, and it is
also the only planet where plate tectonics has been observed.
Earth's atmosphere is radically different from those of the other
planets, having been altered by the presence of life to contain
21% free oxygen. It has one natural satellite, the Moon, the only
large satellite of a terrestrial planet in the Solar System.
Mars
Mars (1.5 AU) is smaller than Earth and Venus (0.107 Earth
masses). It possesses an atmosphere of mostly carbon
dioxide with a surface pressure of 6.1 millibars (roughly 0.6
percent that of the Earth's). Its surface, peppered with vast
volcanoes such as Olympus Mons and rift valleys such
as Valles Marineris, shows geological activity that may have
persisted until as recently as 2 million years ago. Its red color
comes from iron oxide (rust) in its soil. Mars has two tiny natural
satellites (Deimos and Phobos) thought to be captured
asteroids.

3.5 Asteroid belt

70
 Asteroids are mostly small Solar System bodies composed mainly
of refractory rocky and metallic minerals. The main asteroid belt
occupies the orbit between Mars and Jupiter, between 2.3 and
3.3 AU from the Sun. It is thought to be remnants from the Solar
System's formation that failed to coalesce because of the
gravitational interference of Jupiter. Asteroids range in size from
hundreds of kilometers across to microscopic. All asteroids save the
largest, Ceres, are classified as small Solar System bodies, but some
asteroids such as Vesta and Hygieia may be reclassed as dwarf
planets if they are shown to have achieved hydrostatic equilibrium.
The asteroid belt contains tens of thousands, possibly millions, of
objects over one kilometer in diameter. Despite this, the total mass of
the main belt is unlikely to be more than a thousandth of that of the
Earth. The main belt is very sparsely populated; spacecraft routinely
pass through without incident. Asteroids with diameters between 10
and 10−4 m are called meteoroids.

Figure 3.3 Image of the main asteroid belt and the Trojan asteroids

3.6 Ceres
Ceres (2.77 AU) is the largest body in the asteroid belt and is
classified as a dwarf planet. It has a diameter of slightly less than

71
1000 km, and a mass large enough for its own gravity to pull it into a
spherical shape. Ceres was considered a planet when it was
discovered in the 19th century, but was reclassified as an asteroid in
the 1850s as further observation revealed additional asteroids. It was
again reclassified in 2006 as a dwarf planet.

3.7 Asteroid groups

Asteroids in the main belt are divided into asteroid
groups and families based on their orbital characteristics. Asteroid
moons are asteroids that orbit larger asteroids. They are not as
clearly distinguished as planetary moons, sometimes being almost as
large as their partners. The asteroid belt also contains main-belt
comets which may have been the source of Earth's water.
Trojan asteroids are located in either of Jupiter's L4 or L5 points
(gravitationally stable regions leading and trailing a planet in its orbit);
the term "Trojan" is also used for small bodies in any other planetary
or satellite Lagrange point. Hilda asteroids are in a 2:3 resonance
with Jupiter; that is, they go around the Sun three times for every two
Jupiter orbits. The inner Solar System is also dusted with rogue
asteroids, many of which cross the orbits of the inner planets.
3.8 Outer Solar System
The outer region of the Solar System is home to the gas giants and
their large moons. Many short period comets, including the centaurs,
also orbit in this region. Due to their greater distance from the Sun,
the solid objects in the outer Solar System are composed of a higher
proportion of ices (such as water, ammonia, methane, often
called ices in planetary science) than the rocky denizens of the inner
Solar System, as the colder temperatures allow these compounds to
remain solid.
3.9 Outer Planets

72
Figure 3.4 From top to bottom: Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter
(not to scale)
The four outer planets, or gas giants (sometimes called Jovian
planets), collectively make up 99 percent of the mass known to orbit
the Sun. Jupiter and Saturn consist overwhelmingly of hydrogen and
helium; Uranus and Neptune possess a greater proportion of ices in
their makeup. Some astronomers suggest they belong in their own
category, “ice giants.”[ All four gas giants have rings, although only
Saturn's ring system is easily observed from Earth. The term outer
planet should not be confused with superior planet, which designates
planets outside Earth's orbit and thus includes both the outer planets
and Mars.
Jupiter
Jupiter (5.2 AU), at 318 Earth masses, is 2.5 times all the mass
of all the other planets put together. It is composed largely of
hydrogen and helium. Jupiter's strong internal heat creates a
number of semi-permanent features in its atmosphere, such as
cloud bands and the Great Red Spot. Jupiter has 63 known
satellites. The four largest, Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa,
show similarities to the terrestrial planets, such as volcanism
and internal heating. Ganymede, the largest satellite in the
Solar System, is larger than Mercury.

Saturn

73
 Saturn (9.5 AU), distinguished by its extensive ring system, has
several similarities to Jupiter, such as its atmospheric
composition and magnetosphere. Although Saturn has 60% of
Jupiter's volume, it is less than a third as massive, at 95 Earth
masses, making it the least dense planet in the Solar System.
Saturn has 60 confirmed satellites; two of which, Titan
and Escalades, show signs of geological activity, though they
are largely made of ice. Titan is larger than Mercury and the
only satellite in the Solar System with a substantial atmosphere.

Uranus
Uranus (19.6 AU), at 14 Earth masses, is the lightest of the
outer planets. Uniquely among the planets, it orbits the Sun on
its side; its axial tilt is over ninety degrees to the ecliptic. It has
a much colder core than the other gas giants, and radiates very
little heat into space. Uranus has 27 known satellites, the
largest ones being Titania, Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel and Miranda.

Neptune
Neptune (30 AU), though slightly smaller than Uranus, is more
massive (equivalent to 17 Earths) and therefore more dense. It
radiates more internal heat, but not as much as Jupiter or
Saturn. Neptune has 13 known satellites. The largest, Triton, is
geologically active, with geysers of liquid nitrogen. Triton is the
only large satellite with a retrograde orbit. Neptune is
accompanied in its orbit by a number of minor planets,
termed Neptune Trojans that are in 1:1 resonance with it.

Comets
Comets are small Solar System bodies, typically only a few
kilometers across, composed largely of volatile ices. They have highly
eccentric orbits, generally a perihelion within the orbits of the inner
planets and an aphelion far beyond Pluto. When a comet enters the
inner Solar System, its proximity to the Sun causes its icy surface

74
to sublimate and ionize, creating a coma: a long tail of gas and dust
often visible to the naked eye.

Figure 3. 5 Comet Hale-Bopp

Short-period comets have orbits lasting less than two hundred years.
Long-period comets have orbits lasting thousands of years. Short-
period comets are believed to originate in the Kuiper belt, while long-
period comets, such as Hale-Bopp, are believed to originate in the
Oort cloud. Many comet groups, such as the Kreutz Sungrazers,
formed from the breakup of a single parent. Some comets with
hyperbolic orbits may originate outside the Solar System, but
determining their precise orbits is difficult. Old comets that have had
most of their volatiles driven out by solar warming are often
categorized as asteroids.
3.11 Centaurs
The centaurs are icy comet-like bodies with a semi-major axis greater
than Jupiter (5.5 AU) and less than Neptune (30 AU). The largest
known centaur, 10199 Chariklo, has a diameter of about 250 km. The
first centaur discovered, 2060 Chiron, has also been classified as
comet (95P) since it develops a coma just as comets do when they
approach the Sun.
3.12 Trans-Neptunian region
The area beyond Neptune, or the "trans-Neptunian region", is
still largely unexplored. It appears to consist overwhelmingly of small
worlds (the largest having a diameter only a fifth that of the Earth and
a mass far smaller than that of the Moon) composed mainly of rock

75
and ice. This region is sometimes known as the "outer Solar System",
though others use that term to mean the region beyond the asteroid
belt.
Kuiper belt
The Kuiper belt, the region's first formation, is a great ring of debris
similar to the asteroid belt, but composed mainly of ice. It extends
between 30 and 50 AU from the Sun. It is composed mainly of small
Solar System bodies, but many of the largest Kuiper belt objects,
such as Quaoar, Varuna, and Orcus, may be reclassified as dwarf
planets. There are estimated to be over 100,000 Kuiper belt objects
with a diameter greater than 50 km, but the total mass of the Kuiper
belt is thought to be only a tenth or even a hundredth the mass of the
Earth. Many Kuiper belt objects have multiple satellites, and most
have orbits that take them outside the plane of the ecliptic.

Figure 3.6 Plot of all known Kuiper belt objects, set against the four
outer planets
The Kuiper belt can be roughly divided into the "classical" belt and
the resonances. Resonances are orbits linked to that of Neptune (e.g.
twice for every three Neptune orbits, or once for every two). The first
resonance actually begins within the orbit of Neptune itself. The
classical belt consists of objects having no resonance with Neptune,
and extends from roughly 39.4 AU to 47.7 AU. Members of the
classical Kuiper belt are classified as cubewanos, after the first of

76
their kind to be discovered, (15760) 1992 QB1, and are still in near
primordial, low-eccentricity orbits.
3.14 Pluto and Charon
Pluto (39 AU average), a dwarf planet, is the largest known object in
the Kuiper belt. When discovered in 1930, it was considered to be the
ninth planet; this changed in 2006 with the adoption of a
formal definition of planet. Pluto has a relatively eccentric orbit
inclined 17 degrees to the ecliptic plane and ranging from 29.7 AU
from the Sun at perihelion (within the orbit of Neptune) to 49.5 AU at
aphelion. It is unclear whether Charon, Pluto's largest moon, will
continue to be classified as such or as a dwarf planet itself. Both
Pluto and Charon orbit a barycenter of gravity above their surfaces,
making Pluto-Charon a binary system. Two much smaller
moons, Nix and Hydra, orbit Pluto and Charon. Pluto has a
3:2 resonance with Neptune, meaning that Pluto orbits twice round
the Sun for every three Neptunian orbits. Kuiper belt objects whose
orbits share this resonance are called plutinos.

3.15 Haumea and Makemake

Haumea (43.34 AU average), and Makemake (45.79 AU average),
while smaller than Pluto, are the largest known objects in
the classical Kuiper belt (that is, they are not in a
confirmed resonance with Neptune). Haumea is an egg-shaped
object with two moons. Makemake is the brightest object in the
Kuiper belt after Pluto. Originally designated 2003 EL61 and 2005
FY9 respectively, they were given names and designated dwarf
planets in 2008. Their orbits are far more inclined than Pluto's, at 28°
and 29°.

3.16 Scattered disc

The scattered disc, which overlaps the Kuiper belt but extends much
further outwards, is thought to be the source of short-period comets.
Scattered disc objects are believed to have been ejected into erratic
orbits by the gravitational influence of Neptune's early outward

77
migration. Most scattered disc objects (SDOs) have perihelia within
the Kuiper belt but aphelia as far as 150 AU from the Sun. SDOs'
orbits are also highly inclined to the ecliptic plane, and are often
almost perpendicular to it. Some astronomers consider the scattered
disc to be merely another region of the Kuiper belt, and describe
scattered disc objects as "scattered Kuiper belt objects." Some
astronomers also classify centaurs as inward-scattered Kuiper belt
objects along with the outward-scattered residents of the scattered
disc.
3.17 Eris
Eris (68 AU average) is the largest known scattered disc object, and
caused a debate about what constitutes a planet, since it is at least
5% larger than Pluto with an estimated diameter of 2400 km
(1500 mi). It is the largest of the known dwarf planets. It has one
moon, Dysnomia. Like Pluto, its orbit is highly eccentric, with a
perihelion of 38.2 AU (roughly Pluto's distance from the Sun) and an
aphelion of 97.6 AU, and steeply inclined to the ecliptic plane.

3.18 Farthest regions

The point at which the Solar System ends and interstellar space
begins is not precisely defined, since its outer boundaries are shaped
by two separate forces: the solar wind and the Sun's gravity. The
outer limit of the solar wind's influence is roughly four times Pluto's
distance from the Sun; this heliopause is considered the beginning of
the interstellar medium. However, the Sun's Roche sphere, the
effective range of its gravitational influence, is believed to extend up
to a thousand times farther.
Heliopause
The heliosphere is divided into two separate regions. The solar wind
travels at roughly 400 km/s until it collides with the interstellar wind;
the flow of plasma in the interstellar medium. The collision occurs at
the termination shock, which is roughly 80–100 AU from the Sun
upwind of the interstellar medium and roughly 200 AU from the Sun

78
downwind. Here the wind slows dramatically, condenses and
becomes more turbulent, forming a great oval structure known as
the heliosheath that looks and behaves very much like a comet's tail,
extending outward for a further 40 AU on the upwind side but tailing
many times that distance downwind. Both Voyager 1 and Voyager
2 are reported to have passed the termination shock and entered the
heliosheath, at 94 and 84 AU from the Sun, respectively. The outer
boundary of the heliosphere, the heliopause, it is the point at which
the solar wind finally terminates and is the beginning of interstellar
space.

Figure 3.7 The Voyagers entering the heliosheath

The shape and form of the outer edge of the heliosphere is likely
affected by the fluid dynamics of interactions with the interstellar
medium as well as solar magnetic fields prevailing to the south, e.g. it
is bluntly shaped with the northern hemisphere extending 9 AU
(roughly 900 million miles) farther than the southern hemisphere.
Beyond the heliopause, at around 230 AU, lies the bow shock, a
plasma "wake" left by the Sun as it travels through the Milky Way.

Figure 3.8 The Hubble Space Telescope imaged this view in

February 1995. The arcing, graceful structure is actually a
bow shock about half a light-year across, created from the

79
 wind from the star L.L. Orionis colliding with the Orion
Nebula flow.

NASA's Voyager spacecrafts the Voyager 1 and 2, nearly 15 years

after they left home have discovered the first direct evidence of the
long- sought-after heliopause -- the boundary that separates Earth's
solar system from interstellar space at the distance of 84 AU.
Voyager 1 crosses Termination Shock on December 18, 2004 and
Voyager 2 crosses Termination Shock on September 5 2007 and has
been transmitting valuable data on radiation levels and solar wind
back to the Earth, Since passage through the termination shock, the
spacecraft has been operating in the heliosheath environment which
is still dominated by the Sun's magnetic field and particles contained
in the solar wind. The heliosheath exploration phase ends with
passage through the heliopause which is the outer extent of the Sun's
magnetic field and solar wind. The thickness of the heliosheath is
uncertain and could be tens of AU thick taking several years to
traverse. Passage through the heliopause begins the interstellar
exploration phase with the spacecraft operating in an interstellar wind
dominated environment. As per Voyager radio data combined with
the plasma measurements taken at the spacecraft that give us a
better guess about where the heliopause is. Based on the solar wind
speed, the time that has elapsed since the mid-1992 solar event and
the strength of the radio emissions, our best guess for the upper limit
of the heliopause currently is about 90 to 120 astronomical units (AU)
from the sun.

Voyager 1 is escaping the solar system at a speed of about 3.6 AU

per year, 35 degrees out of the ecliptic plane to the north, in the
general direction of the Solar Apex (the direction of the Sun's motion
relative to nearby stars). Voyager 2 is also escaping the solar system
at a speed of about 3.3 AU per year, 48 degrees out of the ecliptic
plane to the south.

The Voyagers should cross the heliopause 10 to 20 years after

reaching the termination shock. The Voyagers have enough electrical
power and thruster fuel to operate at least until 2020. By that time,
Voyager 1 will be 12.4 billion miles (19.9 billion KM) from the Sun and
Voyager 2 will be 10.5 billion miles (16.9 billion KM) away. Eventually,
the Voyagers will pass other stars. In about 40,000 years, Voyager 1

80
will drift within 1.6 light years (9.3 trillion miles) of AC+79 3888, a star
in the constellation of Camelopardalis. In some 296,000 years,
Voyager 2 will pass 4.3 light years (25 trillion miles) from Sirius, the
brightest star in the sky. The Voyagers are destined—perhaps
eternally—to wander the Milky Way. As of February 2010, Voyager 1
was at a distance of 16.9 Billion Kilometers (112.7 AU) from the sun
and Voyager 2 at a distance of 13.7 Billion kilometers (91.5 AU).

Figure 3.9 Trajetories of voyager 1 and 2 during their interstellar

mission

3.20 Oort cloud

The hypothetical Oort cloud is a spherical cloud of up to a trillion icy
objects that is believed to be the source for all long-period comets
and to surround the Solar System at roughly 50,000 AU (around
1 light-year (LY)), and possibly to as far as 100,000 AU (1.87 LY). It is
believed to be composed of comets which were ejected from the
inner Solar System by gravitational interactions with the outer
planets. Oort cloud objects move very slowly, and can be perturbed
by infrequent events such as collisions, the gravitational effects of a
passing star, or the galactic tide, the tidal force exerted by the Milky
Way.
3.21 Sedna
90377 Sedna (525.86 AU average) is a large, reddish Pluto-like
object with a gigantic, highly elliptical orbit that takes it from about
76 AU at perihelion to 928 AU at aphelion and takes 12,050 years to
complete. Mike Brown, who discovered the object in 2003, asserts

81
that it cannot be part of the scattered disc or the Kuiper belt as its
perihelion is too distant to have been affected by Neptune's
migration. He and other astronomers consider it to be the first in an
entirely new population, which also may include the object 2000
which has a perihelion of 45 AU, an aphelion of 415 AU, and an
orbital period of 3,420 years. Brown terms this population the "Inner
Oort cloud”. As it may have formed through a similar process,
although it is far closer to the Sun. Sedna is very likely a dwarf planet,
though its shape has yet to be determined with certainty.
3.22 Satellites
The Satellites of the planets are the next prominent members of
the solar system.
Natural satellite
A natural satellite or moon is a celestial body that orbits a planet or
smaller body, which is called the primary. Technically, the
term natural satellite could refer to a planet orbiting a star, or
a dwarf galaxy orbiting a major galaxy, but it is normally
synonymous with moon and used to identify non-
artificial satellites of planets, dwarf planets, and minor planets.
As of September 2008, 335 bodies are formally classified as
moons. They include 167 orbiting six of the eight planets, 6
orbiting three of the five dwarf planets, 104 asteroid moons, and
58 satellites of Trans-Neptunian objects, some of which will likely
turn out to be dwarf planets. Some 150 additional small bodies
were observed within Saturn's ring system, but they were not
tracked long enough to establish orbits. Planets around other stars
are likely to have natural satellites as well, although none have
been observed.
The large gas giants have extensive systems of moons, including
half a dozen comparable in size to Earth's moon: the four Galilean
moons, Saturn's Titan, and Neptune's Triton. Saturn has an
additional six mid-sized moons massive enough to have
achieved hydrostatic equilibrium, and Uranus has five. Of the inner
planets, Mercury and Venus have no moons at all; Earth has one

82
large moon, known as the Moon; and Mars has two tiny moons,
Phobos and Deimos. It has been suggested that a few moons,
notably Europe, one of Jupiter's Galilean moons, may harbor life,
though there is currently no direct evidence to support this claim.
Among the dwarf planets, Ceres has no moons (though many
objects in the asteroid belt do). Pluto has three known satellites,
the rather large Charon and the smaller Nix and Hydra. Haumea
has two moons, and Eris has one. The Pluto-Charon system is
unusual in that the center of mass lies in open space between the
two, a characteristic of a double planet system. The natural
satellites orbiting relatively close to the planet on prograde orbits
(regular satellites) are generally believed to have been formed out
of the same collapsing region of the protoplanetary disk that gave
rise to its primary. In contrast, irregular satellites (generally orbiting
on distant, inclined, eccentric and/or retrograde orbits) are thought
to be captured asteroids possibly further fragmented by collisions.
The Earth's Moon and possibly Charon are exceptions among
large bodies in that they are believed to have originated by the
collision of two large proto-planetary objects (see the giant impact
hypothesis). The material that would have been placed in orbit
around the central body is predicted to have reaccreted to form
one or more orbiting moons. As opposed to planetary-sized
bodies, asteroid moons are thought to commonly form by this
process.

83
Figure 3.8 Selected moons, with the Earth to scale. Nineteen moons
are large enough to be round, and one, Titan, has a substantial
atmosphere.
Triton is another exception, which although large and in a close,
circular orbit, is thought to be a captured dwarf planet.
Geological activity on Moons
Of the nineteen known moons massive enough to have lapsed into
hydrostatic equilibrium, several remain geologically active today. Io is
the most volcanically active body in the Solar System, while
Europa, Enceladus, Titan and Triton display evidence of ongoing
tectonic activity and cryovolcanism. In the first three cases, the
geological activity is powered by the tidal heating resulting from
having eccentric orbits close to their gas giant primaries. (This
mechanism would have also operated on Triton in the past, before its
orbit was circularized.) Many other moons, such as
Earth's Moon, Ganymede, Tethys and Miranda, show evidence of
past geological activity, resulting from energy sources such as
the decay of their primordial radioisotopes, greater past orbital
eccentricities (due in some cases to past orbital resonances), or
the differentiation or freezing of their interiors. Enceladus
and Triton both have active features resembling geysers, although in
the case of Triton solar heating appears to provide the energy. Titan
and Triton have significant atmospheres; Titan also has methane
lakes, and presumably rain. Four of the largest moons, Europa,
Ganymede, Callisto, and Titan, are thought to have subsurface
oceans of liquid water, while smaller Enceladus may have localized
subsurface water.

84
Figure 3.9 Two moons: Saturn's moon Dione occults Encel adus
Origin
Orbital characteristics
Satellite orbits are called regular or prograde if they are in the same
direction as the planet's rotation otherwise they are called irregular
or retrograde (The term irregular can also refer to the shape of a
satellite). Most of the major moons in the solar system have regular
orbits (Triton being the exception) while most of the small moons
have irregular orbits
Tidal locking
The regular natural satellites in the solar system are tidally locked to
their primaries, meaning that the same side of the moon always faces
the planet. The only known exception is Saturn's moon Hyperion,
which rotates chaotically because of the gravitational influence of
Titan.
In contrast, the outer moons of the gas giants (irregular satellites) are
too far away to have become locked. For example, Jupiter's
moon Himalia, Saturn's moon Phoebe, and Neptune's moon Nereid
have rotation period in the range of ten hours, while their orbital
periods are hundreds of days.
Satellites of satellites
No moons of moons (natural satellites that orbit the natural satellite of
another body) are known. In most cases, the tidal effects of the
primary would make such a system unstable.

85
Figure 3.10 Artist impression of Rhea's rings
However, calculations performed after the recent detection of a
possible ring system around Saturn's moon Rhea indicate that Rhean
orbits would be stable. Furthermore, the suspected rings are thought
to be narrow, a phenomenon normally associated with shepherd
moons.
Trojan satellites
Two moons are known to have small companions at
their L4 and L5 Lagrangian points, sixty degrees ahead and behind the
body in its orbit. These companions are called Trojan moons, as their
orbits are analogous to the Trojan asteroids of Jupiter. The Trojan
moons are Telesto and Calypso, which are the leading and following
companions respectively of Tethys; and Helene and Polydeuces, the
leading and following companions of Dione.

1. Asteroid moon
The discovery of 243 Ida's moon Dactyl in the early 1990s confirmed
that some asteroids have moons; indeed, 87 Sylvia has two. Some,
such as 90 Antiope, are double asteroids with two comparably sized
components.
The relative masses of the moons of the Solar system. Mimas,
Enceladus, and Miranda are too small to be visible at this scale. All
the irregularly shaped moons, even added together, would also be
too small to be visible.
The largest natural satellites in the Solar System (those bigger than
about 3000 km across) are Earth's moon, Jupiter's Galilean
moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto), Saturn’s
moon Titan, and Neptune’s captured moon Triton. For smaller
moons see the articles on the appropriate planet. In addition to
the moons of the various planets there are also over 80 known
moons of the dwarf planets, asteroids and other small solar
system bodies. Some studies estimate that up to 15% of
all trans-Neptunian objects could have satellites

86
Figure 3.11 The relative masses of the moons of the Solar system

Table 3.4 present the comparative view of the natural satellites by

classifying the moons of the solar system by diameter. The column
on the right includes some notable planets, dwarf planets, asteroids,
and Trans-Neptunian Objects for comparison. The moons of the
planets are named after mythological figures. These are
predominately Greek, except for the Uranian moons, which are
named after Shakespearean characters. The nineteen bodies
massive enough to have achieved hydrostatic equilibrium are in bold
in the chart below and labeled on the chart at right, though a few of
the smaller ones are not visible at the scale of the chart. Minor
planets suspected but not proven to have achieved a hydrostatic
equilibrium are also shown.
3.23 Terminology
The first known natural satellite was the Moon (Luna in Latin). Until
the discovery of the Galilean satellites in 1610, however, there was
no opportunity for referring to such objects as a class. Galileo chose

87
 Satellites of planets Dwarf planet satellites
Non-
Mean Satellites
satellites
diamete of
for
r SSSBs
comparison
(km) Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto Haumea Eris

6000-
Mars
8000

4000- Ganymede
Titan Mercury
6000 Callisto

3000- The Io
4000 Moon Europa

2000- Eris
Triton
3000 Pluto

1500- Titania Makemake

Rhea
2000 Oberon Haumea

90377 Sedna
Iapetus 90482 Orcus
1000- Umbriel
Dione Charon 50000
1500 Ariel
Tethys Quaoar
2007 OR10

Ceres
20000
Varuna
500- 28978 Ixion
Enceladus
1000 2 Pallas, 4
Vesta
many
more TNOs

10 Hygiea
S/2005 511 Davida
(79360) 1 704
Mimas Proteus
250-500 Miranda Hiʻiaka 90482 Interamnia
Hyperion Nereid
Orcus I 87 Sylvia
"Vanth" and many
others

100-250 Amalthea Phoebe Sycorax Larissa Namaka Dysnomia 65489 3 Juno

Himalia Janus Puck Galatea Ceto I 1992 QB1
Thebe Epimetheus Portia Despina Phorcys 5 Astraea
617 42355

88
 Patroclus I
Menoetius Typhon
24 more and many
moons others
of TNO

50000
Quaoar I
Weywot
Caliban 90
Juliet Antiope I
Thalassa 90 Antiope I
Belinda 42355
Elara Prometheus Halimede Hydra 58534 Logos
50-100 Cressida Typhon I
Pasiphaë Pandora Neso Nix and many
Rosalind Echidna
Naiad others
Desdemona 58534
Bianca Logos I Zoe
5 more
moons
of TNOs

Ophelia
Carme Siarnaq
Cordelia
Metis Helene Sao
Setebos 22 Kalliope
25-50 Sinope Albiorix Laomedeia many
Prospero I Linus
Lysithea Atlas Psamathe
Perdita
Ananke Pan
Stephano

762
Pulcova I
87 Sylvia
I Romulus
624
Telesto Hektor I
Paaliaq Mab (45)
Calypso Cupid Eugenia 433 Eros
Phobos Leda Ymir Francisco I Petit- 1313 Berna
10-25
Deimos Adrastea Kiviuq Ferdinand Prince and many
Tarvos Margaret 121 others
Ijiraq Trinculo Hermione I
rriapus 283
Emma I
1313
Berna I
107
Camilla I

less 87 Sylvia
at least 47 at least 35 many
than 10 I Remus

Table 3.4 Size of the Satellites of the planets

to refer to his discoveries as Planetæ ("planets"), but later

discoverers chose other terms to distinguish them from the objects
they orbited. Christiaan Huygens, the discoverer of Titan, was the first

89
to use the term moon for such objects, calling Titan Luna
Saturni or Luna Saturnia – "Saturn's moon" or "The Saturnian moon",
because it stood in the same relation to Saturn as the Moon did to
the Earth. The first to use of the term satellite to describe orbiting
bodies was the German astronomer Johannes Kepler in his
pamphlet Narratio de Observatis a se quatuor Iovis sattelitibus
erronibus ("Narration about Four Satellites of Jupiter Observed") in
1610. He derived the term from the Latin word satelles, meaning
"guard", "attendant", or "companion", because the satellites
accompanied their primary planet in their journey through the
heavens. As additional moons of Saturn were discovered the term
"moon" was abandoned. Giovanni Domenico Cassini sometimes
referred to his discoveries as planets in French, but more often
as satellites.
The term satellite thus became the normal one for referring to an
object orbiting a planet, as it avoided the ambiguity of "moon". In
1957, however, the launching of the artificial object Sputnik created a
need for new terminology. The terms man-made satellite or artificial
moon were very quickly abandoned in favor of the simpler satellite,
and as a consequence, the term has come to be linked primarily with
artificial objects flown in space – including, sometimes, even those
which are not in orbit around a planet.
As a consequence of this shift in meaning, the term moon, which had
continued to be used in a generic sense in works of popular science
and in fiction, has regained respectability and is now used
interchangeably with satellite, even in scientific articles. When it is
necessary to avoid both the ambiguity of confusion with the Earth's
moon on the one hand, and artificial satellites on the other, the
term natural satellite (using "natural" in a sense opposed to "artificial")
is used.

3.24 The definition of a moon

There is no established lower limit on what should be considered a
moon. Every body with an identified orbit, some as small as a

90
 kilometer across, has been identified as a moon, though objects
a tenth that size within Saturn's rings, which have not been
directly observed, have been called moonlets. Small asteroid
moons, such as Dactyl, have also been called moonlets. The
upper limit is also vague. When the masses of two orbiting
bodies are similar enough that one cannot be said to orbit the
other, they are described as a double body rather than primary
and satellite. Asteroids such as 90 Antiope are considered
double asteroids, but they have not forced a clear definition as
to what constitutes a moon. Some authors consider the Pluto-
Charon system to be a double (dwarf) planet. The most
common dividing line on what is considered a moon rests upon
whether the barycenter is below the surface of the larger body,
though this is somewhat arbitrary, as it relies on distance as
well as relative mass.

Figure 3.12 Comparison of Earth and the Moon

Figure 3.13 Comparison of Jupiter's Great Red Spot and Jupiter's

four largest moons. Compared to Earth/Luna and Pluto/Charon, there
is a much greater difference in mass.

3.25 Boundaries of Solar System

91
Much of our Solar System is still unknown. The Sun's gravitational
field is estimated to dominate the gravitational forces of surrounding
stars out to about two light years (125,000 AU). Lower estimates for
the radius of the Oort cloud, by contrast, do not place it farther than
50,000 AU. Despite discoveries such as Sedna, the region between
the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud, an area tens of thousands of AU
in radius, is still virtually unmapped. There are also ongoing studies of
the region between Mercury and the Sun. Objects may yet be
discovered in the Solar System's uncharted regions.
3.26 Location of the Solar System within our Galaxy
The Solar System is located in the Milky Way Galaxy, a barred spiral
galaxy with a diameter of about 100,000 light-years containing about
200 billion stars. Our Sun resides in one of the Milky Way's outer
spiral arms, known as the Orion Arm or Local Spur. The Sun lies
between 25,000 and 28,000 light years from the Galactic Centre, and
its speed within the galaxy is about 220 kilometers per second, so
that it completes one revolution every 225–250 million years. This
revolution is known as the Solar System's cosmic year. The solar
apex, the direction of the Sun's path through interstellar space, is
near the constellation of Hercules in the direction of the current
location of the bright star Vega.
The Solar System's location in the galaxy is very likely a factor in
the evolution of life on Earth. Its orbit is close to being circular and is
at roughly the same speed as that of the spiral arms, which means it
passes through them only rarely. Since spiral arms are home to a far
larger concentration of potentially dangerous supernovae, this has
given Earth long periods of interstellar stability for life to evolve. The
Solar System also lies well outside the star-crowded environs of the
galactic centre. Near the centre, gravitational tugs from nearby stars
could perturb bodies in the Oort cloud and send many comets into the
inner Solar System, producing collisions with potentially catastrophic
implications for life on Earth. The intense radiation of the galactic
centre could also interfere with the development of complex life. Even
at the Solar System's current location, some scientists have
hypothesized that recent supernovae may have adversely affected

92
life in the last 35,000 years by flinging pieces of expelled stellar core
towards the Sun in the form of radioactive dust grains and larger,
comet-like bodies.
3.27 Neighborhood
The immediate galactic neighborhood of the Solar System is known
as the Local Interstellar Cloud or Local Fluff, an area of dense cloud
in an otherwise sparse region known as the Local Bubble, an
hourglass-shaped cavity in the interstellar medium roughly 300 light
years across. The bubble is suffused with high-temperature plasma
that suggests it is the product of several recent supernovae.
There are relatively few stars within ten light years (95 trillion km) of
the Sun. The closest is the triple star system Alpha Centauri, which is
about 4.4 light years away. Alpha Centauri A and B are a closely tied
pair of Sun-like stars, while the small red dwarf Alpha Centauri C
(also known as Proxima Centauri) orbits the pair at a distance of 0.2
light years. The stars next closest to the Sun are the red dwarfs
Barnard's Star (at 5.9 light years), Wolf 359 (7.8 light years)
and Lalande 21185 (8.3 light years). The largest star within ten light
years is Sirius, a bright main sequence star roughly twice the Sun's
mass and orbited by a white dwarf called Sirius B. It lies 8.6 light
years away. The remaining systems within ten light years are the
binary red dwarf system Luyten 726-8 (8.7 light years) and the
solitary red dwarf Ross 154 (9.7 light years). Our closest solitary sun-
like star is Tau Ceti, which lies 11.9 light years away. It has roughly
80 percent the Sun's mass, but only 60 percent its luminosity. The
closest known extrasolar planet to the Sun lies around the
star Epsilon Eridani, a star slightly dimmer and redder than the Sun,
which lies 10.5 light years away. Its one confirmed planet, Epsilon
Eridani b, is roughly 1.5 times Jupiter's mass and orbits its star every
6.9 years.

Summery

93
• The Sun is classified as a type G2 yellow dwarf; it lies right in
the middle of the main sequence in the Hertzsprung-Russell
diagram - a graph which plots the brightness of stars against
their surface temperatures.
• The high metallicity is thought to have been crucial to the Sun's
developing a planetary system, because planets are formed
from accretion of "metals".
• The main components of interplanetary medium namely
interplanetary dust and interplanetary gas.
• The outer boundary of the heliosphere, the heliopause, it is the
point at which the solar wind finally terminates and is the
beginning of interstellar space.
• Much of our Solar System is still unknown. The Sun's
gravitational field is estimated to dominate the gravitational
forces of surrounding stars out to about two light years
(125,000 AU).
• The masses of the planets in terms of earths mass varies in the
range from 0.055 (Mercury) to 318 (Jupiter). The mass of the
Jupiter is greater than that of all other planets combined
together.
• As of September 2008, 335 bodies are formally classified as
moons. They include 167 orbiting six of the eight planets, 6
orbiting three of the five dwarf planets.
• Every body with an identified orbit, some as small as a
kilometer across, has been identified as a moon.
• The Sun's gravitational field is estimated to dominate the
gravitational forces of surrounding stars out to about two light
years (125,000 AU).
• Our Sun resides in one of the Milky Way's outer spiral arms,
known as the Orion Arm
• There are relatively few stars within ten light years (95
trillion km) of the Sun. The closest is the triple star
system Alpha Centauri, which is about 4.4 light years away.
• Our closest solitary sun-like star is Tau Ceti, which lies 11.9
light years away.
• The closest known extrasolar planet to the Sun lies around the
star Epsilon Eridani, a star.

94
 Exercises
Fill in the blanks
1. The oldest stars contain few_______, while stars born later
have more.
2. The visible part of the sun is ___________ Km across.
3. The interplanetary dust can be considered as sparse
distribution of ___________ throughout the solar system.
4. Earth's _____________ stops its atmosphere from being
stripped away by the solar wind.
5. The heliosphere partially shields the _____________, and
planetary magnetic fields.
6. Most of the material of the solar system that is not a part of the
sun itself is concentrated in the __________.
7. The inner Solar System is the traditional name for the region
comprising the _____________ and asteroids.
8. _________ are mostly small Solar System bodies composed
mainly of refractory rocky and metallic minerals.
9. Ceres (2.77 AU) is the largest body in the asteroid belt and is
classified as a ______________ planet.
10. The Solar System is located in the ___________ Galaxy.

11. Epsilon Eridani b is one confirmed ___________ planet.

Short questions with answer

Q1. Describe the main characteristics of population I and II stars?
Ans. The population stars are born in the later stages of
the evolution of universe thus; they contain more elements
heavier than hydrogen and helium ("metals" in astronomical
parlance) than older population II stars.
Q2. When and where elements heavier than hydrogen and helium
are formed?
Ans. Elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were formed in
the cores of ancient and exploding stars, so the first generation
of stars had to die before the universe could be enriched with
these atoms. The oldest stars contain few metals, while stars
born later have more.
Q3. What keep the entire sun gaseous?
Ans. The high temperature of its interior and consequent
thermonuclear reactions keeps the entire sun gaseous. The

95
 tremendous pressure is produced by the great weight of the
sun’s layers.
Q4. If the sun’s interior is gaseous. Why we cannot see through it?
Ans. There is no distinct surface we observe optically only the level
in the sun at which the gases become opaque and prevent us
from seeing deep into its interior. The temperature of that
region is about 6000˚ K. Relatively, sparse outer gases extends
for millions of kilometers into space in all directions. The visible
part of the sun is 1,390.000 Km across. This is 109 times the
diameter of the earth.
Q5. Which is the largest structure in the heliosphere?
Ans. The largest structure within the heliosphere is the heliospheric
current sheet, a spiral form created by the actions of the Sun's
rotating magnetic field on the interplanetary medium.
Q6. Name the disk like regions of the interplanetary medium?
Ans. The interplanetary medium is home to at least two disc-like
regions of cosmic dust. The first, the zodiacal dust cloud, lies in
the inner Solar System and causes zodiacal light. It was likely
formed by collisions within the asteroid belt brought on by
interactions with the planets. The second extends from about
10 AU to about 40 AU, and was probably created by similar
collisions within the Kuiper belt.
Q7. What is the composition of the four inner or terrestrial planets?
Ans. The four inner or terrestrial planets have dense, rocky
compositions, few or no moons, and no ring systems. They are
composed largely of refractory minerals, such as the silicates
which form their crusts and mantles, and metals such
as iron and nickel, which form their cores.
Q8. Where is the main asteroid belt situated?
Ans. The main asteroid belt occupies the orbit between Mars and
Jupiter, between 2.3 and 3.3 AU from the Sun. It is thought to
be remnants from the Solar System's formation that failed to
coalesce because of the gravitational interference of Jupiter.
Q9. What is the structure of the Kuiper belt?
Ans. The Kuiper belt, the region's first formation, is a great ring of
debris similar to the asteroid belt, but composed mainly of ice. It
extends between 30 and 50 AU from the Sun. It is composed
mainly of small Solar System bodies, but many of the largest
Kuiper belt objects, such as Quaoar, Varuna, and Orcus, may
be reclassified as dwarf planets.

96
Q10. What is the number of moons in the solar system?
Ans. As of September 2008, 335 bodies are formally classified as
moons. They include 167 orbiting six of the eight planets, 6
orbiting three of the five dwarf planets, 104 asteroid moons, and
58 satellites of Trans-Neptunian objects, some of which will
likely turn out to be dwarf planets. Some 150 additional small
bodies were observed within Saturn's ring system, but they
were not tracked long enough to establish orbits. Planets
around other stars are likely to have natural satellites as well,
although none have been observed.
Q11. What do you understand by tidal locking?
Ans. The regular natural satellites in the solar system are tidally
locked to their primaries, meaning that the same side of the
moon always faces the planet. The only known exception
is Saturn's moon Hyperion, which rotates chaotically because of
the gravitational influence of Titan.
Q12. What is the location of the solar system in the Galaxy?what is
solar system's cosmic year?
Ans. The Solar System is located in the Milky Way Galaxy, a barred
spiral galaxy with a diameter of about 100,000 light-
years containing about 200 billion stars. Our Sun resides in one
of the Milky Way's outer spiral arms, known as the Orion Arm or
Local Spur. The Sun lies between 25,000 and 28,000 light
years from the Galactic Centre, and its speed within the galaxy
is about 220 kilometers per second, so that it completes one
revolution every 225–250 million years. This revolution is known
as the Solar System's cosmic year.
Q13. How the location of solar system in the galaxy does is helpful in
the development of life on earth?
Ans. The Solar System's location in the galaxy is very likely a factor
in the evolution of life on Earth. Its orbit is close to being circular
and is at roughly the same speed as that of the spiral arms,
which means it passes through them only rarely. Since spiral
arms are home to a far larger concentration of potentially
dangerous supernovae, this has given Earth long periods of
interstellar stability for life to evolve. The Solar System also lies
well outside the star-crowded environs of the galactic centre.
Near the centre, gravitational tugs from nearby stars could
perturb bodies in the Oort cloud and send many comets into the
inner Solar System, producing collisions with potentially

97
 catastrophic implications for life on Earth. The intense radiation
of the galactic centre could also interfere with the development
of complex life. Even at the Solar System's current location,
some scientists have hypothesized that recent supernovae may
have adversely affected life in the last 35,000 years by flinging
pieces of expelled stellar core towards the Sun in the form of
radioactive dust grains and larger, comet-like bodies.
Q14. Which is the closest extra solar planet?
Ans. The closest known extra solar planet to the Sun lies around the
star Epsilon Eridani, a star slightly dimmer and redder than the
Sun, which lies 10.5 light years away. Its one confirmed
planet, Epsilon Eridani b, is roughly 1.5 times Jupiter's mass
and orbits its star every 6.9 years.
Study Questions
Q1. How we can classify the sun?
Q3. Why we do not observe distinct surface on the sun?
Q4. Give main characteristics of the planets.
Q5. What is inner solar system?
Q6. What do you understand with outer solar system?
Q7. What are dwarf planets? Name and give their characteristics?
Q8. What is the extent of the solar system?
Q9. What are natural satellites? How they are different from the
artificial satellites?
Q10. How we define moons? Write a note on the geological activities
in them?
Q11. What is the immediate galactic neighborhood of solar system?
Q12. Write note on:
Asteroid Belt Haumea and Makemake
Asteroid group Oorts cloud
Asteroid Moon Pluto and Charon
Centaurs Scattered Disk
Ceres Sedna
Comets Trans Neptunian region
Eris Trojan satellites

Chapter 4
98
 Johannes
Kepler (December
27, 1571 –
November 15,
1630) was
German mathemati
cian, astronomer a
nd astrologer, and key figure in the
17th century scientific revolution.
He is best known for
his eponymous laws of planetary
motion

Sir Isaac Newton FRS (4 January

1643 – 31 March 1727 [OS: 25
December 1642 – 20 March 1726])
was an English physicist,
mathematician, astronomer, natural
philosopher, alchemist, and
theologian who is considered by
many scholars and members of the
general public to be one of the most
influential people in human history.
His 1687 publication of the Philosophiæ Naturalis
Principia Mathematica (usually called the Principia)
is considered to be among the most influential
books in the history of science, laying the
groundwork for most of classical mechanics.

Celestial Mechanics
4.1 Bode’s Law:
The discovery of Uranus brought Herschel great fame. It also brought
delight to the German astronomer Johann Bode, because it fitted
beautifully into the sequence of numbers announced in 1772 by
David Titius, which described the approximate distance of the planets
from the sun. Bode has been so impressed with Titius progression
that he published it in his own introductory astronomy text and the
sequence became known as “Bode’s law”. The sequence is obtained
by writing down the numbers 0, 3, 6, 12, -------, each succeeding

99
number in the sequence (after the first) being double the preceding
one. If 4 is now added to each number and the sum is divided by 10,
the resulting numbers are the approximate radii of the orbits of the
planets in the Astronomical units, as it can be seen in Table 4.1.

Titius’ Progression Planet Actual Mean

Distance (AU)

(0 + 4)/10 = 0.4 Mercury 0.387

(3 + 4)/10 = 0.7 Venus 0.732

(6 + 4)/10 = 1.0 Earth 1.000

(12 + 4)/10 = 1.6 Mars 1.524

(24 + 4)/10 = 2.8

(48+ 4)/10 = 5.2 Jupiter 5.203

(96 + 4)/10 = 10.0 Saturn 9.539

(192+ 4)/10 = 19.6 Uranus 19.190

(384 + 4)/10 = 38.8 Neptune 30.100

(768 + 4)/10 = 77.2 Pluto 39.500

Table 4.1 Bode’s law

The rule breakdown completely for Neptune and Pluto, but these
planets were not known at the time of Bode. The fact that Uranus fit
so well into the scheme suggested to Bode that the progression was
law of nature which led him to expect unknown planet in the orbit of
semi major axis 2.8 Au’s. Most of the Asteroids have the orbits near
2.8 Au.
4.2 Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion
Kepler’s first two laws of planetary motion were his most important
contribution in The New Astronomy, or Commentaries on the Motion
of Mars. The laws can be summarized as:

100
 1. First Law: Each planet moves about the sun in a orbit that is
an ellipse, with the sun at one focus of the ellipse.
2. Second Law: (The Law of Areas) the straight line joining a
planet and the sun sweeps out equal areas in orbit al plane in
equal interval of time.
At the time of publication of New Astronomy (1609) Kepler appear to
have demonstrated the validity of the two laws only for the case of
Mars. However, he expressed his opinion that they held also for the
other planets.
4.3 Kepler’s determination of the Orbit of Mars
Kepler determined the distance between Mars and the sun or various
positions of the planet in its orbit by problem of triangulation. In Figure
4.1 S represent the sun and M represent the Mars or some point in its
path around the sun. Suppose we observe Mars when the earth is at
E1. The angle SE1M or the earth between Mars and the sun is
observable. Since the sidereal period of Mars is 687 days, after 687
days Mars will return to the point M. the earth meanwhile will have
completed nearly two full revolutions around the sun and will be at E 2
the angle SE2M can now be observed in exactly two years of 730½
days the earth will have returned to E1. The earth is short by 730½ -
687 = 43½ days of completing two revolutions about the sun. Thus
the angleE1SE2 is known – it is the angle through which the earth
moves in 43½ days. Line SE1 and SE2 are each the earth’s distance
from the sun. Thus two sides and an included angle of triangle E 1SE2
are known and the triangle can be solved for the side E1E2 in terms of
distance from the earth to the sun and for the angles SE1E2 and
SE2E1.

101
Figure 4.1 Kepler’s Method of Triangulating the distance to Mars.
Subtraction of angles SE1E2 and SE2E1 from SE1M and SE2M
respectively gives the angles E2E1M and E1E2M both in the triangle
E1M E2. In that later triangle since two angles and an included side
are known, sides E1M and E2M and the third angle can be found.
Finally, the distance of Mars from the sun (in terms of the earths
distance) can be found from either triangle SE1M or SE2M.
Kepler found the distance of Mars from the sun or five points along its
orbit by choosing from Tycho’s records the elongation of Mars on
each of the five pair of dates separated from each other by the
interval of 687 days.
4.4 Harmony of the Nature
Kepler believed in underlying the harmony in the nature, and he
constantly searched for numerological relations in the celestial realm.
It was a great personal triumph, therefore, that he found a simple
algebraic relation between the lengths of the semi major axes of the
planets’ orbits and their sidereal periods. Because the planetary axes
are elliptical, the distance between a given planet and the sun varies.
Now, major axis of the planet’s orbit is the sum of its maximum and
minimum distances from the sun. Therefore, half of this sum, the
semi major axis, can be thought of as the average distance of a
planet from the sun. In a circular orbit, the semi major axis is simply
the radius of the circle.

102
Kepler published his discovery in 1619 in the Harmony of the Worlds
where he said.

“We find, therefore, under this orderly arrangement, a

wonderful symmetry in the universe, and a definite relation
of harmony in the motion and magnitude of the orbs, of a
kind that is not possible to obtain in any other way.”

The relation is known as his third or harmonic law.

4.5 Kepler’s Third Law the Square of the sidereal periods of
the planets is in direct proportion to the cubes of the semi major axes
of their orbits.
The Kepler’s third law can be expressed by the simple algebraic
equation
P2 = Ka3
Where P represents the sidereal period of the planet, a, is the
semimajor axis of the orbit, and K is the numerical constant whose
value depends upon the kinds of units chosen to measure time and
distance. It is convenient to use for the unit of time the earth’s period-
the year-and for unit of distance the semimajor axis of the earth’s
orbit, the astronomical unit (AU). With this choice of the units, K=1,
and the Kepler’s third lay can be written as
P2 = a3
We see to arrive at his third law it was not necessary for Kepler to
know the actual distances of the planets from the sun (say in
Kilometers), only the distance in units of earth’s distance, the
astronomical unit is required.
To demonstrate the Kepler’s third law considers Mars. The semimajor
axis, a, of Mars orbit is 1.542 AU. The cube of 1.524 is 3.54.
According to the above formula, the period of Mars in years should be
the square root of 3.54or 1.88 years, a result which is in agreement
with the observations. The modern values of a, P, a3 and P2for each
six planets known at the time of Kepler is given in Table 4.2 . To limit
the accuracy of the data given , we see that Kepler’s law holds

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exactly , except for Jupiter and Saturn, for which there are very slight
discrepancy. Decades later, Newton gave an explanation for
discrepancies, but within the limit of accuracy of the observational
data available in 1619, Kepler was justified in considering his formula
to be exact. The Harmony of the world deals with Kepler’s attempts to
associate numerical relations in the solar system with music; indeed,
he tried to derive the notes of the music played by the planets as they
move harmoniously in their orbits. The earth for example play the
notes mi, fa, mi, which he took to symbolize the ‘miseria’ (misery),
fames(famine), ‘miseria’ of our planet.

Planets Semi Major Sidereal a3 P2

Axis of the Period, P
Orbit, a (AU) (years)

Mercury 0.387 0.241 0.058 0.058

Venus 0.723 0.615 0.378 0.378

Earth 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000

Mars 1.524 1.881 3.537 3.537

Jupiter 5.203 11.862 140.8 140.7

Saturn 9.534 29.456 867.9 867.7

Table 4.2 Observational tests for Kepler’s third Law.

4.6 Newton’s Derivations of Kepler’s Laws.
Kepler’s laws of motion are empirical laws that describe the way
planets are observed to behave during their motion. On the other
hand the Newton’s Laws of Motion and gravitation were proposed by
him as the basis of all mechanics. Thus it should be possible to
derive Kepler’s law from them. Newton did so. In fact, it was Newton
derivations of the shape of the orbit of an object moving under the
influence of an inverse square force that has astonished Halley.

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 1. Kepler’s First Law
Consider the planer of mass mp at a distance r from the sun moving
with the speed of v in a direction at right angles to the line from the
planet to the sun. The centripetal force needed to keep the planet in
the circular orbit, that is, at constant distance from the sun is given as
Force = mpv2/r
Now if the gravitational force between the planets and the sun
happens to be greater than the force given by the above equation.
Then the planet will receive more acceleration than is necessary to
keep it ion the circular orbit and it will move in somewhat closer to the
sun. As it does so, its speed will increase just as the speed of falling
stone increases as it approaches the ground. Due to planet’s
increased speed and the decreased distance from the sun. A greater
centripetal force is required to keep it at constant distance from the
sun. Eventually, as the planet continues to sweep in closer to the sun
at higher and higher speed. A point will be reached at which the
gravitational force between the two is no longer sufficient to produce
sufficient centripetal acceleration to keep the Planet from moving out
away from the sun. Thus the planet will move outwards it rounds the
sun until it has reached the position where the gravitational
acceleration is again greater than the circular centripetal acceleration
and this process is repeated. If the situation were reversed, and
planet were moving fast enough for the centripetal force required for
the circular motion to be greater than the gravitational attraction, the
planet will move outward and consequently slow down until the
gravitational force could pull it back again.
Thus we see qualitatively, how the planet may follow an elliptical
orbit, if however, a planet had a high enough speed the gravitational
force between it and the sun might never be enough to provide
sufficient centripetal force to hold the planet in the solar system, and
the planet will move off into the space. Its orbit would then be a
hyperbola rather than a closed, elliptical path as shown in Figure 4.2.
There is a certain critical speed, which depends on planets distance

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from the sun or which the planet can just barely escape the solar
system along a parabolic orbit. This critical speed is called parabolic
velocity or velocity of escape. In order to prove that the gravitational
force between the sun and a planet must result in an orbit for the
planet that is a circle, an ellipse, parabola or hyperbola. To solve this
problem Newton used his fluxions, which we now call differential
calculus. He showed in fact, that the gravitational interaction between
any two bodies would result in an orbital motion of each body about
the other that is some form of conic section.
Circular and the parabolic orbits require theoretically precise speed
that would not be expected to occur in nature, thus we would not
expect to find a planet (or other object) with exactly a circular or
parabolic orbit. The later divides the family of elliptical (closed) from
the family of hyperbolic (open) orbits that actually occur in nature The
planets, of course, do not have hyperbolic orbits or they would long
since have receded into interstellar space; their orbits then must be
elliptical, as found by Kepler.

Figure 4.2 Relative hyperbolic Orbits.

2. Kepler’s Second Law

Consider a planet at A revolving about the sun at S as indicated in
Figure 4.3. In short interval of time the planet’s forward velocity would
ordinarily carry it to B. However, the gravitational pull between it and
the sun accelerates it to C, since we are considering a very brief
interval of time. We can regard the acceleration of the planet as being
along the direction BC parallel to AS, the direction of from the planet
to the sun at the beginning of the instant. The planet now has the
velocity along the direction of AC. In the next brief interval of time,

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equal in length to the first interval, the planet would ordinarily
continue moving in a straight line or a constant speed and would end
up at D, along the extension of AC so that the distance CD was equal
to the distance AC. However, again the sun accelerates the planet
towards it (now in the direction Cs) so the planet actually moves
along CE.
Consider AC and CD to be basis of the triangles ASC and CSD,
respectively. Since AC = CD, the two triangles have equal bases.
They also have same altitudes. - The perpendicular distance of S
from AD or its extension. Thus triangles ASC and CSD having equal
bases and altitudes have equal areas.

Figure 4.3 Geometrical Proof of the law of areas.

Since triangles ASC and CSE are both equal in area to the triangle
SCD, they are equal in area to each other. These are the area swept
out by a line from the planet to the sun in two successive intervals of
time. Many such brief intervals of time can be combined too show
that the areas swept out any two equal intervals of time are equal,
thus Kepler’s second law is verified.

3. Kepler’s Third Law

For each of two mutually revolving bodies the gravitational attraction
between the two provides the centripetal acceleration to keep them in
circular orbits. If m1 and m2 be the masses of the bodies having
distances r1 and r2 from the common center of mass, they are
separated by the distance r1 + r2 and we can equate the gravitational
force to centripetal force for each body. We have

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For body 1 G m1m2 = m14π2 r1
(r1 + r2)2 P2

For body 2 G m1m2 = m24π2 r2

(r1 + r2)2 P2

If we cancel out the masses common to each side of each equation

and add the two equations we obtain

G m1+ m2 = 4π2 (r1 + r2)

(r1 + r2)2 P2

Or (m1+ m2) P2 = 4π2 (r1 + r2)3

G

Since (r1 + r2) is the distance between the two bodies we recognize it,
in case of a planet going around the sun in a circular orbit as a
semimajor axis a of the relative orbit . Then the above equation looks
the same as the formula for Kepler’s third law (P2 = a3) except for the
factor (m1+ m2) and 4π2/G. The later is simply a constant of
proportionality. If the proper units are chosen for the distance and
time, G will take such a value that 4π2/G.will equal unity. We discuss
below why Kepler was not aware of the factor (m1+ m2).
Newton derived his equations not only for the planets moving about
the sun but also for any pair of mutually revolving bodies- two stars, a
planet and a satellite, or even a plate and a spoon revolving about
each other in the space.
Newton’s version of Kepler’s third law differ from the original in that it
contains a factor the sum of the masses of two bodies. It becomes
clear why Kepler was not aware of that term if we note that we can
consider the sun and the earth to be the pair of mutually revolving
bodies. We know that the mass of the sun is about 300,000 times that

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of the earth. Thus the combined mass of the sun and the earth is, to
all intend and purposes the mass of the sun itself, the earths mass
being negligible in comparison. Suppose we chose the mass of the
sun to our unit of mass. Then, in the earth - sun system (m1+ m2) = 1.
Furthermore, the sum of masses of the sun and any other planet is
also very nearly unity. Even Jupiter the most massive planet, has only
1/1000 of the mass of the sun, for the sun and Jupiter (m1+ m2) =
1.001, a number so nearly equal to 1.000 that Kepler was unable to
detect the difference from Tycho’s observations. The fact that the
masses of Jupiter and Saturn are not completely negligible compared
to the sun accounts, in part, for the slight discrepancies in the
Kepler’s versions of Third law as applied to Jupiter and Saturn (See
Table 4.2) thus if we apply the equation Newton derived to the mutual
revolution of the sun an a planet, and chose years and astronomical
units as units of time and distance. And the solar mass as the unit of
mass. Newton’s equation reduces to
(m1+ m2) P2 = (1) P2 = a3
.
4.7 Restatement of the Kepler’s law
The three laws of planetary motion of Kepler can be restated in their
more general form as derived by Newton.
Kepler’s First Law
If two bodies interact gravitationally, each will describe an orbit that is
a conic section about the common center of mass of the pair. In
particular, if the bodies are permanently associated, their orbit will be
ellipse. If they are not permanently associated, their orbits will be
hyperbola.
Kepler’s Second Law
If two bodies revolve about each other under the influence of a
central force (whether or not in a closed elliptical orbit), a line joining
them sweeps out equal areas in the orbital plane in equal interval of
time.

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Kepler’s Third Law
If the bodies revolve mutually about each other, the sum of their
masses times the square of their period of mutual revolution is in
proportion to the cube of the semimajor axis of the relative orbit of
one about the other.

In metric units the algebraic formulation of Newton’s version of

Kepler’s third law is
(m1+ m2) P2 = 4π2 (r1 + r2)3
G
Where, G is the constant of gravitation. If the units of length, mass
and time are centimeters, grams, and seconds, respectively G has
the value 6.67 x 10-8.If either of the sets of units shown in Table 4.3 is
used the law becomes

(m1+ m2) P2 = a3

I II
Unit of (m1+ m2) Sun’s mass + earth’s mass earth’s mass + Moon’s mass
Units of P Sidereal Year Sidereal month
Units of a Astronomical unit Mean distance of moon from
earth

Table 4.3 Examples of system of units for which 4π2 = 1

G
4.8 Masses of the planets
The only means of measuring the masses of the astronomical bodies
is to study the way in which they react gravitationally with other
bodies. Newton’s derivation of Kepler’s third law, which involves the
term involving the sum of masses of the revolving bodies, is most
useful for the purpose.
Consider a planet like Jupiter that has one or more satellites revolving
about it. We can select on of these satellites and regard that satellite

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and its parent planet as a pair of mutually revolving bodies. We
measure the period of revolution of the satellite (say sidereal months)
and the distance of the satellite from the planet (in terms of distance
of the moon from the earth) and insert these values in the equation
(m1+ m2) = a3
P2
Since both a and p are observed, we can immediately calculate the
combined mass of the planet and its satellite. Obviously most of the
mass belong to the planet; its satellite will be very small compared to
it. Thus, m1+ m2 is, essentially the mass of the planet in terms of
mass of the earth.
To demonstrate it numerically, let us consider, Deimos the outermost
satellite of Mars, has the sidereal period of 1.262 days and the mean
distance from the center of mass of 23,500 kilometers. In sidereal
months the period of satellite is 1.262/27.3 = 0.0462 in terms of
distance of the moon from the earth. Deimos has the distance from
the center of mass
23500 = 0.0611
384,404

Thus the mass of the Mars plus the mass of the Deimos
mMars + mDeimos = (0.0611)3
(0.0462)2

= 2.8 x 10-4 = 0.11 x earths Mass

2.13 x 10-3

Since the Deimos is very small satellite (only about 13 Km across) its
mass can be neglected compared to that of the Mars, and we find
that the Mars has the mass just over one tenth of the earth.

4.9 Newton’s law of Universal Gravitation

For Newton’s hypothesis of universal attraction to be correct, it must
be an attractive force between all pairs of objects everywhere where
the value is given by the same mathematical formula as that for the

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force between the planet and the sun. Thus the force on two bodies
with masses m1 and m2 separated by a distance d is given by

F = G m1m2/d2

Here G is constant of proportionality in the equation, is a number

called the constant of gravitation whose value depends on units of
mass, distance and force used. The actual value of G has been
determined by laboratory measurements of the attractive force
between two material bodies. If metric units are used G has
numerical value of 6.67 x 10-8.
The above equation expresses Newton’s law of universal gravitation
which is stated as “Between any two objects anywhere in the space
their exists a force of attraction that is in proportion to the product of
the masses of the objects and inverse proportion to the square of the
distance between them”.
4.10 Mass of the Earth
The gravitational force, between a object of mass m on the earth and
the earth itself of mass M is equal to the constant of gravitation times
the product of the masses m and M divided by the square of the
distance from the object to the center of the earth. The later distance
is just the radius of the earth, R. this force is attraction between the
earth and the body on its surface is the bodies weight that is,

W = GmM/R2

However, in the vicinity of another gravitating body, his weight is

determined the attraction between the bodies. If the object is dropped
from the height, the downward acceleration is equivalent to force
acting on it, that is, weight is divided by its mass

(g) acceleration = W/m = GM/R2

Or M = g R2/G

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Thus the mass of the earth can be calculated. As the values of g,
and R are known.

Summery
1. Kepler’s first two laws of planetary motion were his most
important contribution in The New Astronomy
2. First Law: Each planet moves about the sun in a orbit that is an
ellipse, with the sun at one focus of the ellipse.
3. Second Law: (The Law of Areas) the straight line joining a
planet and the sun sweeps out equal areas in orbit al plane in
equal interval of time.
4. Kepler determined the distance between Mars and the sun or
various positions of the planet in its orbit by problem of
triangulation.
5. Kepler believed in underlying the harmony in the nature, and he
constantly searched for numerological relations in the celestial
realm.
6. Kepler’s third Law states that the square of the sidereal periods
of the planets is in direct proportion to the cubes of the semi
major axes of their orbits.
7. The Harmony of the world deals with Kepler’s attempts to
associate numerical relations in the solar system with music
8. Newton’s law of universal gravitation which is stated as
“Between any two objects anywhere in the space their exists a
force of attraction that is in proportion to the product of the
masses of the objects and inverse proportion to the square of
the distance between them”.
Exercises
Fill in the blanks
1. The sequence of numbers announced in 1772 by David Titius,
which described the approximate distance of the planets from
the _________.
2. Titius progression that he published it in his own introductory
astronomy text and __________ became known as “Bode’s
law”.

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 3. Each planet moves about the sun in a orbit that is an ellipse,
with the sun at one focus of the __________.
4. The straight line joining a __________ and the sun sweeps out
equal areas in orbit al plane in equal interval of time.
5. Kepler believed in underlying the harmony in the nature, and he
constantly searched for ___________ relations in the celestial
realm.
6. Because the planetary axes are __________, the distance
between a given planet and the sun varies.
7. The Square of the ___________ of the planets is in direct
proportion to the _________ of the semi major axes of their
orbits.
8. If the bodies are permanently associated, their orbit will be
_________. If they are not permanently associated, their orbits
will be ____________.
9. (m1+ m2) P2 = __________.
10. If metric units are used Universal Gravitation (G) has
numerical value of ___________.
Short questions with answer
Q1. How Titus sequence can be obtained?
Ans. David Titius, sequence which described the approximate
distance of the planets from the sun also known as “Bode’s law”
is obtained by writing down the numbers 0, 3, 6, 12, -------, each
succeeding number in the sequence (after the first) being
double the preceding one. If 4 is now added to each number
and the sum is divided by 10, the resulting numbers are the
approximate radii of the orbits of the planets in the Astronomical
units,
Q2. What is Kepler’s first law? What correction did the Newton
introduced?
Ans. According to Kepler’s first law each planet moves about the sun
in an orbit that is an ellipse, with the sun at one focus of the
ellipse. On the other hand the Newton applied Laws of Motion
and gravitation as proposed by him and modified the Kepler’s
laws according to the modification the law states that “If two
bodies interact gravitationally, each will describe an orbit that is

114
 a conic section about the common center of mass of the pair. In
particular, if the bodies are permanently associated, their orbit
will be ellipse. If they are not permanently associated, their
orbits will be hyperbola”.
Q3. What is Kepler’s law of areas?
Ans. The Kepler’s second also known as Law of areas states that the
straight line joining a planet and the sun sweeps out equal
areas in orbit al plane in equal interval of time.
Q3. What is Kepler’s Third law?
Ans. If the bodies revolve mutually about each other, the sum of their
masses times the square of their period of mutual revolution is
in proportion to the cube of the semimajor axis of the relative
orbit of one about the other.
Q4. How we can measure the masses of the astronomical bodies?
Ans. The only means of measuring the masses of the astronomical
bodies is to study the way in which they react gravitationally
with other bodies.
Study Questions
Q1. What is the eccentricity of the orbit of the planet whose distance
from the sun varies from 180 million to 220 million kilometers?
Q3. The earth’s distance from the sun varies from 147.2 million to
152.1 million kilometers. What is the eccentricity of the object?
Q4. Consider Kepler’s third law as given in section 4.5, carefully
explain why K= 1 when a is measured in astronomical units and
p2 in years?
Q5. What is the period of the planet whose orbit has semi major
axis of 4.0 AU?
Q6. What would be the distance from the sun of a planet whose
period is 45.66 days?
Q7. Suppose Kepler’ law applies to the motion of Jupiter’s satellite
Io round that planet, and that one of the satellite has period of
5.196 times as long as another one. What will be the ratio of
semimajor axes of their orbits?
Q8. Why does the Newton’s version of Kepler’s third law has the
form (m1+ m2) P2 = a3 ?
Q9. A cow attempted to jump over the moon but landed into the
orbit around the moon. Describe how the cow could be used to
determine the mass of the moon?

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Stars

Unit III

116
 Chapter 5
Sir Frederick William Herschel,
(15 November 1738 – 25 August
1822) was a British astronomer,
technical expert, and a composer..
Herschel became most famous for
the discovery of the
planet Uranus in addition to
several of its major moons such
as Titania and Oberon. He also
discovered infrared radiation.

Stars
Historically, stars have been important to civilizations throughout the
world. They have been part of religious practices and for celestial
navigation and orientation. As has been said by the poet Ralph
Waldo Emerson

“Teach me your mood,

O patient stars.
Who climb each night,
the ancient sky.
leaving on space no shade, no scars,
no trace of age, no fear to die.”

Many ancient astronomers believed that stars were permanently

affixed to a heavenly sphere, and that they were immutable. By
convention, astronomers grouped stars into constellations and used
them to track the motions of the planets and the inferred position of
the Sun. The motion of the Sun against the background stars (and
the horizon) was used to create calendars, which could be used to
regulate agricultural practices.

The Gregorian calendar, currently used nearly everywhere in the

world, is a solar calendar based on the angle of the Earth's rotational
axis relative to the nearest star, the Sun. The oldest accurately dated
star chart appeared in Ancient Egypt in 1,534 BC. The Greek
astronomer Aristillus created the first star catalogue in approximately

117
300 BC, with the help of Timocharis. Ptolemy's star catalogue was
based on an earlier record by Hipparchus from the 2nd century BC.

Figure 5.1: People have seen patterns in the stars since ancient
times. This 1690 depiction of the constellation of Leo, the lion, is by
Johannes Hevelius.

Hipparchus is known for the discovery of the first nova (new star).
Islamic astronomers gave to many stars Arabic names which are still
used today, and they invented numerous astronomical instruments
which could compute the positions of the stars. In the 11th century,
Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī described the Milky Way galaxy as multitude of
fragments having the properties of nebulous stars, and also gave the
latitudes of various stars during a lunar eclipse in 1019.

In spite of the apparent immutability of the heavens, Chinese

astronomers were aware that new stars could appear. Early
European astronomers such as Tycho Brahe identified new stars in
the night sky (later termed novae), suggesting that the heavens were
not immutable. In 1584 Giordano Bruno suggested that the stars
were actually other suns, and may have other planets, possibly even
Earth-like, in orbit around them, an idea that had been suggested
earlier by such ancient Greek philosophers as Democritus and
Epicurus. By the following century the idea of the stars as distant
suns was reaching a consensus among astronomers.

118
To explain why these stars exerted no net gravitational pull on the
solar system, Isaac Newton suggested that the stars were equally
distributed in every direction, an idea prompted by the theologian
Richard Bentley. The Italian astronomer Geminiano Montanari
recorded observing variations in luminosity of the star Algol in 1667.
Edmond Halley published the first measurements of the proper
motion of a pair of nearby "fixed" stars, demonstrating that they had
changed positions from the time of the ancient Greek astronomers
Ptolemy and Hipparchus. The first direct measurement of the
distance to a star (61 Cygni at 11.4 light-years) was made in 1838 by
Friedrich Bessel using the parallax technique. Parallax
measurements demonstrated the vast separation of the stars in the
heavens.

William Herschel was the first astronomer to attempt to determine

the distribution of stars in the sky. During the 1780s, he performed a
series of gauges in 600 directions, and counted the stars observed
along each line of sight. From this he deduced that the number of
stars steadily increased toward one side of the sky, in the direction of
the Milky Way core. His son John Herschel repeated this study in the
southern hemisphere and found a corresponding increase in the
same direction. In addition to his other accomplishments, William
Herschel is also noted for his discovery that some stars do not merely
lie along the same line of sight, but are also physical companions that
form binary star systems.

The science of stellar spectroscopy was pioneered by Joseph von

Fraunhofer and Angelo Secchi. By comparing the spectra of stars
such as Sirius to the Sun, they found differences in the strength and
number of their absorption lines—the dark lines in a stellar spectra
due to the absorption of specific frequencies by the atmosphere. In
1865 Secchi began classifying stars into spectral types. However, the
modern version of the stellar classification scheme was developed by
Annie J. Cannon during the 1900s.

Observation of double stars gained increasing importance during the

19th century. In 1834, Friedrich Bessel observed changes in the
proper motion of the star Sirius, and inferred a hidden companion.
Edward Pickering discovered the first spectroscopic binary in 1899
when he observed the periodic splitting of the spectral lines of the

119
star Mizar in a 104 day period. Detailed observations of many binary
star systems were collected by astronomers such as William Struve
and S. W. Burnham, allowing the masses of stars to be determined
from computation of the orbital elements. The first solution to the
problem of deriving an orbit of binary stars from telescope
observations was made by Felix Savary in 1827. The twentieth
century saw increasingly rapid advances in the scientific study of
stars. The photograph became a valuable astronomical tool. Karl
Schwarzschild discovered that the color of a star, and hence its
temperature, could be determined by comparing the visual magnitude
against the photographic magnitude. The development of the
photoelectric photometer allowed very precise measurements of
magnitude at multiple wavelength intervals.

In 1921 Albert A. Michelson made the first measurements of a stellar

diameter using an interferometer on the Hooker telescope. Important
conceptual work on the physical basis of stars occurred during the
first decades of the twentieth century.

In 1913, the Herhzsprung-Russell diagram was developed, propelling

the astrophysical study of stars. Successful models were developed
to explain the interiors of stars and stellar evolution. The spectra of
stars were also successfully explained through advances in quantum
physics. This allowed the chemical composition of the stellar
atmosphere to be determined. With the exception of supernovae,
individual stars have primarily been observed in our Local Group of
galaxies, and especially in the visible part of the Milky Way (as
demonstrated by the detailed star catalogues available for our
galaxy). But some stars have been observed in the M100 galaxy of
the Virgo Cluster, about 100 million light years from the Earth. In the
Local Supercluster it is possible to see star clusters, and current
telescopes could in principle observe faint individual stars in the Local
Cluster—the most distant stars resolved have up to hundred million
light years away (see Cepheids). However, outside the Local
Supercluster of galaxies, neither individual stars nor clusters of stars
have been observed. The only exception is a faint image of a large
star cluster containing hundreds of thousands of stars located one
billion light years away—ten times the distance of the most distant
star cluster previously observed.

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5.1 Characteristics

Almost everything about a star is determined by its initial mass,

including essential characteristics such as luminosity and size, as
well as the star's evolution, lifespan, and eventual fate. Age of most
stars is between 1 billion and 10 billion years old. Some stars may
even be close to 13.7 billion years old—the observed age of the
universe. The oldest star yet discovered, HE 1523-0901, is an
estimated 13.2 billion years old. The more massive the star, the
shorter its lifespan, primarily because massive stars have greater
pressure on their cores, causing them to burn hydrogen more rapidly.
The most massive stars last an average of about one million years,
while stars of minimum mass (red dwarfs) burn their fuel very slowly
and last tens to hundreds of billions of years.

Figure 5.2 The Sun is the nearest star to Earth

Thus we can say that a star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma

that is held together by gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun,
which is the source of most of the energy on Earth. Other stars are
visible in the night sky, when they are not outshone by the Sun.
Historically, the most prominent stars on the celestial sphere were
grouped together into constellations, and the brightest stars gained
proper names. Extensive catalogues of stars have been assembled
by astronomers, which provide standardized designations. For most
of its life, a star shines due to thermonuclear fusion in its core
releasing energy that traverses the star's interior and then radiates
into outer space. Almost all elements heavier than hydrogen and
helium were created by fusion processes in stars. Astronomers can
determine the mass, age, chemical composition and many other

121
properties of a star by observing its spectrum, luminosity and motion
through space. The total mass of a star is the principal determinant in
its evolution and eventual fate. Other characteristics of a star are
determined by its evolutionary history, including the diameter,
rotation, movement and temperature. A plot of the temperature of
many stars against their luminosities, known as a Hertzsprung-
Russell diagram (H–R diagram), allows the age and evolutionary
state of a star to be determined. A star begins as a collapsing cloud
of material composed primarily of hydrogen, along with helium and
trace amounts of heavier elements. Once the stellar core is
sufficiently dense, some of the hydrogen is steadily converted into
helium through the process of nuclear fusion. The remainder of the
star's interior carries energy away from the core through a
combination of radiative and convective processes. The star's internal
pressure prevents it from collapsing further under its own gravity.
Once the hydrogen fuel at the core is exhausted, those stars having
at least 0.4 times the mass of the Sun expand to become a red giant,
in some cases fusing heavier elements at the core or in shells around
the core. The star then evolves into a degenerate form, recycling a
portion of the matter into the interstellar environment, where it will
form a new generation of stars with a higher proportion of heavy
elements’ Binary and multi-star systems consist of two or more stars
that are gravitationally bound, and generally move around each other
in stable orbits. When two such stars have a relatively close orbit,
their gravitational interaction can have a significant impact on their
evolution. Stars can form part of a much larger gravitationally bound
structure, such as a cluster or a galaxy.

5.2 Star designations Astronomical naming conventions, and

Star catalogue

The concept of the constellation was known to exist during the

Babylonian period. Ancient sky watchers imagined that prominent
arrangements of stars formed patterns, and they associated these
with particular aspects of nature or their myths. Twelve of these
formations lay along the band of the ecliptic and these became the
basis of astrology. Many of the more prominent individual stars were
also given names, particularly with Arabic or Latin designations. As
well as certain constellations and the Sun itself, stars as a whole
have their own myths. To the Ancient Greeks, some "stars," known

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as planets (Greek πλανήτης (planētēs), meaning "wanderer"),
represented various important deities, from which the names of the
planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were taken.
(Uranus and Neptune were also Greek and Roman gods, but neither
planet was known in Antiquity because of their low brightness. Their
names were assigned by later astronomers). Circa 1600, the names
of the constellations were used to name the stars in the
corresponding regions of the sky. The German astronomer Johann
Bayer created a series of star maps and applied Greek letters as
designations to the stars in each constellation. Later a numbering
system based on the star's right ascension was invented and added
to John Flamsteed's star catalogue in his book "Historia coelestis
Britannica" (the 1712 edition), whereby this numbering system came
to be called Flamsteed designation or Flamsteed numbering.

The only body which has been recognized by the scientific

community as having the authority to name stars or other celestial
bodies is the International Astronomical Union (IAU). A number of
private companies (for instance, the "International Star Registry")
purport to sell names to stars; however, these names are neither
recognized by the scientific community nor used by them, and many
in the astronomy community view these organizations as frauds
preying on people ignorant of star naming procedure.

5.3 Units of measurement

Most stellar parameters are expressed in SI units by convention, but

CGS units are also used (e.g., expressing luminosity in ergs per
second). Mass, luminosity, and radii are usually given in solar units,
based on the characteristics of the Sun:

solar mass: kg
wat
solar luminosity:
ts
solar radius: m

Large lengths, such as the radius of a giant star or the semi-major

axis of a binary star system, are often expressed in terms of the

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astronomical unit (AU)—approximately the mean distance between
the Earth and the Sun (150 million km or 93 million miles).

5.4 Stellar Magnetic field

The magnetic field of a star is generated within regions of the interior

where convective circulation occurs. This movement of conductive
plasma functions like a dynamo, generating magnetic fields that
extend throughout the star. The strength of the magnetic field varies
with the mass and composition of the star, and the amount of
magnetic surface activity depends upon the star's rate of rotation.
This surface activity produces starspots, which are regions of strong
magnetic fields and lower than normal surface temperatures. Coronal
loops are arching magnetic fields that reach out into the corona from
active regions. Stellar flares are bursts of high-energy particles that
are emitted due to the same magnetic activity. Young, rapidly rotating
stars tend to have high levels of surface activity because of their
magnetic field. The magnetic field can act upon a star's stellar wind;

Figure 5.3 Surface magnetic field of SU Aur (a young star of T Tauri

type), reconstructed by means of Zeeman-Doppler imaging

However, functioning as a brake to gradually slow the rate of rotation

as the star grows older. Thus, older stars such as the Sun have a
much slower rate of rotation and a lower level of surface activity. The
activity levels of slowly rotating stars tend to vary in a cyclical manner
and can shut down altogether for periods. During the Maunder

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minimum, for example, the Sun underwent a 70-year period with
almost no sunspot activity.

5.5 Stellar Mass

One of the most massive stars known is Eta Carinae, with 100–
150 times as much mass as the Sun; its lifespan is very short—only
several million years at most. A recent study of the Arches cluster
suggests that 150 solar masses is the upper limit for stars in the
current era of the universe. The reason for this limit is not precisely
known, but it is partially due to the Eddington luminosity which
defines the maximum amount of luminosity that can pass through the
atmosphere of a star without ejecting the gases into space.

Figure 5.4 The reflection nebula NGC 1999 is brilliantly illuminated by

V380 Orionis (center), a variable star with about 3.5 times the mass
of the Sun. NASA image

The first stars to form after the Big Bang may have been larger, up to
300 solar masses or more, due to the complete absence of elements
heavier than lithium in their composition. This generation of
supermassive, population III stars is long extinct, however, and
currently only theoretical. With a mass only 93 times that of Jupiter,
AB Doradus C, a companion to AB Doradus A, is the smallest known
star undergoing nuclear fusion in its core. For stars with similar
metallicity to the Sun, the theoretical minimum mass the star can
have, and still undergo fusion at the core, is estimated to be about 75
times the mass of Jupiter. When the metallicity is very low, however,
a recent study of the faintest stars found that the minimum star size
seems to be about 8.3% of the solar mass, or about 87 times the
mass of Jupiter. Smaller bodies are called brown dwarfs, which

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occupy a poorly defined grey area between stars and gas giants. The
combination of the radius and the mass of a star determines the
surface gravity. Giant stars have a much lower surface gravity than
main sequence stars, while the opposite is the case for degenerate,
compact stars such as white dwarfs. The surface gravity can
influence the appearance of a star's spectrum, with higher gravity
causing a broadening of the absorption lines.

5.6 Stellar rotation

The rotation rate of stars can be approximated through spectroscopic

measurement, or more exactly determined by tracking the rotation
rate of starspots. Young stars can have a rapid rate of rotation
greater than 100 km/s at the equator. The B-class star Achernar, for
example, has an equatorial rotation velocity of about 225 km/s or
greater, giving it an equatorial diameter that is more than 50% larger
than the distance between the poles. This rate of rotation is just
below the critical velocity of 300 km/s where the star would break
apart. By contrast, the Sun only rotates once every 25 – 35 days, with
an equatorial velocity of 1.994 km/s. The star's magnetic field and the
stellar wind serve to slow down a main sequence star's rate of
rotation by a significant amount as it evolves on the main sequence.
Degenerate stars have contracted into a compact mass, resulting in a
rapid rate of rotation. However they have relatively low rates of
rotation compared to what would be expected by conservation of
angular momentum—the tendency of a rotating body to compensate
for a contraction in size by increasing its rate of spin. A large portion
of the star's angular momentum is dissipated as a result of mass loss
through the stellar wind. In spite of this, the rate of rotation for a
pulsar can be very rapid. The pulsar at the heart of the Crab nebula,
for example, rotates 30 times per second. The rotation rate of the
pulsar will gradually slow due to the emission of radiation.

5.7 Temperature

The surface temperature of a main sequence star is determined by

the rate of energy production at the core and the radius of the star
and is often estimated from the star's color index. It is normally given
as the effective temperature, which is the temperature of an idealized
black body that radiates its energy at the same luminosity per surface

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area as the star. Note that the effective temperature is only a
representative value, however, as stars actually have a temperature
gradient that decreases with increasing distance from the core. The
temperature in the core region of a star is several million Kelvin. The
stellar temperature will determine the rate of energization or
ionization of different elements, resulting in characteristic absorption
lines in the spectrum. The surface temperature of a star, along with
its visual absolute magnitude and absorption features, is used to
classify a star (see Table 5.1). Massive main sequence stars can
have surface temperatures of 50,000 K. Smaller stars such as the
Sun have surface temperatures of a few thousand K. Red giants have
relatively low surface temperatures of about 3,600 K, but they also
have a high luminosity due to their large exterior surface area.

5.8 Radiation

The energy produced by stars, as a by-product of nuclear fusion,

radiates into space as both electromagnetic radiation and particle
radiation. The particle radiation emitted by a star is manifested as the
stellar wind (which exists as a steady stream of electrically charged
particles, such as free protons, alpha particles, and beta particles,
emanating from the star’s outer layers) and as a steady stream of
neutrinos emanating from the star’s core. The production of energy at
the core is the reason why stars shine so brightly: every time two or
more atomic nuclei of one element fuse together to form an atomic
nucleus of a new heavier element, gamma ray photons are released
from the nuclear fusion reaction. This energy is converted to other
forms of electromagnetic energy, including visible light, by the time it
reaches the star’s outer layers. The color of a star, as determined by
the peak frequency of the visible light, depends on the temperature of
the star’s outer layers, including its photosphere. Besides visible light,
stars also emit forms of electromagnetic radiation that are invisible to
the human eye. In fact, stellar electromagnetic radiation spans the
entire electromagnetic spectrum, from the longest wavelengths of
radio waves and infrared to the shortest wavelengths of ultraviolet, X-
rays, and gamma rays. All components of stellar electromagnetic
radiation, both visible and invisible, are typically significant. Using the
stellar spectrum, astronomers can also determine the surface
temperature, surface gravity, metallicity and rotational velocity of a
star. If the distance of the star is known, such as by measuring the

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parallax, then the luminosity of the star can be derived. The mass,
radius, surface gravity, and rotation period can then be estimated
based on stellar models. (Mass can be measured directly for stars in
binary systems. The technique of gravitational microlensing will also
yield the mass of a star. With these parameters, astronomers can
also estimate the age of the star.

5.9 Luminosity

In astronomy, luminosity is the amount of light, and other forms of

radiant energy, a star radiates per unit of time. The luminosity of a
star is determined by the radius and the surface temperature.
However, many stars do not radiate a uniform flux—the amount of
energy radiated per unit area—across their entire surface. The rapidly
rotating star Vega, for example, has a higher energy flux at its poles
than along its equator. Surface patches with a lower temperature and
luminosity than average are known as starspots. Small, dwarf stars
such as the Sun generally have essentially featureless disks with only
small starspots. Larger, giant stars have much bigger, much more
obvious starspots, and they also exhibit strong stellar limb darkening.
That is, the brightness decreases towards the edge of the stellar disk.
Red dwarf flare stars such as UV Ceti may also possess prominent
starspot features.

5.10 Stellar Spectra: A Classification

When the spectra of different stars were observed, it was found that
they differ greatly among themselves. In 1863 the Jesuit astronomer
Angelo Secchi categorized stars into four groups according to general
arrangement of the dark lines in their spectra. Srcchi’s scheme was
subsequently modified and augmented, till date we recognize seven
such principal spectral classes.

5.11 Spectral Sequence

As we know, each dark line in a stellar spectrum is due to the

presence of a particular chemical element in the atmosphere of the
star observed, it might seem, therefore, that the stellar spectra differ
from each other because of difference in the chemical make up of the
star. Actually, the difference in the stellar spectra is due mostly to the

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widely differing temperatures in the outer layers of the various stars.
Hydrogen, for example is by far most abundant element in all stars,
except probably in those at the advanced stage of evolution. In the
atmosphere of very hottest stars, hydrogen is completely ionized and
can therefore produce no absorption lines. In the atmosphere of the
coolest star hydrogen is neutral and can produce absorption lines, but
in these stars practically all of the hydrogen atoms are in lowest
energy state, and can absorb only those photons that can lift them
from first energy level to the higher ones; the photons so absorbed
produce the Layman series of absorption lines, which lies in the
unobservable ultraviolet part of the spectrum. In the stellar
atmosphere with a temperature of about 10,000 K, many hydrogen
atoms are not ionized and appreciable number of these are excited to
second energy level, from which they can absorb additional photons
and rise to higher level of excitation. These photons correspond to
the wavelength of Balmer series which is in the part of spectrum that
is readily observable. Absorption lines due to hydrogen. Therefore
are strongest in the spectra of the stars whose atmosphere have
temperatures near 10,000 K and they are less conspicuous in the
spectra of both hotter and cooler stars, even though the hydrogen is
roughly equally abundant in all the stars. Similarly, every other
chemical element in each of its possible stage of ionization has a
characteristic temperature at which it is most effective in producing
the absorption lines in the observable part of the spectrum. Once it is
ascertained how the temperature of stars can determine the physical
states of the gases in its outer layers, and thus their ability to produce
absorption lines. We need only to observe what patterns of
absorption lines are present in the spectrum of a star to learn its
temperature. We can therefore arrange the seven classes of the
stellar spectra in continuous sequence in order of decreasing
temperature. In the hottest stars with the temperature over 25000 K
only lines of ionized helium and highly ionized atoms of other
elements are conspicuous. Hydrogen lines are shortest in stars with
atmospheric temperature of about 10,000 K. Ionized metals provide
the most conspicuous lines in the stars with temperatures from 6000
to 8000 K. Lines of neutral metals are strongest in somewhat cooler
stars. In the coolest stars ( below 4000 K) bands of some molecules
are very strong, The most important among the molecules bands are
those due to titanium oxide, a tenacious chemical compound which

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can exist at a temperature of cooler stars. The sequence of spectral
types is summarized in Table 5.1

Hot star types O,B,A – are sometimes referred to as having

early spectral types, The spectral classes of the stars G,K,M- as late
spectral types. The spectral classes of stars listed in the table can be
subdivided into tenths, thus a star of spectral class A5 is midway in
the range of A- type stars that is halfway between the stars of type A0
and F0. The sun is of spectral class G2- two tenth of the way from
class G0 to K0. The spectral sequence ranging smoothly from O to M
with decreasing temperature was established through the
classification of hundreds of thousands of stellar spectra in years
1918 to 1924 by astronomers at Harvard University; pioneered by
Edward Pickering and a woman astronomer with the unlikely name of
Annie Cannon, among others. Famous American astronomer Henry
Norris Russel proposed a scheme by which every student can
remember the order of classes in the spectral sequence. The class
letters are the first letters of the words “ Oh, Be A Fine Girl, Kiss
Me!”
Spectral Color Approximate Principal Features Stellar
Class Temperature Examples
(K)
O Blue › 25,000 Relatively few absorption lines in observable spectrum. 10 Lacertae
Lines of ionized helium, doubly ionized nitrogen, triply Zeta Ophiuchi
ionized silicon, and other lines of highly ionized atoms.
Hydrogen lines appears only weekly
B Blue 11,000-25,000 Lines of neutral helium, singly and doubly ionized silicon, Rigel Spica
singly ionized oxygen and magnesium. Hydrogen lines
more pronounced than the O type stars
A Blue 7,500- 11,000 Strong lines of hydrogen. Also lines of singly ionized Sirius Vega
magnesium, silicon, iron, titanium, calcium and others. Altair
Lines of some neutral metals show weakly
F Blue to 6000-7500 Hydrogen lines are weaker than in A-type stars but are Canopus
White still conspicuous. Lines of singly ionized calcium. Iron and Procyon
chromium and also lines of neutral iron and chromium are
present, as are lines of other neutral metals
G White to 5000-6000 Lines of ionized calcium are most conspicuous spectral Sun Capella
Yellow features. Many lines of ionized and neutral metals are
present. Hydrogen lines are weak even than in F-type
stars. Bands of CH, the hydrocarbon radicals, are strong
K Orange to 3500-5000 Lines of neutral metal predominate. The CH bands are Arcturus
Red still present. Aldebaran
M Red ‹ 3500 Strong lines of neutral metals and molecular bands of Betelgeuse
titanium oxide dominate Anteres

Table 5.1 Classification of stars according to their spectra

Originally there were a number of spectral classes from A-Q,

designating stars according to the complexity of their emission lines.

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That classification was dropped in favor of the simplified version we
see today, which orders stars according to their color/temperature,
but maintains the letter names from the old classification. Recent
decades have seen the introduction of a few new spectral classes, to
cover interstellar oddballs are shown in Table 5.2

W Wolf-Rayet Stars(Blue)
C Carbon stars (Red)
S Brown Dwarfs

Table 5.2 The major luminosity classes

Stars in the Harvard system are further classified according to

their luminosity, a measurement based on the brightness of the star,
which gives us some idea of its mass. Stars may also be classified by
the luminosity effects found in their spectral lines, which correspond
to their spatial size and is determined by the surface gravity. As
shown in Table 5.3. These range from 0 (hypergiants) through III
(giants) to V (main sequence dwarfs); some authors add VII (white
dwarfs). Most stars belong to the main sequence, which consists of
ordinary hydrogen-burning stars. These fall along a narrow, diagonal
band when graphed according to their absolute magnitude and
spectral type. Our Sun is a main sequence G2V yellow dwarf, being
of intermediate temperature and ordinary size. Additional
nomenclature, in the form of lower-case letters, can follow the
spectral type to indicate peculiar features of the spectrum. For
example, an "e" can indicate the presence of emission lines; "m"
represents unusually strong levels of metals, and "var" can mean
variations in the spectral type. White dwarf stars have their own class
that begins with the letter D. This is further sub-divided into the
classes DA, DB, DC, DO, DZ, and DQ, depending on the types of
prominent lines found in the spectrum. This is followed by a numerical
value that indicates the temperature index. This is known as the
Yerkes spectral classification. Two stars may have the same surface
temperature (color) but different luminosity (size), according to their
age, mass and composition.

I Supergiant (a/b)
II Luminous Giant
III Giant

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 IV Subgiant
V Main Sequence (Dwarf)
VI | Subdwarf
VII White Dwarf
Table 5.3 The major luminosity classes

5.12 Magnitude of Stars (Apparent and Absolute magnitude):

The apparent brightness of a star is measured by its apparent

magnitude, which is the brightness of a star with respect to the star’s
luminosity, distance from Earth, and the altering of the star’s light as it
passes through Earth’s atmosphere. Intrinsic or absolute magnitude
is what the apparent magnitude a star would be if the distance
between the Earth and the star were 10 parsecs (32.6 light-years),
and it is directly related to a star’s luminosity.

Number of stars brighter than

magnitude
Apparent Number
magnitude of Stars
0 4
1 15
2 48
3 171
4 513
5 1,602
6 4,800
7 14,000

Table 5.4 The Luminosity of stars.

Both the apparent and absolute magnitude scales are

logarithmic units: one whole number difference in magnitude is equal
to a brightness variation of about 2.5 times (the 5th root of 100 or
approximately 2.512). This means that a first magnitude (+1.00) star

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is about 2.5 times brighter than a second magnitude (+2.00) star, and
approximately 100 times brighter than a sixth magnitude (+6.00) star.
The faintest stars visible to the naked eye under good seeing
conditions are about magnitude +6.

On apparent and absolute magnitude scales, the smaller the

magnitude number, the brighter the star; the larger the magnitude
number, the fainter. The brightest stars, on either scale, have
negative magnitude numbers. The variation in brightness (ΔL)
between two stars is calculated by subtracting the magnitude number
of the brighter star (mb) from the magnitude number of the fainter star
(mf), then using the difference as an exponent for the base number
2.512; that is to say:

Δm = mf − mb
2.512Δm = ΔL

Relative to both luminosity and distance from Earth, absolute

magnitude (M) and apparent magnitude (m) are not equivalent for an
individual star; for example, the bright star Sirius has an apparent
magnitude of −1.44, but it has an absolute magnitude of +1.41.

The Sun has an apparent magnitude of −26.7, but its absolute

magnitude is only +4.83. Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky as
seen from Earth, is approximately 23 times more luminous than the
Sun, while Canopus, the second brightest star in the night sky with an
absolute magnitude of −5.53, is approximately 14,000 times more
luminous than the Sun. Despite Canopus being vastly more luminous
than Sirius, however, Sirius appears brighter than Canopus. This is
because Sirius is merely 8.6 light-years from the Earth, while
Canopus is much farther away at a distance of 310 light-years.

As of 2006, the star with the highest known absolute magnitude

is LBV 1806-20, with a magnitude of −14.2. This star is at least
5,000,000 times more luminous than the Sun. The least luminous
stars that are currently known are located in the NGC 6397 cluster.
The faintest red dwarfs in the cluster were magnitude 26, while a 28th
magnitude white dwarf was also discovered. These faint stars are so
dim that their light is as bright as a birthday candle on the Moon when
viewed from the Earth.

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5.13 Stellar Diameter

Due to their great distance from the Earth, all stars except the
Sun appear to the human eye as shining points in the night sky that
twinkle because of the effect of the Earth's atmosphere. The Sun is
also a star, but it is close enough to the Earth to appear as a disk
instead, and to provide daylight. Other than the Sun, the star with the
largest apparent size is R Doradus, with an angular diameter of only
0.057 arcseconds. The disks of most stars are much too small in
angular size to be observed with current ground-based optical
telescopes, and so interferometer telescopes are required in order to
produce images of these objects. Another technique for measuring
the angular size of stars is through occultation. By precisely
measuring the drop in brightness of a star as it is occulted by the
Moon (or the rise in brightness when it reappears), the star's angular
diameter can be computed.

Figure 5.5 Stars vary widely in size

Stars range in size from neutron stars, which vary anywhere from 20
to 40 km in diameter, to supergiants like Betelgeuse in the Orion

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constellation, which has a diameter approximately 650 times larger
than the Sun—about 0.9 billion kilometers. However, Betelgeuse has
a much lower density than the Sun.

5.14 Stellar kinematics

The motion of a star relative to the Sun can provide useful information
about the origin and age of a star, as well as the structure and
evolution of the surrounding galaxy. The components of motion of a
star consist of the radial velocity toward or away from the Sun, and
the traverse angular movement, which is called its proper motion.
Radial velocity is measured by the Doppler shift of the star's spectral
lines, and is given in units of km/s. The proper motion of a star is
determined by precise astrometric measurements in units of milli-arc
seconds (mas) per year. By determining the parallax of a star, the
proper motion can then be converted into units of velocity. Stars with
high rates of proper motion are likely to be relatively close to the Sun,
making them good candidates for parallax measurements. Once both
rates of movement are known, the space velocity of the star relative
to the Sun or the galaxy can be computed. Among nearby stars, it
has been found that population I stars have generally lower velocities
than older, population II stars. The latter have elliptical orbits that are
inclined to the plane of the galaxy. Comparison of the kinematics of
nearby stars has also led to the identification of stellar associations.
These are most likely groups of stars that share a common point of
origin in giant molecular clouds.

5.15 Distribution of stars

In addition to isolated stars, there are multi-star system can

consisting of two or more gravitationally bound stars that orbit around
each other. The most common multi-star system is a binary star, but
systems of three or more stars are also found. For reasons of orbital
stability, such multi-star systems are often organized into hierarchical
sets of co-orbiting binary stars. Larger groups called star clusters also
exist. These range from loose stellar associations with only a few
stars, up to enormous globular clusters with hundreds of thousands of
stars.
It has been a long-held assumption that the majority of stars occur in
gravitationally bound, multiple-star systems. This is particularly true

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for very massive O and B class stars, where 80% of the systems are
believed to be multiple. However the portion of single star systems
increases for smaller stars, so that only 25% of red dwarfs are known
to have stellar companions. As 85% of all stars are red dwarfs, most
stars in the Milky Way are likely single from birth.

Stars are not spread uniformly across the universe, but are normally
grouped into galaxies along with interstellar gas and dust. A typical
galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars, and there are more than
100 billion (1011) galaxies in the observable universe. While it is
often believed that stars only exist within galaxies, intergalactic stars
have been discovered. Astronomers estimate that there are at least
70 sextillion (7×1022) stars in the observable universe.

The nearest star to the Earth, apart from the Sun, is Proxima
Centauri, which is 39.9 trillion (1012) kilometers, or 4.2 light-years
away. Light from Proxima Centauri takes 4.2 years to reach Earth.
Traveling at the orbital speed of the Space Shuttle (5 miles per
second—almost 30,000 kilometers per hour), it would take about
150,000 years to get there. Distances like this are typical inside
galactic discs, including in the vicinity of the solar system. Stars can
be much closer to each other in the centers of galaxies and in
globular clusters, or much farther apart in galactic halos.

Due to the relatively vast distances between stars outside the

galactic nucleus, collisions between stars are thought to be rare. In
denser regions such as the core of globular clusters or the galactic
center, collisions can be more common. Such collisions can produce
what are known as blue stragglers. These abnormal stars have a
higher surface temperature than the other main sequence stars with
the same luminosity in the cluster.

5.16 Stellar Structure

The circumstances that greatly facilitate the computation of the

conditions in the interior of the stars is that, stars in most cases are
completely gaseous throughout. Not only are the temperatures too
high to permit the molecules to exist in the stellar interiors but even
the atoms almost completely ionized. Consequently, overwhelming
majority of particles of which the stars are made are the free

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electrons and atomic nuclei, and most of the later are simple protons.
We know that these particles are extremely small as compared to the
size of the neutral atoms. Thus even in stars where the gases are
compressed to enormous densities, there is mostly empty space
between the electrons and atomic nuclei. It is for this reason idealized
gas law holds throughout the interior of most of the stars with high
degree of accuracy.

(i) Perfect Gas Law: The particles that comprise a gas

are in rapid motion, frequently colliding with each other
and with the walls of the container of the gas. This
constant bombardment is the pressure of the gas. The
pressure is greater, the greater the number of particles
within a given volume of gas, for the course the
combined impact of moving particles increases with
the numbers. The pressure is also greater the faster
the molecules or atoms are moving; since the rate of
motion determined by the temperature of the gas, the
pressure is greater the higher the temperature. The
perfect gas laws provide the mathematical relation
between the pressure density and temperature of a
perfect or ideal gas and states that the pressure is
proportional to the product of the density and the
temperature of the gas. The gases in most stars
closely approximate an ideal gas; thus, they must obey
this law. The exceptions are very massive stars, where
the radiation pressure can play an important role, and
collapse core of the stars where the matter is
degenerated.

(ii) Hydrostatic Equilibrium:

The sun like majority of other stars is stable that is,

neither expanding nor contracting. Such a star is said
to be in a condition of equilibrium, all the force within it
are balanced so that each point within the star the
temperature, pressure and density and so on are
maintained at the constant values. However, even
these stable stars including the sun, are changing as
they evolve, such evolutionary changes are so gradual

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 that to all intends and purpose the stars are still in
state of equilibrium.

The mutual gravitational attraction between the

masses of various regions within a star produces
tremendous forces that tend to collapse the star toward
its center. Yet, since the star like the sun have
remained more or less unchanged for millions of years,
the gravitational force that tends to collapse the star
must be exactly balanced by a pressure from within.
Most of it is the pressure of the gases themselves,
although in some very luminous stars the pressure of
radiation also contributes appreciably.

If the internal pressure in the star is not great enough

to balance the weight of outer parts the star would
collapse somewhat, contracting and building up
pressure inside. If the pressure were greater than the
weight of overlying layers the star would expand, thus
decreasing the internal pressure, expansion would
stop and the equilibrium would be reached when the
pressure at every internal point again equaled the
weight of the stellar layers above that point. An
analogy is the inflated balloon, which will expand or
contract until an equilibrium is reached between the
excess pressure of the air and tension of the rubber.
This condition is called hydrostatic equilibrium; so are
the oceans of the earth; as well as the earth’s
atmosphere. The pressure of air keeps the air from
falling to the ground.

(iii) Minimum Pressure and Temperature in Stellar

Interior

We can regard star as being composed of large

number of concentric spherical shells (like the layers of
onion). The star is not actually satisfied, of course; we
speak of these shells in the same sense that we speak
of levels in the ocean. Now if we know how the matter
is distributes within the star, that is, what fraction of its

138
mass is included within each shell. Since the weight of
the shell is the gravitational attraction between it and
all the underlying layers, we could then calculate
weight of each shell. From the condition of hydrostatic
equilibrium, we could next calculate how the pressure
must increase downward through each shell to support
its weight. At the surface of the star, where there are
no overlying layers of stellar matter, the pressure is
zero. By simply adding up the increases of pressure
through successive layers inward, we would be able to
find the pressure at each point within the star, in
particular at its center. Using pressure and the
densities thus determined at all points along the radius
of the star, we could then find the corresponding
temperatures from the perfect gas law. In other words
if we only know how the material within the star is
distributed, we would be able to calculate the density,
pressure and temperature at all its internal points. It is
not known in advance, how the matter in a particular
star is distributed. On the other hand some ways that it
is not distributed can be specified. Internal gravity must
force the gases comprising the star into higher and
higher compression at deeper and deeper levels of its
interior. The material is expected to show high central
concentrations the density of outer layers would
certainly not exceed those of inner layers. To assume
that the matter in the star is distributed with uniform
density, would certainly be to underestimate its central
compression, and the values calculated for its internal
pressures and temperatures. Here, then, is a method
by which lower limits can be found for pressure and
temperature in the stellar interior. With only the
assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium and knowledge
of perfect gas law it is possible to learn something of
conditions in star. We find that the mean pressure in
the sun is at least 500 million times the sea-level
pressure of earth’s atmosphere; the central pressure is
at least 1.3 x 109 times that of earth’s atmosphere, and
that the mean temperature is at least 2.3 million Kelvin.
Since these pressures and temperatures would exist if

139
 the sun were uniform in density. The actual values
must be much higher, under such conditions all
elements are in the gaseous form, and the atoms
cannot be combined into molecules. Moreover, most of
the atoms are completely ionized, electrons thus freed,
from the parent atom become part of gas itself moving
about as independent particles.

(iv) Thermal Equilibrium

The observation of stars reveals that electromagnetic

energy flow from the surface of the stars. Thus, second
law of thermodynamics, heat always tries to flow from
hotter to cooler region. Therefore, the energy always
filters outwards toward the surface of the star; it must
be flowing from inner hotter region. The temperature
cannot decrease inward in the star, or energy would
flow in and heat up those regions until they were at
least as hot as outer ones. Thus we conclude that the
highest temperature occurs at the center of the star
and that the temperature drops to successively lower
values towards the stellar surface. The outward flow of
energy though robs of its internal heat and would result
in cooling of interior gases where the energy is not
replaced. There must therefore be a source of energy
within each star.

If the star is in the hydrostatic equilibrium and shining

with steady luminosity the temperature and pressure at
each point within it must remain approximately
constant. If the temperature were to change suddenly
at some point, the pressure would similarly change,
causing the star to contract suddenly or to expand or
otherwise to deviate from the hydrostatic equilibrium.
Energy must be supplied therefore, to each layer in the
star at just a right rate to balance the loss of heat in
that layer as it passes energy outward toward surface.
Moreover, the rate at which the energy is supplied to
the star as a whole, must at least on the average,
exactly balance the rate at which the whole star loses

140
 its energy by radiating it into space; that is, rate of
energy production in a star is equal to its luminosity.
We call this balance of heat for the star as a whole and
at each point within it the condition of thermal
equilibrium.

(v) Heat Transfer in a Star

There are three ways in which teat can be transported;

by conduction, by convection and by radiation. The
rate at which heat passes through gases by
conduction, however, is so low that this mode of
transfer can be ignored in stellar interiors, unless the
gas is degenerated. The stellar convection occurs as
current of gas flow in and out through the star. While
these convection currents travel at moderate speed
and do not upset the condition of hydrostatic
equilibrium, they nevertheless carry heat outward
through the star very effectively. The convection
current cannot be maintained unless the temperature
of successive deeper layers in the star increases
rapidly in relation to the rate at which the pressure
increases inward. Convection occurs in certain parts of
many stars and the convection current may travel
completely through some of the least luminous stars.

Unless convection occurs, the only mode of transport

of energy through the star is electromagnetic radiation,
which gradually filters outward as it is passed from
atom to atom. However, the radiative transfer is not an
efficient means of energy transport, because under the
condition that prevails in the stellar interiors gases are
very opaque- that is, a photon do not go far before it is
absorbed by an atom(typically in the sun about 1 cm).
The energy absorbed by atoms is always reemitted in
random directions. A photon that is traveling outward in
a star when it is absorbed has almost as good a
chance of being radiated back towards the center of
the star as towards its surface. A particular quantity of
the energy being passed from atom to atom, therefore

141
 zigzagging around in an almost random manner and
take a long time to work its way from the center of the
star to its surface, in the sun the time required is of the
order of million years.

The measuring the ability of gas to absorb radiation is

called its opacity. It should be no surprise that the
gases in the sun are opaque. If they were completely
transparent then we could see all the way through the
sun. The process by which atoms and ions can
interrupt the flow of energy - such as by becoming
ionized and by bremmstrahlung (free- free
transactions). In addition the individual electron can
scatter radiation helter-skelter. For a given
temperature, density and the compression of a gas, all
of these processes can be taken into account, and the
opacity can be calculated. Once the opacity is known,
we can fins how each layer of shell or the sun or a star
impedes the outward flow of radiation. Of course there
is such a net outward flow, or the star would have no
luminosity. Thus from opacity we calculate how the
temperature must increase inward through the shell to
force the observed radiation out and thereby learn the
temperature distribution throughout the interior. If the
temperature difference across some regions of a star
should be high enough to support convection,
convection currents, rather than radiation carry most of
the energy within those regions the variation of
temperature are with depth is determined by expansion
of outward moving masses of gases and contraction of
overlying ones. Here again the knowledge of the
energy transport mechanism within a star makes
possible calculation of temperature distribution

Thus we can summarize that the interior of a stable star is in a state

of hydrostatic equilibrium: the forces on any small volume almost
exactly counterbalance each other. The balanced forces are inward
gravitational force and an outward force due to the pressure gradient
within the star. The pressure gradient is established by the
temperature gradient of the plasma; the outer part of the star is cooler

142
than the core. The temperature at the core of a main sequence or
giant star is at least on the order of 107 K. The resulting temperature
and pressure at the hydrogen-burning core of a main sequence star
are sufficient for nuclear fusion to occur and for sufficient energy to
be produced to prevent further collapse of the star. As atomic nuclei
are fused in the core, they emit energy in the form of gamma rays.
These photons interact with the surrounding plasma, adding to the
thermal energy at the core. Stars on the main sequence convert
hydrogen into helium, creating a slowly but steadily increasing
proportion of helium in the core. Eventually the helium content
becomes predominant and energy production ceases at the core.
Instead, for stars of more than 0.4 solar masses, fusion occurs in a
slowly expanding shell around the degenerate helium core. In
addition to hydrostatic equilibrium, the interior of a stable star will also
maintain an energy balance of thermal equilibrium. There is a radial
temperature gradient throughout the interior that results in a flux of
energy flowing toward the exterior. The outgoing flux of energy
leaving any layer within the star will exactly match the incoming flux
from below.

The radiation zone is the region within the stellar interior where
radiative transfer is sufficiently efficient to maintain the flux of energy.
In this region the plasma will not be perturbed and any mass motions
will die out. If this is not the case, however, then the plasma becomes
unstable and convection will occur, forming a convection zone. This
can occur, for example, in regions where very high energy fluxes
occur, such as near the core or in areas with high opacity as in the
outer envelope. The occurrence of convection in the outer envelope
of a main sequence star depends on the mass. Stars with several
times the mass of the Sun have a convection zone deep within the
interior and a radiative zone in the outer layers. Smaller stars such as
the Sun are just the opposite, with the convective zone located in the
outer layers. Red dwarf stars with less than 0.4 solar masses are
convective throughout, which prevents the accumulation of a helium
core. For most stars the convective zones will also vary over time as
the star ages and the constitution of the interior is modified. The
portion of a star that is visible to an observer is called the
photosphere. This is the layer at which the plasma of the star
becomes transparent to photons of light. From here, the energy
generated at the core becomes free to propagate out into space. It is

143
within the photosphere that sun spots, or regions of lower than
average temperature, appear.

Above the level of the photosphere is the stellar atmosphere. In a

main sequence star such as the Sun, the lowest level of the
atmosphere is the thin chromosphere region, where spicules appear
and stellar flares begin. This is surrounded by a transition region,
where the temperature rapidly increases within a distance of only
100 km. beyond this is the corona, a volume of super-heated plasma
that can extend outward to several million kilometers. The existence
of a corona appears to be dependent on a convective zone in the
outer layers of the star. Despite its high temperature, the corona
emits very little light. The corona region of the Sun is normally only
visible during a solar eclipse. From the corona, a stellar wind of
plasma particles expands outward from the star, propagating until it
interacts with the interstellar medium. For the Sun, the influence of its
solar wind extends throughout the bubble-shaped region of the
heliosphere

Figure 5.6 A cross-section of a solar-type star.

144
 Summery

1. The total mass of a star is the principal determinant in its

evolution and eventual fate.
2. Ancient sky watchers imagined that prominent arrangements of
stars formed patterns (constellations), and they associated
these with particular aspects of nature or their myths.
3. Most stellar parameters are expressed in SI units by
convention, but CGS units are also used (e.g., expressing
luminosity in ergs per second). Mass, luminosity, and radii are
usually given in solar units, based on the characteristics of the
Sun
4. The magnetic field of a star is generated within regions of the
interior where convective circulation occurs. The strength of the
magnetic field varies with the mass and composition of the star,
and the amount of magnetic surface activity depends upon the
star's rate of rotation.
5. One of the most massive stars known is Eta Carinae, with 100–
150 times as much mass as the Sun; A recent study of the
Arches cluster suggests that 150 solar masses is the upper limit
for stars in the current era of the universe.
6. Young stars can have a rapid rate of rotation greater than
100 km/s at the equator.
7. Degenerate stars have contracted into a compact mass,
resulting in a rapid rate of rotation.
8. The surface temperature of a main sequence star is determined
by the rate of energy production at the core and the radius of
the star and is often estimated from the star's color index.
9. The energy produced by stars, as a by-product of nuclear
fusion, radiates into space as both electromagnetic radiation
and particle radiation.
10. The color of a star, as determined by the peak frequency of the
visible light, depends on the temperature of the star’s outer
layers, including its photosphere.
11. In astronomy, luminosity is the amount of light, and other forms
of radiant energy, a star radiates per unit of time.

145
12. The stellar spectra differ from each other because of difference
in the chemical make up of the star. Actually, the difference in
the stellar spectra is due mostly to the widely differing
temperatures in the outer layers of the various stars.
13. Stars in the Harvard system are further classified
according to their luminosity, a measurement based on the
brightness of the star, which gives us some idea of its mass.
14. The apparent brightness of a star is measured by its apparent
magnitude, which is the brightness of a star with respect to the
star’s luminosity, distance from Earth, and the altering of the
star’s light as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere.
15. Due to their great distance from the Earth, all stars except
the Sun appear to the human eye as shining points in the night
sky that twinkle because of the effect of the Earth's
atmosphere.
16. Stars range in size from neutron stars, which vary
anywhere from 20 to 40 km in diameter, to supergiants like
Betelgeuse in the Orion constellation, which has a diameter
approximately 650 times larger than the Sun—about 0.9 billion
kilometers.
17. The motion of a star relative to the Sun can provide useful
information about the origin and age of a star, as well as the
structure and evolution of the surrounding galaxy.
18. In addition to isolated stars, there are multi-star system
can consisting of two or more gravitationally bound stars that
orbit around each other.
19. Stars are not spread uniformly across the universe, but
are normally grouped into galaxies along with interstellar gas
and dust. A typical galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars,
and there are more than 100 billion (1011) galaxies in the
observable universe.
20. Overwhelming majority of particles of which the stars are made
are the free electrons and atomic nuclei, and most of the later
are simple protons.
21. The perfect gas laws provide the mathematical relation
between the pressure density and temperature of a perfect or

146
 ideal gas and states that the pressure is proportional to the
product of the density and the temperature of the gas.
22. There are three ways in which teat can be transported; by
conduction, by convection and by radiation.
23. The interior of a stable star is in a state of hydrostatic
equilibrium: the forces on any small volume almost exactly
counterbalance each other. The balanced forces are inward
gravitational force and an outward force due to the pressure
gradient within the star. The pressure gradient is established by
the temperature gradient of the plasma
Exercises
Fill in the blanks
1. Greek astronomer Aristillus created ___________ catalogue in
approximately 300 BC.
2. Hipparchus is known for the discovery of the first ________.
3. ___________ measurements demonstrated the vast separation
of the stars in the heavens.
4. The oldest star yet discovered, HE 1523-0901, is an estimated
________ billion years old.
5. Mass, luminosity, and radii are usually given in ________ units.
6. Movement of conductive plasma functions like a dynamo,
generating __________ fields that extend throughout the star.
7. Massive main sequence stars can have surface temperatures
of _____________K.
8. Using the stellar spectrum, astronomers can also determine the
_____________ temperature, surface gravity, metallicity and
rotational velocity of a star.
9. Stars in the Harvard system are further classified according to
their __________, a measurement based on the brightness of
the star.
10. Stars with high rates of proper motion are likely to be relatively
close to the _______, making them good candidates for
parallax measurements.
11. It has been a long-held assumption that the majority of stars
occur in gravitationally bound, __________star systems.
12. The nearest star to the Earth, apart from the Sun, is Proxima
Centauri, which is _________ light-years away.

147
 13. We find that the mean pressure in the sun is at least 500 million
times the ___________ pressure of earth’s atmosphere;
14. The three ways in which teat can be transported; by ________,
by __________ and by ______________.
Short questions with answer
Q1. When latitudes of various stars obtained?
Ans. In the 11th century, Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī described the Milky
Way galaxy as multitude of fragments having the properties of
nebulous stars, and also gave the latitudes of various stars
during a lunar eclipse in 1019.
Q2. Why stars exerted no net gravitational pull on the solar system?
Ans. Isaac Newton suggested that the stars were equally distributed
in every direction so that the stars exerted no net gravitational
pull on the solar system.
Q3. What is the most useful entity to determine the characteristics
of the star?
Ans. Initial Mass is the most important entity used to determine
various characteristics of the star. It can be used to determine
almost everything about a star, including essential
characteristics such as luminosity and size, as well as the star's
evolution, lifespan, and eventual fate.
Q4. What is a star?
Ans. A star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma that is held
together by gravity.
Q5. What is Hertzsprung-Russell diagram?
Ans. A Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (H–R diagram) which allows the
age and evolutionary state of a star to be determined is a plot of
the temperature of many stars against their luminosities
Q6. What is Binary and multi-star systems?
Ans. Binary and multi-star systems consist of two or more stars that
is gravitationally bound, and generally moves around each
other in stable orbits.
Q7. What factors influence the magnetic fields of a star?
Ans. The strength of the magnetic field varies with the mass and
composition of the star, and the amount of magnetic surface
activity depends upon the star's rate of rotation.
Q8. Name the factors affecting the rate of rotation of a star on a
main sequence?

148
Ans. The star's magnetic field and the stellar wind serve to slow
down a main sequence star's rate of rotation by a significant
amount as it evolves on the main sequence.
Q9. Which characteristics of the star are used to classify it?
Ans. The surface temperature of a star, along with its visual absolute
magnitude and absorption features, is used to classify a star.
Q10. What are starspots?
Ans. Surface patches with a lower temperature and luminosity than
average are known as starspots.
Q11. Why spectrums of the star differ?
Ans. The difference in the stellar spectra is due mostly to the widely
differing temperatures in the outer layers of the various stars.
Q12. How velocity of a star is determined?
Ans. The proper motion of a star is determined by precise
astrometric measurements in units of milli-arc seconds (mas)
per year. By determining the parallax of a star, the proper
motion can then be converted into units of velocity.
Q13. How stars are structured in the universe?
Ans. Stars are not spread uniformly across the universe, but are
normally grouped into galaxies along with interstellar gas and
dust.
Q14. Why collisions between stars are thought to be rare?
Ans. Due to the relatively vast distances between stars outside the
galactic nucleus, collisions between stars are thought to be
rare.
Q115. What is the composition of a star?
Ans. Overwhelming majority of particles of which the stars are made
are the free electrons and atomic nuclei, and most of the later
are simple protons.
Study Questions
Q1. What was the belief of ancient astronomers about stars?
Q2. What is the significance of the spectrum of a star in determining
its properties?
Q3. How stars are designated? What are astronomical naming
conventions?
Q4. What is Eddington Luminosity?
Q5. How the rotation rate of stars can be approximated?
Q6. What is Spectral Sequence?
Q7. The Sun has an apparent magnitude of −26.7, but its absolute
magnitude is only +4.83. Why?

149
Q8. What are the components of motion of a star?
Q9. How stars are distributed in the universe?
Q10. Write a note on?
(i) Hydrostatic Equilibrium.
(ii) Perfect Gas Law:
(iii) Minimum Pressure and Temperature in Stellar Interior.
(iv) Thermal Equilibrium.
(v) Heat Transfer in a Star.
Q11. Discuss the interior of a stable star?

Chapter 6
150
Ejnar Hertzsprung (8 October, 1873 - 21 October, 1967) was

a Danish chemist and astronomer. In the

period 1911-1913, together with Henry Norris

Russell, he developed the Hertzsprung-

Russell diagram. Perhaps his greatest

contribution to astronomy was the

development of a classification system for

stars to divide them by spectral type, stage in

their development, and luminosity. The so-called "Hertzsprung-Russell

Diagram" was used for many years as a classification system to explain

stellar types and evolution

Henry Norris Russell (October 25, 1877 –

February 18, 1957) was an American
astronomer who, along with Ejnar
Hertzsprung, developed the Hertzsprung–
Russell diagram (1910). In 1923, working with
Frederick Saunders, he developed Russell–
Saunders coupling which is also known
as LS coupling.

Stellar Evolution
No star that is shining today can be infinitely old, for eventually
it will exhaust its source of energy. The stars of highest known
luminosity (100 thousand to a million times that of the sun) can
continue to exist at the rate they are no expending energy for only a
few million years. Had they been formed when the sun was formed,
thousands of millions of years ago, they would long since have
burned themselves out. At least therefore, some stars have formed
recently (in astronomical time scale) and there is very reason to
expect that the stars are still forming today.

6.1 Hertzsprung-Russell diagram

151
 In 1911 the Danish astronomer E. Hertzsprung compared the colors
and luminosity of stars within several clusters by plotting their
magnitudes against their colors. In 1913 the American astronomer
Henry Norris Russel undertook a similar investigation of stars in the
solar neighborhood by plotting absolute magnitudes of stars of known
distance against their spectral colors. The investigations by
Hertzsprung and by Russell led to an extremely important discovery
concerning the relation between the luminosity and the surface
temperatures of star. The discovery is exhibited graphically on a
diagram named in the honor of two astronomers the Hertzsprung-
Russell diagram Figure 6.1

6.2 Features of H-R diagram

To easily derive the characteristics of stars of known distances are
their absolute magnitudes (or luminosities) and their surface
temperature. The most significant feature of the H-R diagram is that
the stars are not distributed over it at random, exhibiting all
combinations of absolute magnitude and temperature but rather
cluster into certain parts of the diagram. The majority of stars are
aligned along a narrow sequence running from upper left (hot highly
luminous) part of the diagram to the lower right (cool less luminous)
part. This band of points is called main sequence. A substantial
number of stars lie above the main sequence of the H-R diagram in
the upper right (cool, highly luminous), these are called giants. At the
top part of the diagram are the stars of even higher luminosity, called
supergiants. Finally, there are stars in the lower left (hot, low
luminosity) corner known as white dwarfs. To say that a star lies “on”
or “off” the main sequence does not refer to its position in luminosity
and temperature on the H-R diagram.

152
Figure 6.1 Hertzsprung-Russell diagram for a set of stars that
includes the Sun (center).

An H-R diagram, as shown in Figure 6.1 that is, plotted for stars of
known distances does not show the relative proportions of various
kinds of stars, because only the nearest of the intrinsically joint star
can be observed. To be truly representative of stellar population an
H-R diagram should be plotted for all stars within certain distance.
Unfortunately, our knowledge is reasonable complete only for stars
within a few parsecs of the sun, among which there are no giant or
supergiants. It is estimated that about 90 percent of the star in our
part of the space are main sequence stars and about 10 percent are
white dwarfs. Less than 1 percent is giants or supergiants.

6.3 Formation of Star

Here and there, in comparatively dense regions of interstellar matter,
small condensation begins to form – atoms of gas and particles of
dust slowly begin to collect under the influence of their mutual
gravitation. The trick, then to forming a star is to arrange for relatively
dense cloud of interstellar matter. Most of the gas and the heat in the
space are clearly at too low a density to collapse into star or there

153
would be no interstellar matter left. Stars are formed within extended
regions of higher density in the interstellar medium, although the
density is still lower than the inside of an earthly vacuum chamber.
These regions are called molecular clouds and consist mostly of
hydrogen, with about 23–28% helium and a few percent heavier
elements. One example of such a star-forming region is the Orion
Nebula. As massive stars are formed from molecular clouds, they
powerfully illuminate those clouds. They also ionize the hydrogen,
creating an H II region.

How then, do star formed? Several different scenarios by which a

protostar condensation may get started are as follows

6.4 Protostar formation (some mechanisms)

1. Direct collision of interstellar clouds can cause an increase
of density that could lead to stellar condensations. One way
that such collisions can occur is by gas clouds, in a normal
galactic rotation encountering density waves of spiral arms.
Since the pattern of spiral structures rotates more slowly
than the normal galactic rotation, gas clouds should be
plowing into the arms along their trailing edges. Consistent
with the idea in some other galaxies we see super luminous
young stars concentrated along the trailing edges of those
galaxies arms.

Figure 6.2 A star forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

NASA/ESA image.

2. At the interface between HII regions and in the surrounding

HI regions, we expect a buildup of density due to expansion
of hot gas in the HII regions (since the hydrogen is the main
constituent of the gas we often characterize the region of
interstellar space according to whether its hydrogen is

154
 neutral – an HI region or ionized HII region). The “elephant
trunk” intrusions of cooler gas and dust in advancing front of
hot HII regions Figure 6.3. A young star cluster NGC2264
appears to have been formed recently in such region.

Figure 6.3 Massier 16 nebula in Serpens.

3. Isolated small clouds of mass estimated at from 20 to

several hundred solar masses-globules, an excellent
example of a globule is the colasack, a dark region of Milky
Way in the direction of Southern Cross Figure 6.4.
Astronomer Bart Bok has long called the attention to such
globules as probable clouds of gas and dust collapsing into
stars or cluster of stars.

Figure 6.4 Fine globule in the southern coalsack the diameter is

about a third of a parsec, and the mass is estimated to be 20 solar
masses. In the center the absorption by dust of visible light is near
20 magnitudes

155
 4. Supernova explosions release an enormous amount of
energy both in electromagnetic radiation and in the form of
violent stellar wind. The energy, like the expanding matter in
HII regions, can be effective mechanism for compressing
surrounding matter into protostar.

5. Among the most promising sites of star formation are cold

molecular clouds. Pare of the energy of the particles in these
clouds excites the state of rotation and vibration in the
molecules, after which those molecules radiate that energy
into the space as infrared and radio waves. In this way,
energy is removed from the clouds, which cools it. As it
cools, the cloud must contract, until it become gravitationally
unstable and becomes a protostar. A well studied clod
molecular clouds behind the Orion nebula is believed to be
such site.

Figure 6.5 Artist's conception of the birth of a star within a dense

molecular cloud. NASA image

Once the stellar condensation starts probability that contracting cloud

has at least some rotation, it is for no other reason that it is formed
from the material undergoing the differential rotation in the galaxy,
Early on , the rotation is likely to be exceedingly slow, but to
conserve the angular momentum the cloud must spin faster an faster
as it contract. The angular momentum in fact, will probably prevent
the clouds collapsing entirely to a single star. In the solar system, the

156
nebula flattened to a disk, and the planets accreted in the disk.
Today, the planets posses 98 percent of the angular momentum of
the entire system. The formation of planets may be a common place,
but often, at least the cloud must split and form two or more stars,
whose orbital motion about each other contain most of the angular
momentum. It may be that formation of planetary system or a multiple
star systems are two alternatives open to a condensing cloud.

The formation of a star begins with a gravitational instability inside a

molecular cloud, often triggered by shock waves from supernovae
(massive stellar explosions) or the collision of two galaxies (as in a
starburst galaxy). Once a region reaches a sufficient density of matter
to satisfy the criteria for Jeans Instability it begins to collapse under
its own gravitational force.
The Jeans Instability occurs when the internal gas pressure is not
strong enough to prevent gravitational collapse of a region filled with
matter. For stability, the cloud must be in hydrostatic equilibrium such
that

Where Menc is the enclosed mass, p is the pressure, ρ is the

density of the gas, G is the gravitational constant and r is the
radius. T)
6.5 Young Star
The evolution of a stellar condensation after it has solved the problem
of angular momentum moves on the path of becoming a normal star.
As its matter contracts, its density increases until eventually it
become opaque to electromagnetic radiation. The very contraction,
however, releases gravitational potential energy and when the
protostar become opaque, all of that energy cannot be radiated away.
And some become trapped. This heats the interior of star and raises
the internal pressure. When those pressures become high enough to
support the weights of outer material that has been falling inward,
hydrostatic equilibrium is reached. Calculations by R. B. Larson show
that equilibrium is reached in the central region first, while the matter
from the outer parts of nebula is still falling in, compressing heating
and joining the condensed core. When the protostellar cloud has
approximately reached the stable condition of hydrostatic equilibrium,

157
a protostar forms at the core. Thus, a stellar embryo forms inside,
which is surrounded by a collapsing envelop that has not yet come to
hydrostatic equilibrium. At least in some stars dust should condense
in that envelope, which may completely hide a star in visible light.
However, the energy radiated from the hot embryo and then
absorbed by the dusty envelope must be reradiated at wavelengths
characteristics of lower temperature of the envelope, that is, in
infrared. For this reason, observational search for extremely young
stars are made at infrared wavelengths.

A young star itself is not yet self-sustaining with nuclear reactions but
drives its energy from the gravitational contraction. The period of
gravitational contraction lasts for about 10–15 million years. As the
radiation filters out through the opaque star and is eventually radiated
into the space. The internal temperature and the pressure would
drop, upsetting the hydrostatic equilibrium, unless the star contracts
slightly. Half of the energy released by contraction escapes as
radiation , contributing to the stars luminosity , while the other half
heats the interior, continually building up the internal pressure to
support the increased weights of layers in the star – the weight of
each shell of material is inversely proportional to the square of the
radius of the shell.

In theoretical study of stellar evolution, we compare a series of

models for a star each successive model representing a later point in
time. Given one model, we can calculate how the star should change
(in the case of young star currently under discussion, due to
gravitational contraction), and hence what the star will be like at a
slight later time. At each step we find the luminosity and the radius of
the star and from these its surface temperature and we can find
where the star (or its embryo) should be represented on Herhzsprung
- Russel diagram. We thus follow the theoretical evolution of the star
from it’s calculate track on H-R diagram.

In the early contraction phase, star transports its internal energy by

convection currents. The Japanese astrophysicist C Hayashi first
showed that such star must lie in a zone on H-R diagram extending
nearly vertically from the lower main sequence to the right extreme of
the regions occupied by red supergiants (shaded region Figure 6.6)
There can be no stable star such that the point representing it on H-R

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diagram lies to the right of this zone. In accordance with Hayashi
theory, stars in the initial stage of their evolution contract and move
downward (on H-R diagram) in a zone along Hayashi line.
Representative tracks for stars or stellar embryos of several masses
and of chemical composition more or less like the sun‘s are shown in
Figure 6.6.

Figure 6.6 Theoretical evolutionary track of contracting stars or stellar

embryos on Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. According to the
calculations by Larson, stars or embryos lying roughly above the
dashed line are still surrounded by infalling matter and would be
hidden by it.

With the exception for stars of low masses, after the period of some
thousands or millions of years, the convection current ceases at the
center of the star, and the energy must be transported by radiation in
those regions. The central zone in radiative equilibrium gradually
grows in size, while the convection current extends less and less
deeply beneath the stellar surface. In this stage of stellar evolution,
the star or its embryo, still slowly shrinking and deriving its energy
from gravitational contraction, turns sharply on the H-R diagram and
moves left almost horizontally, towards the main sequence.
Eventually, as the release of gravitational energy continues to heat up
the star’s interior, its central temperature become high enough to
support the nuclear reactions. Soon this new source of energy
supplies heat to the interior of the star as fast as the energy is
radiated away. The central pressures and temperatures are thus
maintained and the contraction of star ceases; it is now on the main

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sequences by this time the in falling of the material is complete and
the star is fully formed. A small on the evolutionary tracks of the stars,
shown in Figure 6.6, just before they reach the main sequence are
the points (according to theory) where the onset of nuclear-energy
release occurs. Calculations by Larson show that the stars more
massive than the sun would not be visible to us during most of their
pre-main sequence evolution because the light they emit is absorbed
by the surrounding dust in the in falling material.

By the time the stars of mass appreciably greater than the sun’s have
reached the main sequence, the outer convection zone has
disappeared, but new cores of convection exist at their centers. Main
sequence stars of mass near that of the sun still have appreciable
regions in their outer layers in convection, with their deep interiors in
radiative equilibrium and follow the Hayashi lines right down to the
main sequence, where nuclear reactions finally stops their
contraction. Stars of extremely low mass, on the other hand, never
achieve high enough central temperature to ignite the nuclear
reactions They continues to contract until ( after an extremely long
time) they are so dense that their matter become degenerate, and
they reach white dwarf stage, the lower end of the main sequence is
considered to be that point at which star have a mass just barely
great enough to sustain nuclear reaction at sufficient rate to stop
gravitational contraction; this critical mass is calculated to be near
1/12 that of the sun. Early stars of less than 2 solar masses are called
T Tauri stars, while those with greater mass are Herbig Ae/Be stars.
These newly born stars emit jets of gas along their axis of rotation,
producing small patches of nebulosity known as Herbig-Haro objects.

At the other extreme the upper end of main sequence terminates at

the point where the mass of the star would be so high and the internal
temperature so great that the radiation pressure would dominate. The
radiation produced from nuclear reactions would be so extreme that
when absorbed by the stellar material it would impart to it a force
greater than that produced by the gravitation; hence, such a star
could not be stable. The upper limit to stellar mass is calculated to be
in the range 60 to 100 solar masses.

In general, the pre main sequence evolution of a star down with

time; the numbers labeling the points on each evolution track in

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Figure 6.6 are the times in years, required for the embryo star to
reach those stages of contraction. The time for whole evolutionary
process is highly mass dependent. Stars of mass much higher than
the sun’s reach the main sequence in few thousands to a million
years; the sun requires millions of years; tens of millions of years are
required for stars to evolve to the lower main sequence. For stars
three evolutionary time scales are distinguished.

1. The initial gravitational collapse from interstellar matter is

relatively quick once the condensation is; say 1000 AU in
diameter, the time for it to reach the hydrostatic equilibrium is
measured in thousands of years.

2. Pre main sequence gravitational contraction is much more

gradual, from onset of hydrostatic equilibrium to the main
sequence requires, typically, millions of years.

3. Subsequent evolution on the main sequence is very slow, for a

star changes only as thermonuclear reactions alter its chemical
composition. For a star of a solar mass, this gradual process
requires thousands of millions of years. All evolutionary stages
are relatively faster in stars of high mass and slow in those of
low mass.
6.6 Evolution from The Main sequence to Giants
As soon as the star has reached the main sequence, it derives its
energy almost entirely from the thermonuclear conversion of
hydrogen to helium. Stars spend about 90% of their lifetime fusing
hydrogen to produce helium in high-temperature and high-pressure
reactions near the core. Here only 0.7 percent hydrogen used up is
converted to energy, the star does not change its mass appreciably,
but in its central regions, where the nuclear reaction occur, the
chemical composition gradually changes as hydrogen is depleted and
helium is accumulated there. This change of composition forces the
star to change its structure, including its luminosity and size.
Eventually the point that represents it on H-R diagram evolves away
from the main sequence. The original main sequence, corresponding
to stars of homogeneous chemical composition, is called zero age
main sequence. Starting at zero-age main sequence, the proportion
of helium in a star's core will steadily increase. As a consequence, in
order to maintain the required rate of nuclear fusion at the core, the

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star will slowly increase in temperature and luminosity. The Sun, for
example, is estimated to have increased in luminosity by about 40%
since it reached the main sequence 4.6 billion years ago. Every star
generates a stellar wind of particles that causes a continual outflow of
gas into space. For most stars, the amount of mass lost is negligible.
The Sun loses 10−14 solar masses every year, or about 0.01% of its
total mass over its entire lifespan. However, very massive stars can
lose 10−7 to 10−5 solar masses each year, significantly affecting their
evolution. Stars that begin with more than 50 solar masses can lose
over half their total mass while they remain on the main sequence.

6.7 Evolution from The Main sequence to Giants

As helium accumulate at the expense of hydrogen in the center of the

star, the temperature and the density increases in the region.
Consequently the rate of nuclear energy generation increases and
the luminosity of the star slowly rise. A star, therefore does not
remain indefinitely exactly on the zero-age main sequence. In fact,
the main sequence of a star cluster gradually rises in H-R diagram as
cluster ages. The most massive and luminous stars alter their
chemical composition most quickly, thus the main sequence rises
more rapidly at the bright end, but scarcely not all at the faint end,
even after billions of years. This stage of evolution does not cause
the main sequence of a star cluster to deform appreciably, because
the star increases its luminosity only by small amount-probably less
than a magnitude before subsequent more rapid changes alter its
structure enormously.

When the hydrogen has been depleted completely in the central part
of the star, a core develops containing helium “contaminated” by
whatever small percentages of heaver elements the star has to begin
with. The duration that a star spends on the main sequence depends
primarily on the amount of fuel it has to fuse and the rate at which it
fuses that fuel. In other words, it’s initial mass and its luminosity. For
the Sun, this is estimated to be about 1010 years. Large stars
consume their fuel very rapidly and are short-lived. Small stars (called
red dwarfs) consume their fuel very slowly and last tens to hundreds
of billions of years. At the end of their lives, they simply become
dimmer and dimmer. However, since the lifespan of such stars is
greater than the current age of the universe (13.7 billion years), no

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such stars are expected to exist yet. Besides mass, the portion of
elements heavier than helium can play a significant role in the
evolution of stars. In astronomy all elements heavier than helium are
considered a "metal", and the chemical concentration of these
elements is called the metallicity. The metallicity can influence the
duration that a star will burn its fuel, control the formation of magnetic
fields and modify the strength of the stellar wind. Older, population II
stars have substantially less metallicity than the younger, population I
stars due to the composition of the molecular clouds from which they
formed. (Over time these clouds become increasingly enriched in
heavier elements as older stars die and shed portions of their
atmospheres.)

When the energy source from hydrogen burning is now used up and
with nothing more to supply heat to the helium core, it begins again to
contract gravitationally. Once more the star’s energy is partially
supplied by the potential energy released from contracting core; the
rest of its energy comes from hydrogen burning in the region
immediately surrounding the core. These changes result in a
substantial and rather rapid readjustment of the star’s entire structure,
so that the star leaves the vicinity of the main sequence altogether.
About ten percent of a star’s mass must be depleted of hydrogen
before the star evolves away from the main sequence. The more
luminous and a massive star, and sooner this happen, ending its term
on the main sequence. Because total rate of energy production in a
star must be equal to its luminosity, the core hydrogen is used up first
in the very luminous stars. The massive stars spend less than1
million years on the main sequence; a star of one solar mass remain
there for 1010 years and a spectral type M0V star of about 0,4 solar
mass has the main sequence life of 2 x 1011 years.

6.8 Evolution to Red Giants

As the core contracts it releases gravitational potential energy, which

is absorbed in surrounding envelope, these by forcing the outer parts
of star to distend greatly. The star as a whole, therefore, expands to
enormous proportions; all but its central parts acquire a very low
density. The expansion of the outer layers causes them to cool and
the star become red. Meanwhile, some of the potential energy
released from the contracting core heats up the hydrogen

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surrounding it to even higher temperatures. In these hot regions the
conversion of hydrogen to helium accelerates, causing most actually
to increase its total luminosity. After leaving the main sequence, then,
stars move to upper right portion of the H-R diagram; they become
red giants.
As shown in Figure 6.7 which is based on theoretical calculations by
Illinois astronomer Icko Iben, shows the tracks of evolution on the H-
R diagram from the main sequence to the red giants for the stars of
several representative masses and with chemical composition similar
to that of the sun. Broad band is the zero-age main sequence. The
numbers along the tracks indicates the times, in years required for
the stars to reach those points on their evolution after leaving the
main sequence.

Figure 6.7 Predicted evolutions of the stars from the main sequence
to red giants.

6.9 Final Stage of Evolution: Death of an old Star

After the star has become the redgiant the core of the star is
shrinking while the outer envelope extends. Gravitational energy
released in the contracting core heats it, until by the time a star
releases top of the red giant branch on H-R diagram its central
temperature exceeds 100 million Kelvin. At such high temperature,
nuclear process other than carbon cycle and proton-proton chain are

164
possible. The most important of these is the formation of a carbon
nucleus by three helium nuclei (the triple alpha process- so named
because the nucleus of helium atom is called an alpha particle).
Successive bombardment of a carbon nucleus by helium nuclei can
build up other still heavier nuclei. The astrophysicist G. Burbidge, E.
Burbidge, W. Fowler and F. Hoyle have found the mechanism
whereby virtually all the chemical elements upto iron can be
synthesized in the center of the red giant stars, in approximately the
relative abundances with which they occur in nature. It now seems
quite possible that a gradual buildup of elements heavier than helium
is continually going on in the hot centers of at lease more massive
red giants. The triple alpha process is expected to begin abruptly in
the central core of red giant. As the core evolves, not only does it get
very hot but also very dense, and the number of inner most part
becomes electron degenerate. Meanwhile the surrounding matter
soon exhausts all its hydrogen and also contracts until it become
electron degenerate and join the core. With its increased mass and
consequent release of gravitational energy, core becomes smaller
and nondegenerate nuclei become hotter. Thus the degenerate core
continues to contract and heat. As soon as the temperature become
high enough to start triple alpha process going, the extra energy
released is transmitted quickly through the entire degenerate core,
producing a rapid heating of all helium there. With the sudden rise in
temperature, helium burning accelerates; the phenomenon is called
helium flash.

New energy released removes the degeneracy, expands the core,

and reverse the growth of outer parts of red giant. The star then
shrinks rapidly and increase surface temperature. Calculations
indicates that the points representing a star on H-R diagram takes on
a new position either to the left of its place as a red giant or
somewhat below it. Usually a newly formed carbon nucleus is joined
by another helium nucleus to produce the nucleus of oxygen. As soon
as the helium is exhausted in the central region, the energy release
from triple alpha process is over, and we have the situation
analogous to that of a main-sequence star when its central hydrogen
is used up, and hydrogen burning ceases in its center. Now we have
the core of carbon and oxygen (and perhaps heavier elements)
surrounded by a shell where helium is still burning; further out in the
star is another shell where hydrogen is left and still burning. The star

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now moves on H-R diagram back to red giant domain, calculations
indicates that a star may actually first to the left across the H-R
diagram, and then back to be a red giant several times, each time as
consequence of onset of new nuclear reactions or of nuclear energy
released in new parts of the star. All these evolutionary stages occur
in tens or hundreds of millions of years or less-a brief time compared
with the star’s main-sequence lives. Some observational evidences
supporting the theoretical calculations in the presence of horizontal
branch of star on H-R diagram of globular clusters and possibly some
open clusters.

Figure 6.8 Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star approaching the end of

its life cycle

Thus during their helium-burning phase, very high mass stars with
more than nine solar masses expand to form red supergiants. Once
this fuel is exhausted at the core, they can continue to fuse elements
heavier than helium. The core contracts until the temperature and
pressure are sufficient to fuse carbon. This process continues, with
the successive stages being fueled by neon, oxygen, and silicon.
Near the end of the star's life, fusion can occur along a series of
onion-layer shells within the star. Each shell fuses a different
element, with the outermost shell fusing hydrogen; the next shell
fusing helium, and so forth. The final stage is reached when the star
begins producing iron. Since iron nuclei are more tightly bound than
any heavier nuclei, if they are fused they do not release energy—the
process would, on the contrary, consume energy. Likewise, since
they are more tightly bound than all lighter nuclei, energy cannot be
released by fission. In relatively old, very massive stars, a large core
of inert iron will accumulate in the center of the star. The heavier

166
elements in these stars can work their way up to the surface, forming
evolved objects known as Wolf-Rayet stars that have a dense stellar
wind which sheds the outer atmosphere.

6.10 Chemical composition or Metallicity

When stars form in the present Milky Way galaxy they are composed
of about 71% hydrogen and 27% helium, as measured by mass, with
a small fraction of heavier elements. Typically the portion of heavy
elements is measured in terms of the iron content of the stellar
atmosphere, as iron is a common element and its absorption lines are
relatively easy to measure. Because the molecular clouds where
stars form are steadily enriched by heavier elements from
supernovae explosions, a measurement of the chemical composition
of a star can be used to infer its age. The portion of heavier elements
may also be an indicator of the likelihood that the star has a planetary
system. The star with the lowest iron content ever measured is the
dwarf HE1327-2326, with only 1/200,000th the iron content of the
Sun. By contrast, the super-metal-rich star μ Leonis has nearly
double the abundance of iron as the Sun, while the planet-bearing
star 14 Herculis has nearly triple the iron. There also exist chemically
peculiar stars that show unusual abundances of certain elements in
their spectrum; especially chromium and rare earth elements.

6.11 Stellar Nucleosynthesis

A variety of different nuclear fusion reactions take place inside the

cores of stars, depending upon their mass and composition, as part
of stellar nucleosynthesis. The net mass of the fused atomic nuclei is
smaller than the sum of the constituents. This lost mass is released
as electromagnetic energy, according to the mass-energy
equivalence relationship E = mc².The hydrogen fusion process is
temperature-sensitive, so a moderate increase in the core
temperature will result in a significant increase in the fusion rate.

As a result the core temperature of main sequence stars only varies

from 4 million K for a small M-class star to 40 million K for a massive
O-class star. In the Sun, with a 10 million K core, hydrogen fuses to
form helium in the proton-proton chain reaction:

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 41H → 22H + 2e+ + 2νe (4.0 MeV + 1.0 MeV)
21H + 22H → 23He + 2γ (5.5 MeV)
23He → 4He + 21H (12.9 MeV)

These reactions result in the overall reaction:

41H → 4He + 2e+ + 2γ + 2νe (26.7 MeV)

Where e+ is a positron, γ is a gamma ray photon, νe is a neutrino,

and H and He are isotopes of hydrogen and helium, respectively.

The energy released by this reaction is in millions of electron volts,

which is actually only a tiny amount of energy. However enormous
numbers of these reactions occur constantly, producing all the energy
necessary to sustain the star's radiation output.

In more massive stars, helium is produced in a cycle of

reactions catalyzed by carbon—the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle. In
evolved stars with cores at 100 million K and masses between 0.5
and 10 solar masses, helium can be transformed into carbon in the
triple-alpha process that uses the intermediate element beryllium:

Element Solar masses

Hydrogen 0.01
Helium 0.4
Carbon 5
Neon 8
Table 6.1 Minimum stellar mass required for fusion

4He + 4He + 92 keV → 8*Be

4He + 8*Be + 67 keV → 12*C
12*C → 12C + γ + 7.4 MeV

For an overall reaction of:

34He → 12C + γ + 7.2 MeV

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In massive stars, heavier elements can also be burned in a
contracting core through the neon burning process and oxygen
burning process. The final stage in the stellar nucleosynthesis
process is the silicon burning process that results in the production of
the stable isotope iron-56. Fusion can not proceed any further except
through an endothermic process, and so further energy can only be
produced through gravitational collapse. The example below shows
the amount of time required for a star of 20 solar masses to consume
all of its nuclear fuel. As an O-class main sequence star, it would be 8
times the solar radius and 62,000 times the Sun's luminosity.
Temperature Density Burningduration
Fuel material (million kelvins) (kg/cm³) (τ in years)
H 37 0.0045 8.1 million
He 188 0.97 1.2 million
C 870 170 976
Ne 1,570 3,100 0.6
O 1,980 5,550 1.25
S/Si 3,340 33,400 0.0315

Table 6.2 Burning time of a star

Nuclear fusion reaction pathways

Figure 6.9 Overview of the proton-proton chain

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Figure 6.10 The carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle

I.11 Variable Stars

Most of the stars shine with constant light. A minority, however

are variable in magnitude. The standard International Index of stars
that vary in light is Soviet General Catalogue of variable stars. The
1968 edition of this catalogue lists 20448 known variable stars in our
Galaxy, but supplements of this catalogue increase the number
yearly.

I. Designation The variable stars are designated in order of the

time of discovery in the constellation in which they occur. If the
star that is discovered to vary in light already has the proper
name or a Greek letter designation, it retains that name;
examples are Polaris, Betelgeuse (or α Orion), Algol and δ

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 Cephide, otherwise the first star to be recognized as a
variable in a constellation is designated by capital letter R
followed by possessive of the Latin name of the constellation.
For example, R Coronae Borealis. Subsequently discovered
variables in the same constellation are designated with the
letters S, T, -------Z,

Figure 6.11 The asymmetrical appearance of Mira, an oscillating

variable star. NASA HST image

RR, RS-------RZ, SS, ST --------SZ and so on until ZZ is reached.

Then the letters AA.AB, ----AZ, BB, BC-------BZ and so on used upto
QZ except that the letter J is omitted. This designation takes care of
first 334 variable stars in any one constellation. Thereafter the letter
V followed by number is used beginning with V335 examples are
V335 Hercules and V335 Ophiuchi.

II. Light Curve A variable star is studied by analyzing its

spectrum and by measuring the variation of its light with lapse
of time. Some stars show the light variation that is apparent to
the unaided eye. Generally the apparent brightness of a

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 variable star is determined by the telescope observation. The
three techniques most commonly employed are as following:

a. The magnitude of the variable is estimated by visual

observation through the telescope, by comparing its
brightness of neighboring star of known magnitude.

b. The magnitude of the variable star is measured by

comparing its image with the image of comparing star on
a telescope.

c. The magnitude of the variable is determined by

photoelectric photometry.

A graph that shows how the magnitude of a variable star changes

with time is called Light Curve of a star. As shown in Figure 6.12. The
maximum is the point on the light curve where the maximum amount
of light is received from the star; the minimum is the point where the
least amount of light is received. If the light variation of variable star
repeats themselves periodically, the interval between the successive
maxima is called period of a star. The median light of a variable star
is amount of light it emits when it is halfway between maxima and
minima. The amplitude is the difference between maxima and
minima. The amplitudes of variable stars range from less than 0.1 to
several magnitudes.

Figure 6.12 Light curve of typical Cepheid variable.

III. Types of variable Stars

The general catalogue of variable stars lists three types of

variable stars

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(a) Pulsating Variables These are the stars that periodically
expand and contract, pulsating in size as well as in light.
That is, pulsating variable stars vary in radius and luminosity
over time, expanding and contracting with periods ranging
from minutes to years, depending on the size of the star.
This category includes Cepheid and Cepheid-like stars, and
long-period variables such as Mira.
(b) Eruptive Variables In these stars the sudden, unusual
unpredictable outburst of light or in some cases, diminutions
of light is seen, that is, eruptive variables are stars that
experience sudden increases in luminosity because of flares
or mass ejection events. This group includes protostars,
Wolf-Rayet stars, and Flare stars, as well as giant and
supergiant stars.

(c)Eclipsing Variables They are also called eclipsing binary

stars. These are two stars whose orbit of mutual revolution
lies nearly edge on to our line of sight and which periodically
eclipse each other. Eclipsing variables are not, of course
true variable stars. The catalogue numbers of different kinds
of variable stars (in 1968) is summarized in Table 6.3 24.3

(d) Long period Variables The largest group pulsating star

consists of Mira-type stars; these are named after their
prototype, Mira in the constellation of Cetus other large
group pulsating stars are RR Lyrae variables; the
semiregular variables and the irregular variables. The Mira
or red variables are giant stars that pulsate in very long or
somewhat irregular periods of months or years. Because
they are not highly predictable, an important service
provided by amateur astronomers who keep track of the
magnitudes of these stars.

(e)Cepheid Variables This is relatively large and important

group in astronomy, they are large yellow stars named for
proto type and first known star of group δ Cepheid. The
magnitude of δ Cepheid varies between 3,6 to 4.3 in period
of 5.4 days Figure 6.12.More than 700 Cepheids variables

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 are known in our Galaxy. Most Cepheids have period in the
range 3 to 50 days and absolute magnitude from -1.5 to -5.

(f) RR Lyrae Next to long term variables, the most common

variable stars are RR Lyrae stars; named for RR Lyrae. They
are approximately 4500 in our Galaxy. Almost all of them are
found in the nucleus of our Galaxy. They have the period of
less than a day it is in the range 0.3 to 0.7 days. Their
amplitude never exceeds two magnitude and most stars
have magnitude less than one.

Type Number
Pulsating 13,782
Eruptive 1,618
Eclipsing 4,062
Unclassified or unstudied 986
All Kinds 20,448
Table 6.3 Number of Variable Stars

6.13 Binary Stars Roughly half the stars around the sun are found
in pairs (binary stars) or in a system of three or more, ranging upto
cluster of thousands each star moving under the combined
gravitational influence of other.

6.14 Discovery of Binary Stars In 1650 the Italian Jesuit

astronomer Giovanni Baptista Riccioli observed that the star Mizar in
the middle of the handle of the Big Dipper appeared through his
telescope as two stars. Mizar was first double star to be discovered.
In the century and half that followed, many other closely separated
pairs of stars were discovered telescopically. One famous double star
is Castor in Gemini They are separated by an angle of nearly 5” in
1804, when Herschel had noted that the fainter component of Castor
and changed, slightly its direction from the brighter component. Here,
finally was observational evidence that one star was moving about
another; it was first evidence that the gravitational influences exists
outside the solar system. Catalogue prepared by John Herschel
contain more than 10,000 systems of two, three or more stars.

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 If the gravitational force between the stars is like those in the solar
system, the orbit of one star about the other must be an ellipse.
Evidence in this regard was found by Felix Savary in 1827 who
showed that relative orbits of the two stars in double system ξ Ursae
Majoris is an ellipse, the stars completing one mutual revolution in a
period of 80 years. Binary stars are now known to be very common;
they may be the rule, not the exception, In the stellar neighborhood of
the sun somewhere between one half and two third of all the stars are
members of binary or multiple star system, Different types of binary
star systems can be summarized as follows:

I. Optical Doubles These are two stars in nearly same line of sight,
which one is far more distant than the other, they are not they are
not true binary stars, and are not discussed further.

II. Visual Binaries These are gravitationally associated pairs of stars;

the members are either so near the sun or so widely separated from
each other (usually, both) that they can be observed visually (in the
telescope) as two stars. The typical separations for the two stars in
the visual binary system are hundreds of AU. Thus the orbital
speeds of stars are usually quite small and their orbital motion may
not be apparent over the few decades of observation. Nevertheless,
two closely separated stars are generally assumed to comprise a
visual binary system if there is no reason to doubt that they are at
the same distance from us and if they have the same proper motion
and radial velocity, indicating that they are moving together through
space. Over 64,000 such systems are catalogued.

III. Astrometric Binaries Sometimes one member of what would

otherwise be a visual binary system is to faint to be observed; its
presence may be detected, however, by the “wavy “ motion of its
companion, revolving about the invisible center of mass of the two
stars as they move through the space. In 1844, Bessel discovered
that the bright star Sirius; display such a motion with a period of 50
years. Sirius remained an astrometric binary until 1862, when Alvan
G. Clark found its companion- a member of the class of stars known
as white dwarfs.
IV. Spectroscopic Binaries When the binary nature of the star is
known only from the variations of its radial velocity (or of both radial
velocities if the spectral lines of both stars are visible), it is said to

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 be spectroscopic binary. Over 700 such systems have been
analyzed.
V. Spectrum Binaries If the orbit of what would otherwise be a
spectroscopic binary is oriented nearly “face On” to us (that is,
perpendicular to our line of sight), or if the masses of the member
stars are so low that they have very small orbital velocities, we can
see no radial-velocity variations. It may still be obvious, that they are
two stars if the composite spectrum contains lines that are the
characteristic of both hot and cold stars and which would not be
expected to occur in the spectrum of a single star, such system is
called spectrum binaries.
VI. Eclipsing Binaries If the orbit of the binary system is oriented
nearly edge on to us so that the stars eclipse each other, it is called
eclipsing binary. More than 4000 such systems are catalogued.

The different kinds of binaries are not mutually exclusive All eclipsing
binary, for example, may also be spectroscopic binary, if I is bright
enough that its spectrum can be photographed, and if its radial
velocity variations have been observed. Also a small number of
relatively nearby spectroscopic binaries can also be observed as
visual binaries. Figure 6.13, 6.14 shows the mutual revolution of K60.

Figure 6.13 Photographs of showing the mutual revolution of the

components of double star Kuger 60

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Figure 6.14 The mutual revolution during the period 12 years of the
revolution of components of double star Kuger 60.

Summery
1. The most significant feature of the H-R diagram is that the stars
are not distributed over it at random, exhibiting all combinations
of absolute magnitude and temperature but rather cluster into
certain parts of the diagram.
2. About 90 percent of the star in our part of the space is main
sequence stars and about 10 percent are white dwarfs. Less
than 1 percent is giants or supergiants.
3. Stars are formed within extended regions of higher density in
the interstellar medium, although the density is still lower than
the inside of an earthly vacuum chamber.
4. Several different scenarios by which a protostar condensation
may get
5. Several different scenarios by which a protostar condensation
may get started are as follows

177
6. Direct collision of interstellar clouds can cause an increase of
density that could lead to stellar condensations
7. At the interface between HII regions and in the surrounding HI
regions,
8. Isolated small clouds of mass estimated at from 20 to several
hundred solar masses-globules,
9. Supernova explosions release an enormous amount of energy
both in electromagnetic radiation and in the form of violent
stellar wind.
10. Among the most promising sites of star formation are cold
molecular clouds.
11. It may be that formation of planetary system or a multiple
star systems are two alternatives open to a condensing cloud
12. The upper limit to stellar mass is calculated to be in the
range 60 to 100 solar masses
13. The time for whole evolutionary process is highly mass
dependent.
14. The most massive and luminous stars alter their chemical
composition most quickly, thus the main sequence rises more
rapidly at the bright end, but scarcely not all at the faint end,
even after billions of years
15. In astronomy all elements heavier than helium are
considered a "metal", and the chemical concentration of these
elements is called the metallicity
16. The metallicity can influence the duration that a star will
burn its fuel, control the formation of magnetic fields and modify
the strength of the stellar wind
17. It now seems quite possible that a gradual buildup of
elements heavier than helium is continually going on in the hot
centers of at lease more massive red giants.
18. The sudden rise in temperature, helium burning
accelerates; the phenomenon is called helium flash.
19. Stars form in the present Milky Way galaxy they are composed
of about 71% hydrogen and 27% helium, as measured by
mass, with a small fraction of heavier elements.
20. A variety of different nuclear fusion reactions take place
inside the cores of stars, depending upon their mass and
composition, as part of stellar nucleosynthesis.
21. The net mass of the fused atomic nuclei is smaller than
the sum of the constituents.

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 22. The variable stars are designated in order of the time of
discovery in the constellation in which they occur.
23. A variable star is studied by analyzing its spectrum and by
measuring the variation of its light with lapse of time.
24. The median light of a variable star is amount of light it
emits when it is halfway between maxima and minima.

Exercises
Fill in the blanks
1. A substantial number of stars lie above the main sequence
of the H-R diagram in the upper right (cool, highly luminous),
these are called ___________.
2. Stars in the lower left (hot, low luminosity) corner known as
___________.
3. To be truly representative of stellar population a
____________should be plotted for all stars within certain
distance.
4. Stars are formed within extended regions of
______________ in the interstellar medium.
5. Supernova ___________ release an enormous amount of
energy both in electromagnetic radiation and in the form of
violent stellar wind.
6. The formation of a star begins with_____________ instability
inside a molecular cloud.
7. The evolution of a stellar condensation after it has solved the
problem of _______________ moves on the path of
becoming a normal star.
8. The stars more massive than ________ would not be visible
to us during most of their pre-main sequence evolution
because the light they emit is absorbed by the surrounding
dust in the in falling material.
9. The original _______________, corresponding to stars of
homogeneous chemical composition, is called zero age main
sequence.
10. A graph that shows how the magnitude of a variable star
changes with time is called ______________ of a star.
Short questions with answer

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Q1. What relation did the study by Hertzsprung and by Russell led
to?
Ans. The investigations by Hertzsprung and by Russell led to an
extremely important discovery concerning the relation between
the luminosity and the surface temperatures of star.
Q2. How stars are aligned on Hertzsprung - Russell diagram?
Ans. The majority of stars are aligned along a narrow sequence
running from upper left (hot highly luminous) part of the diagram
to the lower right (cool less luminous) part. This band of points
is called main sequence. A substantial number of stars lie
above the main sequence of the H-R diagram in the upper right
(cool, highly luminous), these are called giants. At the top part
of the diagram are the stars of even higher luminosity, called
supergiants. Finally, there are stars in the lower left (hot, low
luminosity) corner known as white dwarfs.
Q3. What are the different scenarios by which a protostar
condensation may get started?
Ans. Several different scenarios by which a protostar condensation
may get started are as follows
• Direct collision of interstellar clouds
• At the interface between HII regions and in the surrounding
HI regions
• Isolated small clouds of mass estimated at from 20 to
several hundred solar masses
• Supernova explosions
Q4. What are the most promising sites of star formation?
Ans. Among the most promising sites of star formation are cold
molecular clouds.
Q5. What are the alternatives open to a condensing cloud for the
formation of star?
Ans. That formation of planetary system or a multiple star systems
are two alternatives open to a condensing cloud.
Q6. What is Jeans Instability?
Ans. It is an instability which occurs when the internal gas
pressure is not strong enough to prevent gravitational

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 collapse of a region filled with matter. Thus it begins to collapse
under its own gravitational force.
Q7. What are the factors that influence the evolution of a star?
Ans. Mass and the portion of elements heavier than helium can play
a significant role in the evolution of stars.
Q8. What are metals in astronomy? What is the effect of metallicity
on stellar evolution?
Ans. In astronomy all elements heavier than helium are considered a
"metal", and the chemical concentration of these elements is
called the metallicity. The metallicity can influence the duration
that a star will burn its fuel, control the formation of magnetic
fields and modify the strength of the stellar wind
Q9. What is the main sequence lifetime of different stars?
Ans. The massive stars spend less than1 million years on the main
sequence; a star of one solar mass remain there for 1010 years
and a spectral type M0V star of about 0,4 solar mass has the
main sequence life of 2 x 1011 years.
Q10. What is the helium flash? When does it occur?
Ans. As soon as the temperature become high enough to start triple
alpha process going, the extra energy released is transmitted
quickly through the entire degenerate core, producing a rapid
heating of all helium there. With the sudden rise in temperature,
helium burning accelerates; the phenomenon is called helium
flash.
Q11. What are the main processes of neucleosynthesis in the star?
Ans. Proton-proton chain reaction and the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen
cycle are the two main processes of neucleosynthesis in the
star.
Q12. What are the techniques employed to determine the
magnitudes of the Variable stars?
Ans. The three techniques most commonly employed are as
following:
a. The magnitude of the variable is estimated by visual
observation through the telescope, by comparing its
brightness of neighboring star of known magnitude.

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 b. The magnitude of the variable star is measured by
comparing its image with the image of comparing star on
a telescope.
c. The magnitude of the variable is determined by
photoelectric photometry
Q13. What are the types of variable stars?
Ans. Different types of the variable stars are:
• Pulsating Variables
• Eruptive Variables
• Eclipsing Variables
• Long period Variables
• Cepheid Variables
• RR Lyrae
Q14. What are the Binary stars?
Ans. Stars around the sun those are found in pairs (binary stars) or
in a system of three or more, ranging upto cluster of thousands
each star moving under the combined gravitational influence of
other are called binary stars.
Q15. What are the types of the Binary star?
Ans. The types of Binary stars are:
• Optical Doubles
• Visual Binaries
• Astrometric Binaries
• Spectroscopic Binaries
• Spectrum Binaries
• Eclipsing Binaries

Study Questions
Q1. What is the main features of H-R diagram?
Q2. Write a note on mechanisms of the formation of Protostar?
Q3. Explain the evolution of the Young Star?
Q4. How the stars evolve from the main sequence to giants?
Q5. Discuss the evolution of stars to Red Giants?
Q6. What is zero-age main sequence?

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Q7. What are the sequences of events that occur in the final stage
of evolution of a Star?
Q8. Write a note on:
• Chemical composition or Metallicity of a star
• Stellar Nucleosynthesis
Q9. What are Variable Stars? How they are designated? Discuss
the typical light curve of a variable star?
Q10. Explain different types of variable Stars.
Q11. What are Binary Stars? How they are discovered?
Q12. What are the different types of binary star systems? Explain?

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 Chapter 7
Subrahmanyan
Chandrasekhar, FRS
(October 19, 1910 –
August 21, 1995) was
an Indian
American astrophysicist.
He was a Nobel
laureate in physics along
with William Alfred
Fowler for their work in
the theoretical structure
and evolution of stars He
was the nephew of Indian
Nobel Laureate Sir C. V. Raman.

White Dwarf one Final Stage of

Stellar Evolution
Sooner or later a star must exhaust its store of nuclear energy. Thus
it can only contract and release gravitational potential energy.
Eventually, the shrinking star will attain enormous density ranging
upto over one million times that of water.
7.1 White dwarf
The first white dwarf was discovered as the companion to Sirius, the
brightest appearing star in the sky from its wavy proper motion. Sirius
was known to have a companion since 1844. It was first seen
telescopically in 1862. Sirius is the brightest star in the constellation
Canis Major, Orion’s big dog. It is interesting that Procyon, the
brightest star in Orion’s other dog, Canis Minor, Also has a white
dwarf companion. A third nearby star with a white dwarf companion is
40 Eridani. The companion of Sirius has a mass of about 94 percent
that of the sun. From its temperature and luminosity we find its
diameter to be only two percent of that of the sun or about twice that
of the earth. The white dwarf has a mean density more than hundred
thousand times that of the sun and sixth of the million times that of
water. Some white dwarfs have much higher mean densities, and

184
many have central densities in excess of 107 times that of water. A
teaspoon full of such material would weigh nearly 50 tons.

7.2 Structure of White Dwarf

The structure of the white dwarfs was first studied by R. H. Fowler,

White dwarfs are simpler than most of the stars because the pressure
that supports a white dwarf in hydrostatic equilibrium is supplied
almost by degenerate electrons and therefore, does not depend on
temperature, but only on the density. We know that the volume to
which a star can be compressed before the electron become
degenerate depends on amount of the gravitational potential energy
that can be released by the collapsing star, which in turn depends on
the mass. The size of white dwarf, therefore, depends on its mass-
the more massive the white dwarf, the smaller its size. A white dwarf
of one solar mass must have a radius of about one percent of the
sun- about the size of the earth. In more massive white dwarfs some
of the electrons have the speed that are an appreciable fraction of
that of light, a rigorous treatment must include the effect of special
theory of relativity.

Figure 7.1. A white dwarf star in orbit around Sirius (artist's

impression). NASA image

The first such rigorous model of white dwarfs was constructed by

Indian astrophysicist S. Chandrasekhar. The analysis by
Chandrasekhar shows that white dwarfs of masses successively

185
greater than the sun’s are successively smaller than one percent of
its radius, until a mass of 1.4 solar masses is reached, at which point
the electrons do not become degenerate and hydrostatic equilibrium
cannot be achieved Figure 7.2, thus 1.4 solar mass is the upper limit
to the mass of white dwarf. A more massive star must continue to
collapse to a far smaller size.

Figure 7.2 Theoretical relation between the masses and radii of white
dwarf stars.

Now those stars that have had time to exhaust their nuclear fuel
supply and evolve to a white dwarf stage must have had original
masses greater than 1.4 solar masses, for those more massive stars
are the very ones that use up their energy store most rapidly. But in
such stars electrons do not become degenerate, and star cannot
become white dwarf. On the other hand, white dwarf stars are
plentiful and they must have come from somewhere. To account for
most or all evolved stars of original mass greater than 1.4 solar
masses. It is thought therefore, that most stars eventually become
white dwarfs. Consequently, they must lower their masses some how,
before reaching the stage, by ejecting matter into space.

White dwarfs have hot interior-tens of millions of Kelvin. At this

temperature and at the high densities of these stars any remaining
hydrogen would undergo violent fusion into helium, giving the
luminosity many times higher than observed. Consequently, white
dwarfs can have no hydrogen. Their most probable internal

186
 composition is a mixture of carbon and oxygen, the principal product
of hydrogen burning

Recent studies indicate that at least some white dwarfs probably

have cores in which the matter has crystallized. Some also have very
strong magnetic fields- upto hundred of millions of Gauss. Moreover,
a few display light varieties with period of several minutes. Further, an
evolved, average-size star after shedding its outer layers as a
planetary nebula shrinks to a relatively tiny object (about the size of
Earth) that is not massive enough for further compression to take
place, known as a white dwarf. The electron-degenerate matter inside
a white dwarf is no longer plasma, even though stars are generally
referred to as being spheres of plasma. White dwarfs will eventually
fade into black dwarfs over a very long stretch of time.

7.3 Eruptive Stars

There are many types of eruptive variable stars; they range from the
flare (or UV Ceti) stars, which display occasional sudden flare-ups in
brightness, through the novae, to a spectacular supernova

I. Novae

These are most famous eruptive variables. Novae, means “new”.

Actually novae are an existing star that suddenly emits an outburst of
light. In ancient times, when such an outburst brought a star’s
luminosity upto naked eye visibility, it seems like a new star. Novae
remain bright for only few days or weeks and then gradually fade.
They seldom remain visible to the unaided eyes for more than few
months. The Chinese, whose annals record novae from centuries
before Christ, called them “guest stars”. Only occasionally novae
visible to naked eye, but, on average two or three are found
telescopically every year. Many may escape detection altogether,
they may be as many as two or three dozen nova outburst per year in
our Galaxy. The light curve of typical nova is as shown in Figure7.3.
According to currently favored theory, novae occur in close binary
star system. In each of which one member is a star transferring mass
to white dwarfs. All novae recur on some time scale or other; the
most violent classic novae, which reached the visible magnitudes of

187
 -6 to -9, may wait hundred or thousands of years or more between
outbursts.

II. Supernovae

Among the more spectacular of the cataclysm of nature is the

supernova. In contrast to an ordinary nova, this increases in
luminosity a paltry few thousands or at most tens of thousands of
times. As fusion continues in larger stars, until the iron core has
grown so large (more than 1.4 solar masses) that it can no longer
support its own mass. The core suddenly collapse as its electrons are
driven into its protons, forming neutrons and neutrinos in a burst of
inverse beta decay, or electron capture. The shockwave formed by
this sudden collapse causes the rest of the star to explode in a
supernova. Supernovae are so bright that they may briefly outshine
the star's entire home galaxy. When they occur within the Milky Way,
supernovae have historically been observed by naked-eye observers
as "new stars" where none existed before. At maximum light,
supernova reaches absolute magnitude -14 to -18 or probably even
-20. The three most famous supernovae have been observed during
last ten centuries in our Galaxy they are (1) The Supernova of 1054
in Taurus (described in Chinese annals) (2) Tycho’s “star” of 1572 in
constellation Cassiopeia, and (3) the supernova of 1604 in Serpens,
described by both Kepler and Galileo. In a typical galaxy supernovae
occur at the rate of one every 100 years. The light curve of supernova
is similar to that of an ordinary nova expect for the far greater
luminosity of supernova and its duration.

Figure 7.3 Light curve of Nova Puppis 1942.

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There are several kinds of supernovae, but they all rise to maximum
light extremely quickly (in few days or less) and for a brief time. Just
after the maximum, the gradual decline sets in, and the star fades
until it disappears from telescopic visibility within a few months or
years after its outburst. Bright emission lines are observed in the
spectra of supernovae indicating that they eject material at the time of
outburst like ordinary novae. The velocity of ejection can be upto
10, 000 Km/s. Further, large amount of material is ejected; in fact, the
large fraction of original star may go off in the expanding envelope.
The blown-off outer layers of dying stars include heavy elements
which may be recycled during new star formation. These heavy
elements allow the formation of rocky planets. The outflow from
supernovae and the stellar wind of large stars play an important part
in shaping the interstellar medium. Most of the matter in the star is
blown away by the supernovae explosion (forming nebulae such as
the Crab Nebula and what remains will be a neutron star (which
sometimes manifests itself as a pulsar or X-ray burster) or, in the
case of the largest stars (large enough to leave a stellar remnant
greater than roughly 4 solar masses), a black hole. In a neutron star
the matter is in a state known as neutron-degenerate matter, with a
more exotic form of degenerate matter, QCD matter, possibly present
in the core. Within a black hole the matter is in a state that is not
currently understood.

189
Figure 7.4 The Crab Nebula, remnants of a supernova that was first
observed around 1050 AD

7.4 Chandrasekhar limit

Chandrasekhar limit limits the mass of bodies made from electron-

degenerate matter-a dense form of matter which consists of nuclei
immersed in a gas of electrons. The limit is the maximum nonrotating
mass which can be supported against gravitational collapse by
electron degeneracy pressure. It is named after the Indian
astrophysicist Subramanian Chandrasekhar, and is commonly given
as being about 1.4 solar masses. As white dwarfs are composed of
electron-degenerate matter, no nonrotating white dwarf can be
heavier than the Chandrasekhar limit.

Stars produce energy through nuclear fusion, producing heavier

elements from lighter ones. The heat generated from these reactions
prevents gravitational collapse of the star. Over time, the star builds
up a central core which consists of elements which the temperature
at the center of the star is not sufficient to fuse. For main-sequence
stars with a mass below approximately 8 solar masses, the mass of
this core will remain below the Chandrasekhar limit, and they will
eventually lose mass (as planetary nebulae) until only the core, which
becomes a white dwarf, remains. Stars with higher mass will develop
a degenerate core whose mass will grow until it exceeds the limit. At
this point the star will explode in a core-collapse supernova, leaving
behind either a neutron star or a black hole.

Computed values for the limit will vary depending on the

approximations used, the nuclear composition of the mass, and the
temperature. Chandrasekhar. Gives a value of

Here, μe is the average molecular weight per electron, mH is the mass

of the hydrogen atom, and ω30≈2.018236 is a constant connected
with the solution to the Lane-Emden equation. Numerically, this value
is approximately (2/μe)2 · 2.85 · 1030 kg, or 1.43 (2/μe)2 M☉, where

190
M☉=1.989·1030 kg is the standard solar mass, As is the
Planck mass, MPl≈2.176·10 kg, the limit is of the order of MPl /mH2.
−8 3

Electron degeneracy pressure is a quantum-mechanical effect arising

from the Pauli Exclusion Principle. Since electrons are fermions, no
two electrons can be in the same state, so not all electrons can be in
the minimum-energy level. Rather, electrons must occupy a band of
energy levels. Compression of the electron gas increases the number
of electrons in a given volume and raises the maximum energy level
in the occupied band. Therefore, the energy of the electrons will
increase upon compression, so pressure must be exerted on the
electron gas to compress it. This is the origin of electron degeneracy
pressure.

In the nonrelativistic case, electron degeneracy pressure gives rise to

an equation of state of the form P=K1ρ5/3. Solving the hydrostatic
equation leads to a model white dwarf which is a polytrope of index
3/2 and therefore has radius inversely proportional to the cube root of
its mass, and volume inversely proportional to its mass. As the mass
of a model white dwarf increases, the typical energies to which
degeneracy pressure forces the electrons are no longer negligible
relative to their rest masses.

Figure 7.5 Radius-mass relations for a model white dwarf. The lower
curve uses the general pressure law for an ideal Fermi gas, while the
upper curve is for a non-relativistic ideal Fermi gas. The vertical line
marks the ultra-relativistic limit.

The velocities of the electrons approach the speed of light, and

special relativity must be taken into account. In the strongly relativistic

191
limit, we find that the equation of state takes the form P=K2ρ4/3. This
will yield a polytrope of index 3, which will have a total mass, M limit
say, depending only on K2.

For a fully relativistic treatment, the equation of state used will

interpolate between the equations P=K1ρ5/3 for small ρ and P=K2ρ4/3
for large ρ. When this is done, the model radius still decreases with
mass, but becomes zero at Mlimit. This is the Chandrasekhar limit. The
curves of radius against mass for the non-relativistic and relativistic
models are shown in the graph. They are colored blue and green,
respectively. μe has been set equal to 2. Radius is measured in
standard solar radii or kilometers, and mass in standard solar
masses.

A more accurate value of the limit than that given by this simple
model requires adjusting for various factors, including electrostatic
interactions between the electrons and nuclei and effects caused by
nonzero temperature. Lieb and Yau have given a rigorous derivation
of the limit from a relativistic many-particle Schrödinger equation.

Applications

The core of a star is kept from collapsing by the heat generated by

the fusion of nuclei of lighter elements into heavier ones. At various
points in a star's life, the nuclei required for this process will be
exhausted, and the core will collapse, causing it to become denser
and hotter. A critical situation arises when iron accumulates in the
core, since iron nuclei are incapable of generating further energy
through fusion. If the core becomes sufficiently dense, electron
degeneracy pressure will play a significant part in stabilizing it against
gravitational collapse. If a main-sequence star is not too massive
(less than approximately 8 solar masses), it will eventually shed
enough mass to form a white dwarf having mass below the
Chandrasekhar limit, which will consist of the former core of the star.
For more massive stars, electron degeneracy pressure will not keep
the iron core from collapsing to very great density, leading to
formation of a neutron star, black hole, or, speculatively, a quark star.
(For very massive, low-metallicity stars, it is also possible that
instabilities will destroy the star completely.) During the collapse,
neutrons are formed by the capture of electrons by protons in the

192
process of inverse beta decay, leading to the emission of neutrinos. .
The decrease in gravitational potential energy of the collapsing core
releases a large amount of energy which is on the order of 1046 joules
(100 foes.) Most of this energy is carried away by the emitted
neutrinos. This process is believed to be responsible for supernovae
of types Ib, Ic, and II. Type Ia supernovae derive their energy from
runaway fusion of the nuclei in the interior of a white dwarf. This fate
may befall carbon-oxygen white dwarfs that accrete matter from a
companion giant star, leading to a steadily increasing mass. It is
believed that, as the white dwarf's mass approaches the
Chandrasekhar limit, its central density increases, and, as a result of
compressional heating, its temperature also increases. This results in
an increasing rate of fusion reactions, eventually igniting a
thermonuclear flame which causes the supernova. Strong indications
of the reliability of Chandrasekhar's formula are:

1. Only one white dwarf with a mass greater than

Chandrasekhar's limit has ever been observed. (See below.)
2. The absolute magnitudes of supernovae of Type Ia are all
approximately the same; at maximum luminosity, MV is
approximately -19.3, with a standard deviation of no more than
0.3. A 1-sigma interval therefore represents a factor of less than
2 in luminosity. This seems to indicate that all type Ia
supernovae convert approximately the same amount of mass to
energy.

7.5 A type Ia supernova apparently from a supra-limit white

dwarf

On April 2003, the Supernova Legacy Survey observed a type Ia

supernova, designated SNLS-03D3bb, in a galaxy approximately 4
billion light years away. According to a group of astronomers at the
University of Toronto and elsewhere, the observations of this
supernova are best explained by assuming that it arose from a white
dwarf which grew to twice the mass of the Sun before exploding.
They believe that the star, dubbed the "Champagne Supernova" by
University of Oklahoma astronomer David R. Branch, may have been
spinning so fast that centrifugal force allowed it to exceed the limit.
Alternatively, the supernova may have resulted from the merger of
two white dwarfs, so that the limit was only violated momentarily.

193
Nevertheless, they point out that this observation poses a challenge
to us.

7.6 Neutron Star

The discovery of Neutron by Chadwick in 1932 led to the

speculation by theoreticians that if the matter in the star could be
subjected to such high pressure as to force the free electrons into
atomic nucleus, the star could become a body composed entirely of
neutrons. Walter Baade and Fritz Zwicky suggested that supernova
expositions might form neutron stars. At least some pulsers are
associated with the remnants of supernovae. Then it was wondered if
pulsers are the neutron stars.

Neutrons like electrons, obey Pauli’s principle and can become

degenerate if crowded into a sufficiently small volume for a given
momentum range, so perhaps a star could collapse into degenerate
neutrons if it somehow escaped becoming the white dwarf. The
neutron in such condition could not decay into proton and electron,
for, by the time the star is that collapsed, the allowable states for
electrons would be filled. The structure of the neutron star is
analogous to white dwarf except that neutron stars are much smaller.
A Neutron star of one solar mass would have the density of 1014 to
1015 g/cm3 –comparable to that of atomic nucleus itself, and it will
have the radius of 10 Km. As indicated in the Table 7.1 a star of such
dimensions would have the natural period of pulsation of less than
one ten-thousandth of a second. Since a neutron star could rotate
with any period much longer than this, it is believed that pulsars are
the rotating neutron stars.

Radius (Solar Radii) Period Examples

1000 4 yr Red Supergiants
100 1 month Cephides
10 1 day RR Lyra stars
1 1 hr Sun
0.1 2 min
0.01 4s White dwarf
-5 -4
10 10 s Neutron star
Table 7.1 Pulsation periods of various stars of One Solar Mass.

194
Their exist mass-radius relationship for neutron star, an upper mass
limit as well, although the exact theory ids not yet certain, the mass
limit for a neutron star is believed to be from 2 to 3 solar masses. The
upper mass limit for a neutron star exceeds that for white dwarfs, a
star of mass greater than 1.4 solar masses could gravitationally
contract to a neutron star, missing the white dwarf configuration.
Further, it is also believed that neutron stars are formed in supernova
explosions. It seems unlikely that a star of less than 1.4 solar masses
can become supernova unless it is first a white dwarf that is a
member of a close binary star system. Suppose its mass is very close
to the upper limit for the masses of white dwarfs and that the
companion star is a giant that is transferring some of its matter to the
dwarf. As the transferring material pours into white dwarf, it can raise
its mass above the limiting value for stable white dwarf; then there is
nothing to stop it from collapsing into a neutron star.

7.7 Black Hole

In 1796 the French mathematician Pierre Simon Laplace speculated

about the properties of an object that had so great a gravitational field
that a light cannot escape at all. It would bend the light around to stay
with the object. Laplace’s “Corps Obscurs” were later reconsidered by
modern physicists, armed with the new rigor of general relativity
theory. John Wheeler, the Princeton physicist who had become
intimately associated with general relativity, has dubbed such objects
“black holes”.
Consider the light radiated from the surface of a neutron star. That
which emerges normal to the surface flows out radially from the star.
That emitted at an angle of say 30˚ to the normal leaves the star at an
angle some what greater than 30˚to the normal, because of
gravitational deflection. Now imagine a more massive star that
shrinks to a smaller size and high density than neutron star. As the
surface gravity increases, the deflection of light increases too.
Eventually, a star reaches a size at which a horizontal beam of light
enters a circular orbit. A surface of that radius is called is called
Photon sphere. As the star shrinks to a size smaller than the photon
sphere, to escape the starlight must flow into a cone about the normal
to the surface of half angle θ as indicated in Figure 7.6 and light at
greater angle fall back on star. The angle become smaller and

195
smaller as the star collapses until the radius of the star is two third of
photon sphere near the star θ becomes zero, and no light at all can
escape. At this point the velocity of escape from the star equals to the
velocity of light. As the star contracts further more light and
everything else is trapped inside, unable to escape through the
surface where the escape velocity is velocity of light. The surface is
called event horizon and its radius is called Schwarzschild radius,
named for Karl Schwarzschild, who first described the situation a few
years after Einstein introduced general relativity. This surface is the
boundary of the black hole. All that is inside is hidden forever from us;
as the star shrinks through the event horizon it disappears from the
universe.

Figure 7.6 The deflection of light from a very dense star. At the radius
smaller than the photon sphere to escape light must flow into a cone

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of half angle θ with respect to the normal n, to the surface. At the
event horizon θ = 0. (35.10)

The size of Schwarzschild radius is proportional to the mass of the

star. The size of a black hole, as determined by the radius of the
event horizon, or Schwarzschild radius, is proportional to the mass
through

Where is the Schwarzschild radius and is the mass of the

Sun.

For a star of one solar mass, the black hole is about 3 Km in

diameter, thus the entire black hole, some 6 Km in diameter is about
one third the size of the neutron star. The event horizon of larger and
smaller black holes-if they exist-has greater and lesser radii
respectively. For example, if earth to become black hole it would have
to be compressed to the radius of only 1 cm or about the size of a
golf ball. But should black hole exist? For stars of less than about 1.4
solar masses can become white dwarfs. Those with larger mass, we
think can exist as neutron star, but there is an upper limit to the mass
of neutron stars; we thin the limit is not over three solar masses. We
know the tiny fraction of all stars have still greater mass. What
becomes of them when they exhaust their store of nuclear fuel?
Perhaps they eject part of their mass (as planetary nebula or
supernova outburst) so that what is left can contract to a white dwarf
or neutron star. But what if they do not? Then we know no other fate
for such massive stars then that they become black holes. Thus we
are not certain that any star must ever have to become a black hole,
but we have good reasons to expect that many massive stars albeit a
minority of all stars can end up in that exotic state. How then do we
find a black hole, which of course we cannot see? We can detect it by
its gravitational effects on other stars (as star collapse into black
holes they leave behind their gravitational fields), and this is most
easily accomplished in a binary star system.

1. Possible Candidates

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In order to find a black hole we must (a) find a star whose motion
showed it to be a member of a binary star system, and so have a
companion of mass too high to be a white dwarf or neutron star (b)
that, the companion star must not be visible, for a black hole gives no
light. But being invisible not enough, for relatively faint star must be
unseen next to the light of a brilliant companion therefore, (c) we
must have evidence that the unseen star, of mass too high to be a
neutron star is also a collapsed object of extremely small size for then
our theory predicts that it must be a black hole or least a star on the
way to becoming one, Modern space astronomy supports (c) One
way to know we have a small object of high gravity (and possibly a
black hole) is if matter falling toward or into it is accelerated to high
speed. Near the event horizon of a black hole, matter is moving at
near the speed of light, internal friction can heat it to very high
temperatures-up to 100 million Kelvins or more. Such hot matter
emits radiation in the form of X-rays. Modern orbiting X-ray
telescopes-especially the Einstein telescope, HEAO 2- can and does
reveal such intense source of X-radiation. Thus we require X-ray
sources associated with binary stars with invisible companions of
high mass. We cannot prove that such a system contains a black
hole, but at present we have no other theory for what the invisible
massive companion can be if the X-rays are coming from gas heated
by falling toward it. Consider one star in such a double star system
has evolve to a black hole and that the second star has now evolved
to a red giant so large that its outer layer pass through a point of no
return between the star and some of its matter falls to the black hole.
The mutual revolution of the giant star and black hole cause the
material from the former to flow not directly to black hole but to
conserve angular momentum it spirals around the black hole and is
collected in a flat disk of matter called the accretion disk, In the inner
part of the accretion disk the matter is revolving about the black hole
so fast that its internal friction heat it upto the temperature where it
emits X-rays. In the course of this friction, some material in the
accretion disk is given extra momentum, and escape from the double
star system and the other material loses momentum and fall into
black hole. Yet another way to form an accretion disk in a binary star
system is from material ejected from a companion of the black hole
as a stellar wind some of the ejected gas will flow close enough to the
black hole to be captured by it into the disk. Such is the case of
binary system containing first X-ray source discovered in Cygnus-

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Cygnus X-1. The variable star as shown in Figure 7.7 is a normal B
type star. The spectroscopic observations show it to have an unseen
companion of mass near ten times that of the sun. The companion
would be a black hole if it ever a small, collapsed object. The X-rays
from it strongly suggest that it is, for we have no other explanation for
the source of those x-rays than gas heated by an infall toward a tiny
massive object. Of course we cannot be certain Cygnus X-1 is a
black hole, but many astronomers think that it probably is.

Figure 7.7 In visible light CygnusX-1 appears as an Ordinary star.

Figure 7.8 An artist's concept of Cygnus X-1 shows hot gas from the
giant blue star flowing toward the black hole, forming a bright
accretion disk.

2. Properties

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There seems to be much folklore about black holes, many of them
are misleading. One idea is that black holes are the monsters that go
about sucking things up with their gravity. Actually, the gravitational
attraction surrounding the black hole at a large distance is the same
as that around other star (or object) of same mass. Even if another
star or space ship was to pass one or two solar radii from the black
hole. Newton’s law gives an excellent account of what would happen
to it. But very near to the surface of the black hole the gravitation is
so strong that Newton’s law break down, For a black hole of mass of
the sun light would have to come within 4.5 Km of its center to be
trapped. A solar mass black hole, is only 3 Km in radius which is very
tiny target. Even collisions between ordinary stars, hundreds of
thousands times bigger in diameter are so rare as to be essentially
nonexistent. A star would be far, far safer to us as an interloping
black hole than it would have been in its former stellar dimensions.

Ideas about Black Holes

The black holes need not be limited to stellar masses. There has
been considerable consideration of the possibilities of vary large
amount of gas collecting together and collapsing into black hole in
center of globular clusters, galaxies, or even clusters of galaxies. A
mass of gas collapsing into a black hole releases more than 100
times as much energy as can be extracted from the same mass
through the nuclear fusion. Thus the gravitational collapse of a million
solar masses of gas into a black hole at the center of the galaxy could
produce prodigious amount of released gravitational potential energy.
However, there is a great deal of speculation about such processes
which account for the energy of quasars and other phenomenal
objects. It may well be that through massive black holes general
relativity theory will be found to have profound consequences in
modern astrophysics.
British theoretical astrophysics Stephen Hawking suggested that the
black holes microscopic levels (or less than few solar masses) could
have been produced in the big bang at the origin of universe. If it is
so, then they would involve quantum mechanics as well as relativity
in the most amazing way. We know that all fundamental particles
have antiparticles for example electrons and positrons, protons and
antiprotons, and so on. Whenever the particle and its antiparticle

200
come into contact, they annihilate each other transforming completely
into energy. Similarly, pure energy can be converted into pairs of
particles – an electron and positron, through a pair production and
observed regularly in the nuclear physics laboratory. All this is
possible because mass and energy are equivalent, but obviously
mass cannot be created from nothing - we need energy to do it. Yet,
according to quantum theory, it is possible for matter (or energy) to
be created from nothing for an exceedingly brief period of time. This
is possible because of innate uncertainty in nature, at the microscopic
level, of the measures of the physical quantities such as mass and
energy. This does not violates the conservation laws, because any
matter that come into being almost immediately disappears again
spontaneously, so on average mass and energy (combined) is
conserved. As per Hawking if a positron and electron come into
existence momentarily in the vicinity of a black hole. There is a
chance that one or the other will fall into hole and hence not be able
to annihilate with its antiparticle, returning the energy it borrowed from
the nature. Its antiparticle cannot escape unscathed. Many such
positrons and electrons so created near the black holes and escaping
from them do annihilate each other, creating energy. Now that energy
cannot come from nothing. According to Hawking’s theory it must
come from black hole itself. Robbing the black hole of energy in this
way robs off its mass (E=mc2) so black hole must slowly evaporate
through this process of pair production. This process is only
important, near very tiny black holes. Solar-mass black hole would
evaporate in this way at absolute negligible rate. In fact, the only
black holes that would have had time to so evaporate in the age of
universe would be those of original mass less than about 10 25g like
minor planet. Smaller ones would already be gone because
evaporation rate increases with the decrease of mass of black holes,
at the end one would go off explosively emitting a final burst of
gamma radiation. It is not yet clear about the formation of such mini
black holes and their evaporation process.

7.8 Star Clusters

The study of star clusters is very important, because the stars in the
single cluster are at about the same distance from the earth;
consequently, their luminosities, colours and so on can be compared
easily and accurately. Moreover, the stars in the cluster have

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common origin, being formed about same time from same prestellar
material. A number of star clusters bears popular names of
mythological characters (the Pleiades) the other clusters bears the
names of constellations in which they appear (the double cluster of
Perseus)

1. Descriptions

A cluster that contains a great many stars are said to be rich

clusters, poor clusters, on the other hand contains comparatively few
stars. Rich clusters are likely to be conspicuous, and their
identification as genuine stellar systems is certain. Poor clusters, on
the other hand, are much more difficult to pick out against
background of the general star field. Most of the clusters that are
cataloged contains a high enough density of stars to stand out
against the background so that there is virtually no chance of their
being accidental superposition of stars at different distances. Even
so, it is often difficult or impossible to say which certainty whether a
given individual star is a member of a cluster or not. In general a few
of the stars studied as a cluster members are actually stars in
background or foreground.

2. Globular Clusters

About hundred globular clusters are known some of them in a

halo and nucleus of our Galaxy. They all are very far from the sun;
some are found at the distance of 60,000 L.Y. or more from galactic
plane. Few of them bright enough to be seen with the naked eye,
they appear to be faint, fuzzy stars. One of the most famous naked
eye globule clusters is M13 in the constellation Hercules. A small
telescope reveals the brightest star while a large telescope shows
them to be beautiful, globe shaped system of stars. A good
photograph of typical globular cluster shows it to be nearly circular
symmetrical systems of stars with the highest concentration of stars
near its own center. Most of the stars in the central regions of the
clusters are not resolved as individual points of light but appears as
nebulous glow. Photograph of globular clusters shows that the
brightest stars are red. These stars are two or three magnitude
brighter than the RR-Lyrae variable stars that are almost always
found in the globular clusters Since RR-Lyrae stars average about

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absolute magnitude 0 to +1, the brightest star must be red giants.
The other kinds of variables sometimes found in globular clusters
include type II Cepheids and RV Tauri stars. One cluster (NGC 7078)
contains a planetary nebula. Distances to the globular clusters are
calculated from the apparent magnitudes of RR Lyrae stars they
contain. From angular sizes their actual linear diameter are found to
be from 20 to 100 PC or more. In one of the nearest globular cluster
more than 30,000 stars have been counted. Most of the clusters
contain hundreds of thousands of member stars. The combined light
from all these stars gives a globular cluster an absolute magnitude in
the range -5 to -10. The average density of globular cluster is about
0.4 stars per cubic parsec. In a dense center of globular cluster the
star density may be as high as 100 or 1000 per cubic parsec. The
motion of globular clusters reveals that they are high velocity objects
that do not partake of general galactic rotation. They are believed to
revolve about the nucleus of the galaxy on the orbits of high
eccentricity and high inclination to the galactic plane. A typical cluster
probably has the period of revolution of the order of 108 years.

3. Open Clusters

They appear comparatively loose and open. They contain far fewer
stars than globular clusters and show little or no strong concentration
of stars towards their own centers. Although open clusters are usually
more or less round in appearance they lack high degree of spherical
symmetry. Some open clusters are usually fully resolved, even in its
center. They are found in the disk of the galaxy often associated with
interstellar matter. Due to their locations they are sometimes called
galactic clusters. They are low velocity objects and belong to stellar
population I they are presumed to be originated near the spiral arms.
Over 1000 open clusters have been identified till 1982. Several open
clusters are visible to unaided eye. Most famous among them is
Pleiades that appears as a group of six stars as shown in Figure 7.8
Typical open cluster contain several dozen to several hundred
member stars, although few such as M67 contain more than
thousand stars. Open clusters usually have the diameter of less than
10 pc. Bright supergiants stars of high luminosity in some open
clusters may cause them to outshine globular clusters. The RR Lyrae
stars are never found in open clusters but other kinds of variable
stars, such as type I Cepheids, are some times present.

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Figure 7.9 The Pleiades, an open cluster of stars in the constellation
of Taurus.

4. Associations

It is known for more than 50 years that most luminous main –

sequence stars of spectral types O and B are not distributed at
random in the sky but tends to be grouped into associations, lying
along spiral arms of our Galaxy. Soviet astronomer V. A.
Ambartsumian pointed out that they must be very young group of
stars. Because the stars of association lie in the galactic plane and
are spread over tens of parsecs, each revolves about the galactic
center with a slightly different orbital speed. There are two kinds of
associations those containing O and B stars called O-associations
and the other containing T Tauri stars are called T- associations.
About 70 percent associations have been catalogued. The
characteristics of star clusters are shown in Table-7.2.

Globular Open Clusters Associations

Clusters
Number Known in 125 1055 70
Galaxy
Location in Galaxy Halo and Nuclear Disk (and spiral Spiral Arm
bulge arms)
Diameter (pc) 20 to 100 <10 30 to 200
Mass (solar masses) 104 to 105 102 to 103 102 to 103?
4 5 3
Number of stars 10 to 10 50 to 10 10 to 100?
Colour of the brightest Red Red or Blue Blue
star

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Integrated absolute -5 to -10 0 to - 10 -6 to - 11
visual magnitude of
cluster
Density of stars (solar 0.5 to 1000 0.1 to 10 <0.01
masses per parsec)
Examples Hercules Cluster Hyades, Pleiades Zeta Persei,
(M13) Orion

Table-7.2.Characteristics of Star Clusters.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

— William Wordsworth, 'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud' (also

known as 'The Daffodils'), 1804.

Summery
1. The first white dwarf was discovered as the companion to
Sirius.
2. The volume to which a star can be compressed before the
electron become degenerate depends on amount of the
gravitational potential energy that can be released by the
collapsing star, which in turn depends on the mass.
3. Size of white dwarf, therefore, depends on its mass- the more
massive the white dwarf, the smaller its size.
4. Novae are an existing star that suddenly emits an outburst of
light.
5. Supernova are the more spectacular of the cataclysm of
nature is the.
6. The outflow from supernovae and the stellar wind of large
stars play an important part in shaping the interstellar medium.

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 7. Chandrasekhar limit limits the mass of bodies made from
electron-degenerate matter-a dense form of matter which
consists of nuclei immersed in a gas of electrons.
8. Only one white dwarf with a mass greater than
Chandrasekhar's limit has ever been observed.
9. Structure of the neutron star is analogous to white dwarf
except that neutron stars are much smaller.
10. The mass limit for a neutron star is believed to be from 2
to 3 solar masses.
11. The size of Schwarzschild radius is proportional to the
mass of the star.
12. If earth to become black hole it would have to be
compressed to the radius of only 1 cm or about the size of a
golf ball.
13. For a black hole of mass of the sun light would have to
come within 4.5 Km of its center to be trapped.
14. A solar mass black hole, is only 3 Km in radius which is
very tiny target
15. The stars in the cluster have common origin, being
formed about same time from same prestellar material.

Exercises
Fill in the blanks

1 The first white dwarf was discovered as the companion to

_______.
2 The white dwarf has a mean density more than hundred
thousand times that of __________ and sixth of the million
times that of ____________.
3 The size of white dwarf, therefore, depends on its __________.
4 _________Solar mass is the upper limit to the mass of white
dwarf.
5 White dwarfs can have no ______________.
6 Recent studies indicate that at least some white dwarfs
probably have cores in which the matter has _____________.
7 Novae remain bright for only __________ or weeks and then
gradually fade.

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8 Supernovae are so bright that they may briefly outshine the
star's entire home ______________.
9 No nonrotating white dwarf can be ___________ than the
Chandrasekhar limit.
10 The structure of the neutron star is analogous to white dwarf
except that neutron stars are much _____________.
11 ___________ are the object that had so great a gravitational
field that a light cannot escape at all
Short questions with answer
Q1. When a star can release gravitational potential energy?
Ans. star must exhaust its store of nuclear energy only then it can
contract and release gravitational potential energy.
Q2. What is the mean density of the white dwarf?
Ans. The white dwarf has a mean density more than hundred
thousand times that of the sun and sixth of the million times that
of water. Some white dwarfs have much higher mean densities,
and many have central densities in excess of 107 times that of
water. A teaspoon full of such material would weigh nearly 50
tons.
Q3. Compression of a star is dependent on?
Ans. Volume to which a star can be compressed before the electron
become degenerate depends on amount of the gravitational
potential energy that can be released by the collapsing star,
which in turn depends on the mass.
Q4. What do we learn from analysis by Chandrasekhar?
Ans. The analysis by Chandrasekhar shows that white dwarfs of
masses successively greater than the sun’s are successively
smaller than one percent of its radius, until a mass of 1.4 solar
masses is reached, at which point the electrons do not become
degenerate and hydrostatic equilibrium cannot be achieved.
Q5. What is the internal composition of white dwarf?
Ans. The most probable internal composition of white dwarf is a
mixture of carbon and oxygen, the principal product of
hydrogen burning. Recent studies indicate that at least some
white dwarfs probably have cores in which the matter has
crystallized.
Q6. What is the difference between a star and white dwarf?

207
Ans. The electron-degenerate matter inside a white dwarf is no
longer plasma, even though stars are generally referred to as
being spheres of plasma.
Q7. What Novae? What is their period of their optical visibility?
Ans. Novae are an existing star that suddenly emits an outburst of
light. Novae remain bright for only few days or weeks and then
gradually fade. They seldom remain visible to the unaided eyes
for more than few months.
Q8. When a star can release gravitational potential energy?
Ans. Supernova is most spectacular cataclysm of the nature. In
contrast to an ordinary nova, it increases in luminosity and
paltry few thousands or at most tens of thousands of times.
Q9. What is the maximum absolute magnitude reached by
Supernova? Name some of the most famous Supernova?
Ans. At maximum light, supernova reaches absolute magnitude -14
to -18 or probably even -20. The three most famous
supernovae have been observed during last ten centuries in our
Galaxy they are (1) The Supernova of 1054 in Taurus
(described in Chinese annals) (2) Tycho’s “star” of 1572 in
constellation Cassiopeia, and (3) the supernova of 1604 in
Serpens, described by both Kepler and Galileo
Q10. What is the rate of occurrence of the Supernova? What
happens to the outflow of the energy from the Supernova?
Ans. In typical galaxy supernovae occur at the rate of one every 100
years. The outflow from supernovae and the stellar wind of
large stars play an important part in shaping the interstellar
medium.
Q11. What is the state of matter in the neutron star?
Ans. In a neutron star the matter is in a state known as neutron-
degenerate matter, with a more exotic form of degenerate
matter
Q12. What is the structure of the neutron star?
Ans. The structure of the neutron star is analogous to white dwarf
except that neutron stars are much smaller. A Neutron star of
one solar mass would have the density of 1014 to 1015 g/cm3 –
comparable to that of atomic nucleus itself, and it will have the
radius of 10 Km.
Q13. Why the study of star clusters important?
Ans. The study of star clusters is very important, because the stars
in the single cluster are at about the same distance from the

208
 earth; consequently, their luminosities, colors and so on can be
compared easily and accurately.
Q14. How we can differentiate star clusters? What are its different
types?
Ans. Cluster that contains a great many stars are said to be rich
clusters, poor clusters, on the other hand contains
comparatively few stars. They are further classified into:
The Globular Clusters those are about hundred in number in a
halo and nucleus of our Galaxy, and the Open Clusters which
appear comparatively loose and open. They contain far fewer
stars than globular clusters and show little or no strong
concentration of stars towards their own centers.
Q15What are the types of associations?
Ans. There are two kinds of associations those containing O and B
stars called O-associations and the other containing T Tauri
stars are called T- associations.
Study Questions
Q1. What is the white dwarf? When they were discovered?
Q2. What is Structure of White Dwarf?
Q3. What are Novae?
Q4. What are Supernovae? Discuss its light curve?
Q5. What is Chandrasekhar limit? Give its applications?
Q6. How you can establish the reliability of Chandrasekhar's
formula?
Q7. What is supra-limit white dwarf?
Q8. What is Neutron Star? What is the relation of its mass with
radius?
Q9. What is Black Hole? How it is formed?
Q10. What are the possible candidates for the black hole?
Q11. What are the Properties of black hole?
Q12. What is different idea about the black hole?
Q13. Write the note on:
• Schwarzschild radius
• Globular Clusters
• Open Clusters
• Associations

209
Galaxies

Unit IV

210
 Chapter 8

Edwin Powell
Hubble (November 20,
1889 – September 28,
1953) was
an American astronome
r who profoundly
changed our
understanding of the
universe by
demonstrating the
existence of galaxies
other than our own,
the Milky Way. He also
discovered that the degree of "Doppler shift"
(specifically "redshift") observed in the light
spectra from other galaxies increased
in proportion to a particular galaxy's distance
from Earth. This relationship became known
as Hubble's law, and helped established.

Galaxies
A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of
stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust,
and an important but poorly understood component tentatively
dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy derives from the Greek term for
our own galaxy, galaxias (γαλαξίας), or kyklos galaktikos, meaning
"milky circle" for its appearance in the sky. In Greek mythology, Zeus
places his son born by a mortal woman, the infant Heracles, on
Hera's breast while she is asleep so that the baby will drink her divine
milk and will thus become immortal. Hera wakes up while
breastfeeding and then realize she is nursing an unknown baby: she
pushes the baby away and a jet of her milk sprays the night sky,
producing the faint band of light known as the Milky Way. In the
astronomical literature, the capitalized word 'Galaxy' is used to refer
to our galaxy, the Milky Way, to distinguish it from the billions of other
galaxies. The term Milky Way first appeared in the English language
in a following poem by Chaucer.

211
 "See yonder, lo, the Galaxyë
Which men clepeth the Milky Wey,
For hit is whyt."
—Geoffrey Chaucer The House of Fame, c. 1380.[

8.1 Observation history

The realization that we live in a galaxy, and that there were, in fact,
many other galaxies, parallels discoveries that were made about the
Milky Way and other nebulae in the night sky.

The Greek philosopher Democritus (450–370 B.C.) proposed that the

bright band on the night sky known as the Milky Way might consist of
distant stars. Aristotle (384–322 B.C.), however, believed the Milky
Way to be caused by "the ignition of the fiery exhalation of some
stars which were large, numerous and close together" and that the
"ignition takes place in the upper part of the atmosphere, in the region
of the world which is continuous with the heavenly motions." The
philosopher Olympiodorus the Younger (fl. 540) criticized this view,
arguing that if the Milky Way were sublunary it should appear
different at different times and places on the Earth, and that it should
have parallax, which it does not. In his view, the Milky Way was
celestial. This idea would be influential later in the Islamic world.

Figure 8.1 NGC 4414, a typical spiral galaxy in the constellation

Coma Berenices, is about 17,000 parsecs in diameter and
approximately 20 million parsecs distant.

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The Arabian astronomer, Alhazen (965–1037 A.D.), made the first
attempt at observing and measuring the Milky Way's parallax, and he
thus "determined that because the Milky Way had no parallax, it was
very remote from the earth and did not belong to the atmosphere."
The Persian astronomer, Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī (973–1048),
proposed the Milky Way galaxy to be "a collection of countless
fragments of the nature of nebulous stars." IbnBajjah ("Avempace", d.
1138) proposed that the Milky Way was made up of many stars which
almost touched one another and appeared to be a continuous image
due to the effect of refraction from sublunary material. Ibn Qayyim Al-
Jawziyya (1292–1350) proposed the Milky Way galaxy to be "a
myriad of tiny stars packed together in the sphere of the fixed stars".

Actual proof of the Milky Way consisting of many stars came in 1610
when Galileo Galilei used a telescope to study the Milky Way and
discovered that it is composed of a huge number of faint stars. In
1750 Thomas Wright, in his An original theory or new hypothesis of
the Universe, speculated (correctly) that the galaxy might be a
rotating body of a huge number of stars held together by gravitational
forces, akin to the solar system but on a much larger scale. The
resulting disk of stars can be seen as a band on the sky from our
perspective inside the disk. In a treatise in 1755, Immanuel Kant
elaborated on Wright's idea about the structure of the Milky Way and
introduced the term ”Island Universe” for these distant nebulae.

Figure 8.2 Galactic Center of Milky Way and a meteor

A very significant contribution to our knowledge of the galaxies was

provides by the work of William Herschel and his only son, John
(1792-1871). William surveyed the northern sky by scanning it
visually with the world’s first large reflecting telescope. Elder Herschel
himself discovered thousands of nebulae (plural of nebula) that
literally means “clouds”. Faint star clusters glowing gas clouds, dust
clouds reflecting starlight, and galaxies all appear as joint unresolved

213
luminous patches when viewed visually with the telescopes of only
moderate size, Since the true nature of these objects were not known
to early observers , all of them were called nebulae. Today we usually
reserve the word “nebula” for the true gas or dust clouds, but some
astronomers still refer to galaxies as nebulae or extragalactic nebulae
and regarded them as galaxies like Milky Way system; he was known
to remark once that he had discovered more than 1500 universes

William Herschel constructed his catalog of deep sky objects, he

used the name spiral nebula for certain objects such as M31. These
would later be recognized as immense conglomerations of stars,
when the true distance to these objects began to be appreciated, and
they would be termed island universes. However, the word Universe
was understood to mean the entirety of existence, so this expression
fell into disuse and the objects instead became known as galaxies

The first attempt to describe the shape of the Milky Way and the
position of the Sun in it was carried out by William Herschel in 1785
by carefully counting the number of stars in different regions of the
sky. He produced a diagram of the shape of the galaxy with the solar
system close to the center. Using a refined approach, Kapteyn in
1920 arrived at the picture of a small (diameter about 15 kiloparsecs)
ellipsoid galaxy with the Sun close to the center. A different method
by Harlow Shapley based on the cataloguing of globular clusters led
to a radically different picture: a flat disk with diameter approximately
70 kiloparsecs and the Sun far from the center. Both analyses failed
to take into account the absorption of light by interstellar dust present
in the galactic plane, but after Robert Julius Trumpler quantified this
effect in 1930 by studying open clusters, the present picture of our
galaxy, the Milky Way, emerged.

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Figure 8.3 The shape of the Milky Way as deduced from star counts
by William Herschel in 1785; the solar system was assumed to be
near the center.

Distinction from nebulae

In the 10th century, the Persian astronomer, Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi
(known in the West as Azophi), made the earliest recorded
observation of the Andromeda Galaxy, describing it as a "small
cloud". Al-Sufi also identified the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is
visible from Yemen, though not from Isfahan; it was not seen by
Europeans until Magellan's voyage in the 16th century. These were
the first galaxies other than the Milky Way to be observed from Earth.
Al-Sufi published his findings in his Book of Fixed Stars in 964.

Figure 8.4 Sketch of the Whirlpool Galaxy by Lord Rosse in 1845

In 1054, the creation of the Crab Nebula resulting from the SN 1054
supernova was observed by Chinese, Japanese and Arab/Persian
astronomers. The Crab Nebula itself was observed centuries later by
John Bevis in 1731, followed by Charles Messier in 1758 and then by
the Earl of Rosse in the 1840s.

Toward the end of the 18th century, Charles Messier compiled a

catalog containing the 109 brightest nebulae (celestial objects with a
nebulous appearance), later followed by a larger catalog of 5,000
nebulae assembled by William Herschel. In 1845, Lord Rosse
constructed a new telescope and was able to distinguish between

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elliptical and spiral nebulae. He also managed to make out individual
point sources in some of these nebulae, lending credence to Kant's
earlier conjecture. In 1917, Heber Curtis had observed a nova S
Andromeda within the "Great Andromeda Nebula" (Messier object
M31). Searching the photographic record, he found 11 more novae.
Curtis noticed that these novae were, on average, 10 magnitudes
fainter than those that occurred within our galaxy. As a result he was
able to come up with a distance estimate of 150,000 parsecs. He
became a proponent of the so-called "island universes" hypothesis,
which holds that spiral nebulae are actually independent galaxies.

Typical galaxies range from dwarfs with as few as ten million (107)
stars up to giants with one trillion (1012) stars, all orbiting the galaxy's
center of mass. Galaxies can also contain many multiple star
systems, star clusters, and various interstellar clouds. The Sun is one
of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy; the Solar System includes the
Earth and all the other objects that orbit the Sun.

Figure 8.5 Photograph of the "Great Andromeda Nebula" from 1899,

later identified as the Andromeda Galaxy

In 1920 the so-called Great Debate took place between Harlow

Shapley and Heber Curtis, concerning the nature of the Milky Way,
spiral nebulae, and the dimensions of the Universe. To support his
claim that the Great Andromeda Nebula was an external galaxy,
Curtis noted the appearance of dark lanes resembling the dust clouds
in the Milky Way, as well as the significant Doppler shift.

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The matter was conclusively settled in the early 1920s. In 1922,
astronomer Ernst Öpik gave a distance determination which
supported the theory that the Andromeda Nebula is indeed a distant
extra-galactic object. Using the new 100 inch Mt. Wilson telescope,
Edwin Hubble was able to resolve the outer parts of some spiral
nebulae as collections of individual stars and identified some Cepheid
variables, thus allowing him to estimate the distance to the nebulae:
they were far too distant to be part of the Milky Way.

8.3 Types of Galaxies

Galaxies differ a great deal among themselves but majority fall
into two general classes; ellipticals and spirals; a minority is classed
as irregular

1. Elliptical galaxy

The elliptical galaxies are spherical ellipsoidal system that is

thought to consist almost entirely of old stars; they contain no
trace of spiral arms. They are far more numerous than spirals.
The elliptical galaxies resemble the nucleus and halo
components of spiral galaxies. Although dust and conspicuous
emission nebulae are not easily observed in elliptical galaxies
some of them show evidence of sparse interstellar gas in their
spectra. I the large nearby ones, many globular clusters can be
identified. These galaxies show various degree of flattening,
ranging from system that are approximately spherical to those
that approach the flatness of spirals (Figure 8.6). The
distribution of light in a typical elliptical galaxy shows that while
it has many stars concentrated toward its center, a sparse
scattering of stars extends for very great distances and merges
imperceptibly into the void of intergalactic space. It is for this
reason it is nearly impossible to define total size of an elliptical
galaxy. The elliptical galaxies are not disk shaped this very fact
show that they are not rotating rapidly. It is hypothesized that
they are systems formed from pregalaxian material that had
little angular momentum per unit mass- that is, their original
material has low net rotation consequently, as such a cloud of
primeval material contracted it did not flatten into a disk, and
the density of material was high enough that it completely

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condensed into stars. Elliptical galaxies have a much greater
range in size, mass and luminosity than do the spirals. The rare
giant elliptical for example M87 (Figure 8.7) are more luminous
than any known spirals, the brightest elliptical in some rich
clusters have absolute magnitude that are brighter than -23 that
is more than 1012 times the luminosity of the sun (for example,
NGC 4886, in coma cluster of galaxies). The mass to light ratio
for giant ellipticals is between 20 and 100. Recent Studies by D
Jenner shows that some of these galaxies have masses of
about 1023 times that of the sun. The diameter of these large
galaxies are difficult to define, they extend over at least several
hundred thousand light years. These galaxies range from giants
to dwarfs. An example is Leo II systems (Figure 8.8) in which
there are few bright stars in this galaxy and even its central
region is transparent. The total numbers of stars are at least
several millions. The absolute magnitude of Leo II system is –
10, its luminosity is about one million times that of the sun. It is
so near to us (about 750,000 L.Y.) that its diameter (abut 500
L.Y.) as limited by tidal force exerted on it by our Galaxy.
Between Giant and dwarf elliptical galaxies are systems like M
32 and NGC 205. Many elliptical galaxies are believed to form
due to the interaction of galaxies, resulting in a collision and
merger. They can grow to enormous sizes (compared to spiral
galaxies, for example), and giant elliptical galaxies are often
found near the core of large galaxy clusters. Starburst galaxies
are the result of such a galactic collision that can result in the
formation of an elliptical galaxy.

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 Figure 8.6 Types of elliptical galaxies

Figure 8.7 NGC 4486 (M87) giant elliptical galaxy in Virgo. Note the
many globular clusters in galaxy.

Figure 8.8 Leo Ii, a dwarf elliptical galaxy

2. Spiral Galaxies

A spiral galaxy consists of a nucleus, a disk, a halo and the

spiral arm. Our own Galaxy and M31 are typical example of
spiral galaxies. The interstellar material is usually observed in
the arm of spiral galaxies. Bright emission nebulae are present,

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and the absorption of light by dust is also apparent especially in
these systems turn almost edge on to our line of sight (Figure
8.9). The spiral arm contains the young stars that include
luminous supergiants. These bright stars and the emission
nebulae make the arm of spirals stand out like the arm of a
fourth- of -July pinwheel. The individual inter-arm stars are
usually not observable at all, although their collective light may
be appreciable as uniform glow. Open star clusters can be seen
in the arms nearer spirals and globular clusters are often visible
in their halos in M31, for example, more than 200 globular
clusters have been identified. Spiral galaxies contain both
young and old stars. Some of the famous spirals are as shown
M51 and M33 (Figure 8.10 & 8.11) are seen near face on,
NGC4565 (Figure 8.9) is nearly edge on. Note the absorbing
line of interstellar dust in NGC 5141(M51) - a thin slab in the
central plane of disk which is silhouetted against the nucleus,
M81 (Figure 8.12), like M31 (Figure 8.13) is viewed obliquely.

Figure 8.9 NGC 4565 a spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices seen

edge on.

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Figure 8.10 The Sc galaxy NGC 5194 (M51) and its irregular
companion NGC 5195.

Figure 8.11 NGC 598 (M33) a spiral galaxy in Triangulum

Figure 8.12 NGC 3031 (M81) spiral galaxy in Ursa Major

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Figure 8.13 The Andromeda Galaxy, M31,

A large minority of spiral galaxies display “bars” running through

nuclei; the spiral arms of such a system usually begin from end
of the bar, rather than winding out directly from the nucleus.
These are called “barred spirals”. A famous example is NGC
1300 (Figure 8.14). The bar in the barred spirals is in a sense a
straight portion of spiral arm and sometimes contains
interstellar matter and young stars.

Figure 8.14 NGC 1300, barred spiral galaxy in Eridanus.

Studies of the rotation of some barred spirals show that their

inner parts are rotating approximately as solid wheels. In the
absence of differential shearing rotation the straight bar even
persist rather than winding up; the detailed structures and
dynamics of barred spirals are not yet thoroughly understood.
In both normal and barred spirals we observe a gradual
transition of morphological types. At one extreme the nucleus is

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 large and luminous, the arms are small and tightly coiled and
bright emission nebulae and supergiants stars are
inconspicuous. At the other extreme are spirals in which nuclei
are small- almost lacking – and the arms are loosely wound, or
even wide open. In these later galaxies, there is high degree of
resolution of arms into the luminous stars, star clusters, and
emission nebulae. Our Galaxy and M31 are both intermediate
between these two extremes. Photographs of these spiral
galaxies illustrating their transition of types are shown in (Figure
8.15 & Figure 8.16). All spirals and barred spirals rotate in
same sense that their arm trail. The diameter of spiral galaxies
range from about 20,000 to 100,000 L.Y, the disk halos extends
to far greater diameters. Their masses are estimated to range
from 109 to 1012 times the mass of the sun. Mass to light ratio of
the inner part of the spiral galaxies is between 1 and 20. The
absolute magnitude of most spirals falls in the range -16 to -21.

3. Barred spiral galaxy

Figure 8.15 Types of Spiral galaxies

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 Figure 8.16 Types of barred spirals

Figure 8.17 The Sombrero Galaxy, an example of an unbarred spiral

galaxy.

Spiral galaxies consist of a rotating disk of stars and interstellar

medium, along with a central bulge of generally older stars.
Extending outward from the bulge are relatively bright arms. In
the Hubble classification scheme, spiral galaxies are listed as
type S, followed by a letter (a, b, or c) that indicates the degree
of tightness of the spiral arms and the size of the central bulge.
An Sa galaxy has tightly wound, poorly defined arms and
possesses a relatively large core region. At the other extreme,

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 a Sc galaxy has open, well-defined arms and a small core
region.

In spiral galaxies, the spiral arms do have the shape of

approximate logarithmic spirals, a pattern that can be
theoretically shown to result from a disturbance in a uniformly
rotating mass of stars. Like the stars, the spiral arms also rotate
around the center, but they do so with constant angular
velocity. That means that stars pass in and out of spiral arms,
with stars near the galactic core orbiting faster than the arms
are moving while stars near the outer parts of the galaxy
typically orbit more slowly than the arms. The spiral arms are
thought to be areas of high density matter, or "density waves".
As stars move through an arm, the space velocity of each
stellar system is modified by the gravitational force of the higher
density. (The velocity returns to normal after the stars depart on
the other side of the arm.) This effect is akin to a "wave" of
slowdowns moving along a highway full of moving cars. The
arms are visible because the high density facilitates star
formation, and therefore they harbor many bright and young
stars.

A majority of spiral galaxies have a linear, bar-shaped band of

stars that extends outward to either side of the core, and then
merges into the spiral arm structure. In the Hubble classification
scheme, these are designated by an SB, followed by a lower-
case letter (a, b or c) that indicates the form of the spiral arms
(in the same manner as the categorization of normal spiral
galaxies). Bars are thought to be temporary structures that can
occur as a result of a density wave radiating outward from the
core, or else due to a tidal interaction with another galaxy.
Many barred spiral galaxies are active, possibly as a result of
gas being channeled into the core along the arms. Our own
galaxy is a large disk-shaped barred-spiral galaxy about 30
kiloparsecs in diameter and a kiloparsec in thickness. It
contains about two hundred billion (2×1011) stars and has a total
mass of about six hundred billion (6×1011) times the mass of the
Sun.

4. Irregular Galaxies

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A few percent of the brightest appearing galaxies in the
northern sky are the irregular galaxies; these galaxies so no
trace of circular or rotational symmetry but have an irregular or
chaotic appearance. They are divided into two groups Irr I
galaxies, consist of the objects showing high resolution into O
and B stars and emission nebulae. The best known examples
are the large and small clouds of Magellan (Figure 8.18), our
nearest galaxian neighbor. There are many star clusters in
these galaxies along with variable stars, supergiants and
gaseous nebulae. They contain both old and young stars. The
lack of conspicuous dust clouds is common in this first kind of
irregular galaxy.

The second irregular type IrrII galaxies resemble IrrI type objects
in their lack of symmetry. These objects display no resolution
into stars or clusters, but are completely amorphous in texture.
Their spectra are continuous with absorption lines and
resemble the spectra of type A5 stars, showing that the stars in
these galaxies are not luminous enough to be resolved. The I rrII
galaxies generally also show conspicuous dark lines of
absorbing interstellar dust examples are M82 (Figure 8.19) and
the companion to the spiral galaxy M51 (Figure 8.20).

Figure 8.18 Large Cloud of Magellian.

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Figure 8.19 NGC 3034 (M82) an irregular II galaxy in Ursa Major.

Figure 8.20 The Sc galaxy NGC 5194 (M51) and its irregular
companion NGC 5195

8.4 Classification of galaxies

There have been many classification schemes proposed for galaxies.

Among them, one of the earliest, the simplest. And the most used
scheme was invented by Hubble during his studies of galaxies in
1920s It consisted of three principal classification sequences
elliptical, spiral and barred spirals while the irregular galaxies (IrrI and
IrrII) forms a fourth class of object in this classification

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Figure 8.21 Types of galaxies according to the Hubble classification
scheme. An E indicates a type of elliptical galaxy; an S is a spiral;
and SB is a barred-spiral galaxy

The ellipticals are classified according to their degree of flattening or

ellipticity. Hubble denoted the spherical galaxies by E0 and most
highly flattened by E7. The classes E1, E2, -------- E6 are used for
galaxies of intermediate ellipticity with each of the number 0 to 7 that
describes the flattening of the galaxies is defined in the terms of the
major and minor axes of the images of the galaxies, a & b
respectively by 10(a-b)/a. Hubble classification of the elliptical
galaxies are based on appearance of their images and not upon their
true shapes. An E7 galaxy for example, must really be a relatively flat
elliptical galaxy seen nearly edge on, but an E0 galaxy could be one
of any degree of ellipticity seen face on. A statistical analysis of the
number of galaxies of various apparent flattening indicates that if the
elliptical galaxies are oblate(like pumpkin) and not prolate (like a
football) then all degree of real flattening are about equally
represented.

Hubble classified the normal spirals as S and the barred spirals as

SB. Lower case letters a, b and c are added to denote the extend of
nucleus and the tightness through which the spiral arms are called
For example, Sa and SBa galaxies are spirals and barred spirals in
which the nuclei are large and arms tightly wound. Sc and SBc are
the spirals of opposite extreme. Our Galaxy and M31 are classed as
Sb. In rich clusters, galaxies are observed which have the disk shape
of spiral but no trace of spiral arm. Hubble classified these galaxies of
the type intermediate between spirals and ellipticals and named them
S0. Hubble classification scheme for all but irregular galaxies is

228
illustrated in Figure 8.21 in which the morphological form are
sketched and labeled and with the three principal sequences joined at
S0.

The Hubble classification scheme has been modified and expanded

since his time to give a more complete description of galaxies. There
are also some of the unusual galaxies as defined below.

cD GALAXIES The cD galaxies are the supergiant elliptical

galaxies usually E0 or E1 that are frequently found in (or near) the
center of the cluster of galaxies. They are the largest galaxies known
and tend to outshine the next brightest cluster galaxies by as much
as a factor of 2. They are also a strong radio source.

COMPACT GALAXIES The class of compact galaxies consist of

large number of galaxies of relatively small size and high surface
brightness; they are usually elliptical or irregular.

N GALAXIES It is a galaxy with a very bright, nearly stellar

appearing nucleus. The rest of galaxy appears as a star of joint,
extended haze. Today N galaxies are regarded as belonging to a
class of galaxies with active nuclei.

SEYFERT GALAXIES Almost a dozen of galaxies of this class

were described by Seyfert, from whom the class derived its name. A
Seyfert galaxy is a spiral that has a small bright region in its nucleus
whose spectrum shows broad bright emission lines arising from the
gases there. They are sometimes strong radio emitters and may be
source of very high cosmic rays.

8.5 Other morphologies

Figure 8.22 Hoag's Object, an example of a ring galaxy.

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Peculiar galaxies are galactic formations that develop unusual
properties due to tidal interactions with other galaxies. An example of
this is the ring galaxy, which possesses a ring-like structure of stars
and interstellar medium surrounding a bare core. A ring galaxy is
thought to occur when a smaller galaxy passes through the core of a
spiral galaxy. Such an event may have affected the Andromeda
Galaxy, as it displays a multi-ring-like structure when viewed in
infrared radiation. A lenticular galaxy is an intermediate form that
has properties of both elliptical and spiral galaxies. These are
categorized as Hubble type S0, and they possess ill-defined spiral
arms with an elliptical halo of stars. (Barred lenticular galaxies receive
Hubble classification SB0.)

Figure 8.23 NGC 5866, an example of a lenticular galaxy..

Dwarf galaxy
Despite the prominence of large elliptical and spiral galaxies, most
galaxies in the universe appear to be dwarf galaxies. These tiny
galaxies are about one hundredth the size of the Milky Way,
containing only a few billion stars. Ultra-compact dwarf galaxies have
recently been discovered that are only 100 parsecs across. Many
dwarf galaxies may orbit a single larger galaxy; the Milky Way has at
least a dozen such satellites, with an estimated 300–500 yet to be
discovered. Dwarf galaxies may also be classified as elliptical, spiral,
or irregular. Since small dwarf ellipticals bear little resemblance to
large ellipticals, they are often called dwarf spheroidal galaxies
instead. A study of 27 Milky Way neighbors found that dwarf galaxies

230
were all approximately 10 million solar masses, regardless of whether
they have thousands or millions of stars. This has led to the
suggestion that galaxies are largely formed by dark matter, and that
the minimum size may indicate a form of warm dark matter incapable
of gravitational coalescence on a smaller scale.

Interacting galaxy
The average separation between galaxies within a cluster is a little
over an order of magnitude larger than their diameter. Hence
interactions between these galaxies are relatively frequent, and play
an important role in their evolution. Near misses between galaxies
result in warping distortions due to tidal interactions, and may cause
some exchange of gas and dust.

Figure 8.24 The Antennae Galaxies are undergoing a collision that

will result in their eventual merger.

Collisions occur when two galaxies pass directly through each other
and have sufficient relative momentum not to merge. The stars within
these interacting galaxies will typically pass straight through without
colliding. However, the gas and dust within the two forms will interact.
This can trigger bursts of star formation as the interstellar medium
becomes disrupted and compressed. A collision can severely distort
the shape of one or both galaxies, forming bars, rings or tail-like
structures. At the extreme of interactions are galactic mergers. In this

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case the relative momentum of the two galaxies is insufficient to allow
the galaxies to pass through each other. Instead, they gradually
merge together to form a single, larger galaxy. Mergers can result in
significant changes to morphology, as compared to the original
galaxies. In the case where one of the galaxies is much more
massive, however, the result is known as cannibalism. In this case
the larger galaxy will remain relatively undisturbed by the merger,
while the smaller galaxy is torn apart. The Milky Way galaxy is
currently in the process of cannibalizing the Sagittarius Dwarf
Elliptical Galaxy and the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy.

Starburst galaxy

Figure 8.25 M82, the archetype starburst galaxy, has experienced a

10-fold increase in star formation rate as compared to a "normal"
galaxy.

Stars are created within galaxies from a reserve of cold gas that
forms into giant molecular clouds. Some galaxies have been
observed to form stars at an exceptional rate, known as a starburst.
Should they continue to do so, however, they would consume their
reserve of gas in a time frame lower than the lifespan of the galaxy.
Hence starburst activity usually lasts for only about ten million years,
a relatively brief period in the history of a galaxy. Starburst galaxies
were more common during the early history of the universe, and, at
present, still contribute an estimated 15% to the total star production
rate. Starburst galaxies are characterized by dusty concentrations of
gas and the appearance of newly formed stars, including massive
stars that ionize the surrounding clouds to create H II regions. These

232
massive stars also produce supernova explosions, resulting in
expanding remnants that interact powerfully with the surrounding gas.
These outbursts trigger a chain reaction of star building that spreads
throughout the gaseous region. Only when the available gas is nearly
consumed or dispersed does the starburst activity come to an end.
Starbursts are often associated with merging or interacting galaxies.
The prototype example of such a starburst-forming interaction is M82,
which experienced a close encounter with the larger M81. Irregular
galaxies often exhibit spaced knots of starburst activity.

8.6 Active galactic nucleus

A portion of the galaxies we can observe are classified as active.
That is, a significant portion of the total energy output from the galaxy
is emitted by a source other than the stars, dust and interstellar
medium. The standard model for an active galactic nucleus is based
upon an accretion disc that forms around a supermassive black hole
(SMBH) at the core region. The radiation from an active galactic
nucleus results from the gravitational energy of matter as it falls
toward the black hole from the disc. In about 10% of these objects, a
diametrically opposed pair of energetic jets ejects particles from the
core at velocities close to the speed of light. The mechanism for
producing these jets is still not well understood.

Figure 8.26 A jet of particles is being emitted from the core of the
elliptical radio galaxy M87.

Active galaxies that emit high-energy radiation in the form of x-rays

are classified as Seyfert galaxies or quasars, depending on the

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luminosity. Blazars are believed to be an active galaxy with a
relativistic jet that is pointed in the direction of the Earth. A radio
galaxy emits radio frequencies from relativistic jets. A unified model of
these types of active galaxies explains their differences based on the
viewing angle of the observer. Possibly related to active galactic
nuclei (as well as starburst regions) are low-ionization nuclear
emission-line regions (LINERs). The emission from LINER-type
galaxies is dominated by weakly ionized elements. Approximately
one-third of nearby galaxies are classified as containing LINER
nuclei.

Our Galaxy has a nucleus that displays many properties similar to

that of a quasar, like synchrotron radiations at all wavelengths,
infrared radiation and gas clouds moving outward. These
phenomenons are on very small scale in our Galaxy when compared
with quasars. However, there are galaxies where nuclear activity
seems to be intermediate and they may provide a link between
normal galaxies and quasars. In 1944, Carl Seyfert described about
dozen spiral galaxies with very unusual spectra. The spectrum of the
light from the nucleus of a Seyfert galaxy have a strong broad
emission lines, which indicates the presence of very hot gas in a
small central region . The broad width of the lines shows that the gas
is rapidly expanding with the speeds of upto thousands of Km/s.
Some of the Seyfert galaxies are also strong radio sources and all
have emission of infrared emission from their nuclei. The visual
luminosities of these galaxies are usually about normal for spirals, but
when account is taken of the infrared energy they emit, their total
luminosities are found to be 100 or so times normal. Some are known
X-ray source as well.

The unusual radiations from these galaxies sometimes come from

several different regions of its nuclei. Some of them like NGC 4151
(Figure 8.27) show the variation in brightness of their nuclei over
period of only few months, which is the evidence that the radiation
come from small regions at most few light months across. It is
possible that 1 or 2 percent of all spiral galaxies have active nuclei.

8.7 Violent Activities in Galaxies

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Besides Seyfert galaxies the other galaxies other galaxies show
evidence of explosive ejection of matter from the nucleus of M82
(Figure 8.28) with a complex filament surrounding it. The spectra of
the filament show Doppler shift suggesting that expansion of upto
1000 Km/s. If they were ejected from the nucleus of M82, they would
have their present location in about 2 x 106 years, similar interesting
galaxy is M87. It is a strong radio source; short exposures of it show
a luminous jet directed away from its nucleus and a faint hint of
second radial jet in opposite direction. Both the nucleus and brighter
jet emit synchrotron radiation, indicating magnetic fields and a source
of relativistic electrons. It is also a strong source of x-rays implying a
hot gas throughout the entire galaxy and out into the halo. The
observation suggests that a halo contains an enormous amount of
dark mass perhaps more than 1019 solar mass. Finally, the optical
spectrum of M87 show very broad lines indicating very high velocities
of stars there, as though they were being accelerated by a very
dense, massive core. Between quasars and galaxies like M82 and
M87 or Seyfert galaxies there is another class called N-galaxies
having small nuclei that are very bright compared with the main part
of these galaxies appear as stellar images superposed on joint wispy
or nebulous backgrounds. Their bright nuclei indicate that enormous
amount of energy being emitted from those regions.

Figure 8.27 Seyfert galaxy NGC 41251

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 Figure 8.28 M82

8.8 Power House of Active Galactic Nuclei

The source of energy of Active Galactic Nuclei is required to
have some of the following properties.

• It must provide power upto 1047 ergs/s equivalent to nearly 100

million million times the luminosity of the sun.
• It must in some cases account for the variation in the total
radiated power by as much as a factor of two or more and over
time scales of years or months or in some cased only days.
• In the objects that vary in luminosity, the powerhouse must be
compact enough that light can travel across it in a time less
than that of its variations.
• It must be able to eject relativistic electrons in directed jets and
in sufficient numbers to provide synchrotron radiation as
intense as the total visible energy emitted by bright galaxy.
• It must possess powerful magnetism and the energy in the
magnetic fields must be comparable to the total nuclear energy
available in all of the stars in a large galaxy.
• At least in M87 and probably in many galaxies it must be able
to accelerate the stars to high velocities in central regions of the
galaxy in which they reside.
• In some quasars it must be able to eject clouds of matter
containing relativistic electrons every year or more often.

Perhaps no one kind of power plant accounts for all kind of active
galactic nuclei, but what they all have in common points to a small
compact source of enormous energy, evidently buried in the nucleus

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of the galaxy. Many models have been suggested, including stellar
collisions in dense galactic cores, superstars, extraordinary powerful
supernovae, and others. But most of the theoreticians lean to the
theory that all or most active galactic nuclei derives their energy from
the release of potential energy in the gravitational collapse of millions
or thousands of millions of solar masses. This matter, falling together
and accelerating as it goes so, would reach great speeds and the
heat to millions of Kelvin. Ultimately, it is believed such collapsing
matter must increase the density until it has fallen through its event
horizon into a black hole. New matter, falling towards black hole,
release new energy and probably forms accretion disk. Perhaps the
ejection of jets of matter in radio galaxies and quasars is large scale
version of SS433. These ideas are of course speculative, we know
we have small compact source of enormous energy, and it seems
reasonable to suppose it to be associated with something like black
hole, but no one model has achieved anything close to universal
acceptance

8.9 Galaxy formation and evolution

The study of galactic formation and evolution attempts to answer
questions regarding how galaxies formed and their evolutionary path
over the history of the universe. Some theories in this field have now
become widely accepted, but it is still an active area in astrophysics.

Figure 8.29 Formation of galaxies

Formation

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Current cosmological models of the early Universe are based on the
Big Bang theory. About 300,000 years after this event, atoms of
hydrogen and helium began to form, in an event called
recombination. Nearly all the hydrogen was neutral (non-ionized) and
readily absorbed light, and no stars had yet formed. As a result this
period has been called the "Dark Ages". It was from density
fluctuations (or anisotropic irregularities) in this primordial matter that
larger structures began to appear. As a result, masses of baryonic
matter started to condense within cold dark matter halos. These
primordial structures would eventually become the galaxies we see
today.

Evidence for the early appearance of galaxies was found in 2006,

when it was discovered that the galaxy IOK-1 has an unusually high
redshift of 6.96, corresponding to just 750 million years after the Big
Bang and making it the most distant and primordial galaxy yet seen.
While some scientists have claimed other objects (such as Abell 1835
IR1916) have higher redshifts (and therefore are seen in an earlier
stage of the Universe's evolution), IOK-1's age and composition have
been more reliably established. The existence of such early
protogalaxies suggests that they must have grown in the so-called
"Dark Ages”. The detailed process by which such early galaxy
formation occurred is a major open question in astronomy. Theories
could be divided into two categories: top-down (or Outside – In) and
bottom-up (or Inside – Out). In top-down theories protogalaxies are
form in a large-scale simultaneous collapse lasting about one
hundred million years. In bottom-up theories small structures such as
globular clusters form first, and then a number of such bodies accrete
to form a larger galaxy. Modern theories must be modified to account
for the probable presence of large dark matter halos.

Once protogalaxies began to form and contract, the first halo stars
(called Population III stars) appeared within them. These were
composed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium, and may have
been massive. If so, these huge stars would have quickly consumed
their supply of fuel and became supernovae, releasing heavy
elements into the interstellar medium. This first generation of stars re-
ionized the surrounding neutral hydrogen, creating expanding
bubbles of space through which light could readily travel.

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2, Evolution
Within a billion years of a galaxy's formation, key structures begin to
appear. Globular clusters, the central supermassive black hole,
and a galactic bulge of metal-poor Population II stars form. The
creation of a supermassive black hole appears to play a key
role in actively regulating the growth of galaxies by limiting the
total amount of additional matter added. During this early
epoch, galaxies undergo a major burst of star formation. During
the following two billion years, the accumulated matter settles
into a galactic disc. A galaxy will continue to absorb infalling
material from high velocity clouds and dwarf galaxies
throughout its life. This matter is mostly hydrogen and helium.
The cycle of stellar birth and death slowly increases the
abundance of heavy elements, eventually allowing the
formation of planets.

Figure 8.30 I Zwicky 18 (lower left) resemble a newly formed galaxy.

The evolution of galaxies can be significantly affected by interactions

and collisions. Mergers of galaxies were common during the early
epoch, and the majority of galaxies were peculiar in morphology.
Given the distances between the stars, the great majority of stellar
systems in colliding galaxies will be unaffected. However,
gravitational stripping of the interstellar gas and dust that makes up
the spiral arms produces a long train of stars known as tidal tails.

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Examples of these formations can be seen in NGC 4676 or the
Antennae Galaxies. As an example of such an interaction, the Milky
Way galaxy and the nearby Andromeda Galaxy are moving toward
each other at about 130 km /s and— depending upon the lateral
movements—the two may collide in about five to six billion years.
Although the Milky Way has never collided with a galaxy as large as
Andromeda before, evidence of past collisions of the Milky Way with
smaller dwarf galaxies is increasing. Such large-scale interactions are
rare. As time passes, mergers of two systems of equal size become
less common. Most bright galaxies have remained fundamentally
unchanged for the last few billion years, and the net rate of star
formation probably also peaked approximately ten billion years ago.

Future trends
At present, most star formation occurs in smaller galaxies where cool
gas is not so depleted. Spiral galaxies, like the Milky Way, only
produce new generations of stars as long as they have dense
molecular clouds of interstellar hydrogen in their spiral arms. Elliptical
galaxies are already largely devoid of this gas, and so form no new
stars. The supply of star-forming material is finite; once stars have
converted the available supply of hydrogen into heavier elements,
new star formation will come to an end. The current era of star
formation is expected to continue for up to one hundred billion years,
and then the "stellar age" will wind down after about ten trillion to one
hundred trillion years (1013–1014 years), as the smallest, longest-lived
stars in our astrosphere, tiny red dwarfs, begin to fade. At the end of
the stellar age, galaxies will be composed of compact objects: brown
dwarfs, white dwarfs that are cooling or cold ("black dwarfs"), neutron
stars, and black holes. Eventually, as a result of gravitational
relaxation, all stars will either fall into central supermassive black
holes or be flung into intergalactic space as a result of collisions.

8.10 Large-scale structure of the cosmos and Groups

and clusters of galaxies

There are probably more than 100 billion (1011) galaxies in the
observable universe. Most galaxies are 1,000 to 100,000 parsecs in
diameter and are usually separated by distances on the order of
millions of parsecs (or megaparsecs). Intergalactic space (the space

240
between galaxies) is filled with a tenuous gas of an average density
less than one atom per cubic meter. The majority of galaxies are
organized into a hierarchy of associations called clusters, which, in
turn, can form larger groups called superclusters. These larger
structures are generally arranged into sheets and filaments, which
surround immense voids in the universe,

Deep sky surveys show that galaxies are often found in relatively
close association with other galaxies. Solitary galaxies that have not
significantly interacted with another galaxy of comparable mass
during the past billion years are relatively scarce. Only about 5% of
the galaxies surveyed have been found to be truly isolated; however,
these isolated formations may have interacted and even merged with
other galaxies in the past, and may still be orbited by smaller, satellite
galaxies. Isolated galaxies can produce stars at a higher rate than
normal, as their gas is not being stripped by other, nearby galaxies.
On the largest scale, the universe is continually expanding, resulting
in an average increase in the separation between individual galaxies
(see Hubble's law). Associations of galaxies can overcome this
expansion on a local scale through their mutual gravitational
attraction. These associations formed early in the universe, as
clumps of dark matter pulled their respective galaxies together.
Nearby groups later merged to form larger-scale clusters. This on-
going merger process (as well as an influx of infalling gas) heats the
inter-galactic gas within a cluster to very high temperatures, reaching
30–100 million K. About 70–80% of the mass in a cluster is in the
form of dark matter, with 10–30% consisting of this heated gas and
the remaining few percent of the matter in the form of galaxies.

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Figure 8.31 Seyfert's Sextet is an example of a compact galaxy
group.

Most galaxies in the universe are gravitationally bound to a number of

other galaxies. These form a fractal-like hierarchy of clustered
structures, with the smallest such associations being termed groups.
A group of galaxies is the most common type of galactic cluster, and
these formations contain a majority of the galaxies (as well as most of
the baryonic mass) in the universe. To remain gravitationally bound to
such a group, each member galaxy must have a sufficiently low
velocity to prevent it from escaping. If there is insufficient kinetic
energy, however, the group may evolve into a smaller number of
galaxies through mergers. Larger structures containing many
thousands of galaxies packed into an area a few megaparsecs
across are called clusters. Clusters of galaxies are often dominated
by a single giant elliptical galaxy, known as the brightest cluster
galaxy, which, over time, tidally destroys its satellite galaxies and
adds their mass to its own. Superclusters contain tens of thousands
of galaxies, which are found in clusters, groups and sometimes
individually. At the supercluster scale, galaxies are arranged into
sheets and filaments surrounding vast empty voids. Above this scale,
the universe appears to be isotropic and homogeneous. The Milky
Way galaxy is a member of an association named the Local Group, a
relatively small group of galaxies that has a diameter of
approximately one megaparsec. The Milky Way and the Andromeda
Galaxy are the two brightest galaxies within the group; many of the
other member galaxies are dwarf companions of these two galaxies.
The Local Group itself is a part of a cloud-like structure within the

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Virgo Supercluster, a large, extended structure of groups and clusters
of galaxies centered on the Virgo Cluster.

8.11 Modern research

Figure 8.32 Rotation curve of a typical spiral galaxy: predicted (A)

and observed (B). The distance is from the galactic core.

In 1944 Hendrik van de Hulst predicted microwave radiation at a

wavelength of 21 cm resulting from interstellar atomic hydrogen gas;
this radiation was observed in 1951. The radiation allowed for much
improved study of the Milky Way Galaxy, since it is not affected by
dust absorption and its Doppler shift can be used to map the motion
of the gas in the Galaxy. These observations led to the postulation of
a rotating bar structure in the center of the Galaxy. With improved
radio telescopes, hydrogen gas could also be traced in other
galaxies.

In the 1970s it was discovered in Vera Rubin's study of the rotation

speed of gas in galaxies that the total visible mass (from the stars
and gas) does not properly account for the speed of the rotating gas.
This galaxy rotation problem is thought to be explained by the
presence of large quantities of unseen dark matter. Beginning in the
1990s, the Hubble Space Telescope yielded improved observations.
Among other things, it established that the missing dark matter in our
galaxy cannot solely consist of inherently faint and small stars. The
Hubble Deep Field, an extremely long exposure of a relatively empty
part of the sky, provided evidence that there are about 125 billion
(1.25×1011) galaxies in the universe. Improved technology in
detecting the spectra invisible to humans (radio telescopes, infrared

243
cameras, and x-ray telescopes) allow detection of other galaxies that
are not detected by Hubble. Particularly, galaxy surveys in the zone
of avoidance (the region of the sky blocked by the Milky Way) have
revealed a number of new galaxies.

8.12 Multi-wavelength observation

After galaxies external to the Milky Way were found to exist, initial
observations were made mostly using visible light. The peak radiation
of most stars lies here, so the observation of the stars that form
galaxies has been a major component of optical astronomy. It is also
a favorable portion of the spectrum for observing ionized H II regions,
and for examining the distribution of dusty arms.

The dust present in the interstellar medium is opaque to visual light. It

is more transparent to far-infrared, which can be used to observe the
interior regions of giant molecular clouds and galactic cores in great
detail. Infrared is also used to observe distant, red-shifted galaxies
that were formed much earlier in the history of the universe. Water
vapor and carbon dioxide absorb a number of useful portions of the
infrared spectrum, so high-altitude or space-based telescopes are
used for infrared astronomy.

The first non-visual study of galaxies, particularly active galaxies, was

made using radio frequencies. The atmosphere is nearly transparent
to radio between 5 MHz and 30 GHz. (The ionosphere blocks signals
below this range.) Large radio interferometers have been used to
map the active jets emitted from active nuclei. Radio telescopes can
also be used to observe neutral hydrogen (via 21 centimeter
radiation), including, potentially, the non-ionized matter in the early
universe that later collapsed to form galaxies. Ultraviolet and X-ray
telescopes can observe highly energetic galactic phenomena. An
ultraviolet flare was observed when a star in a distant galaxy was torn
apart from the tidal forces of a black hole. The distribution of hot gas
in galactic clusters can be mapped by X-rays. The existence of super-
massive black holes at the cores of galaxies was confirmed through
X-ray astronomy.

Although it is not yet well understood, dark matter appears to account

for around 90% of the mass of most galaxies. Observational data

244
suggests that supermassive black holes may exist at the center of
many, if not all, galaxies. They are proposed to be the primary cause
of active galactic nuclei found at the core of some galaxies. The Milky
Way galaxy appears to harbor at least one such objects within its
nucleus.

8.13 Quasars
If we consider the sun as typical among stars to be a radio emitter,
we would not expect to be able to observe a single other star at radio
wavelengths, the radio emission from the stars would be too feeble to
detect with existing instruments. It was with considerable surprise that
in 1960 two radio sources was identified with what appear to be stars.
There seems to be no chance that the identifications were in error
because the precise position of the radio sources was pinned down
by noting the exact instants they were occulted by the moon. By 1963
the number of such “radio stars” has increased to four. They were
especially perplexing objects because their optical spectra showed
emission lines that at first could not be identified known chemical
elements.

The real breakthrough came in 1963, when M Smidth, at Caltech’s

Palomar observatory recognized the emission lines in one of the
object to be Balmer lines of hydrogen shifted far to the red from their
normal wavelengths. If the redshift are the Doppler shift then the
object must be receding from us at about 15 percent the speed of
light. With this hint, the emission lines in other objects were
reexamined to see if they too might be well known lines with large
redshifts, such proved, indeed to be the case, but the other objects
were found to be receding from us even at greater speeds. Thus they
could be not our neighboring stars; their stellar appearance might be
due to the fact that they are very distant. They are therefore called
Quasi-Stellar-Radio–Sources or simply Quasi-Stellar Sources
(abbreviated QSS). Later similar objects found were not the sources
of strong radio emissions. Today they all are designated by the term
QUASAR. The discovery of these peculiar objects prompted the
search for the others. A modern procedure is to look for stellar
appearing object at the position of unidentified radio sources or to
examine stellar appearing images of peculiar blue color. By 1980
hundreds of quasars had been catalogued and systematic survey

245
indicates that there must be more than 20,000 brighter than 18
magnitudes. The number of still fainter is not known but they must be
many. All have the spectra that show large to very large redshifts.
The relative shifts of wavelength range upto Δ λ/ λ = 3.53
corresponds to velocity of recession of 91 percent of the speed of
light. Most investigators regarded the redshifts of the distances and
that they confirmed to the Hubble Law. The quasars have very much
higher speeds than any known galaxy and must be even more
distant.

8.14 Characteristics
The quasars are unresolved optically, that is, they appear stellar and
most of them as very faint stars 3C273 (Figure 8.32 37.29) is still
several hundred times too faint to see with the unaided eye. Few
quasars are associated with tiny wisps of filaments of nuclear
appearing matter. Some are resolved at radio wavelengths, which
indicate that the radio energy come from region outside the
photographic images as found for the radio radiation from galaxies
that often originates from outside their optical images. The radio
radiation is believed to be synchrotron. Quasars differ considerably
from each other in luminosity. They are extremely luminous at all
wavelengths. In radio energy they are as bright as brightest radio
galaxies and in visible light most are far more luminous than the
brightest elliptical galaxies. They have absolute magnitude in the
range -25 or -26 and are very blue in color. In fact, one of those
recognizable characteristics is their excess amount of their ultraviolet
radiation, compared with normal star and galaxies. Most surprising of
all is that almost all of them are variable both in radio emission and
visible range. There variations are irregular evidently at random by
few tenths of magnitude or so, but some times flare-ups of more than
a magnitude are observed in an interval of few weeks. Since the
quasars are highly luminous a change in brightness by a magnitude
(a factor of 2.5 in light) means extremely great amount of energy is
released rather suddenly. Further, as the fluctuations occur in such
short times, the part of quasar responsible for light and radio
variations must be smaller than the distance light travels in a month
or so, otherwise the light emitted at one time from different parts of
the objects would reach the earth at different times and we would see
the increased spread over long time.

246
 Figure 8.32 Quasi-stellar radio sources.

8.15 Double Quasar 0957 + 561: A gravitational Lens

In 1979 astronomers, D. Walsh, R.F. Carswell, and R.J. Weymenn
observed a pair of Quasars separated by only 6” and are collectively
known as 0957+561 the numbers representing their coordinates in
the sky. They were remarkably similar in the appearance and spectra.
They both are about 17 magnitude and both have the redshift (Δλ/λ)
of 1.4. The astronomers suggested two quasars might actually be
one, and we are seeing two images produced by inverting object
acting as gravitational lens. In 1980 team of astronomers at Palomar
found an 18th magnitude galaxy next to one of the quasar. In fact, the
galaxy turns out to be member of cluster of galaxies with the redshift
of 0.39. The geometry and the estimated mass of the galaxies are
correct to produce the gravitational lens effect. A schematic of the
lens is shown in Figure 8.33 and Figure 8.34

247
Figure 8.33 Bending light around a massive object from a distant
source. The orange arrows show the apparent position of the
background source. The white arrows show the path of the light from
the true position of the source.

Figure 8.34 Schematic of Gravitational lens

Summery
1. A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that
consists of stars and stellar remnants,
2. Actual proof of the Milky Way consisting of many stars came in
1610 when Galileo Galilei used a telescope to study the Milky
Way and discovered that it is composed of a huge number of
faint stars.

248
3. A very significant contribution to our knowledge of the galaxies
was provides by the work of William Herschel and his only son,
John (1792-1871).
4. the word Universe was understood to mean the entirety of
existence
5. Typical galaxies range from dwarfs with as few as ten million
(107) stars up to giants with one trillion (1012) stars, all orbiting
the galaxy's center of mass
6. Galaxies can also contain many multiple star systems, star
clusters, and various interstellar clouds.
7. elliptical galaxies are spherical ellipsoidal system that is
thought to consist almost entirely of old stars
8. A spiral galaxy consists of a nucleus, a disk, a halo and the
spiral arm
9. A large minority of spiral galaxies display “bars” running
through nuclei
10. Spiral galaxies consist of a rotating disk of stars and
interstellar medium, along with a central bulge of generally
older stars
11. Peculiar galaxies are galactic formations that develop
unusual properties due to tidal interactions with other galaxies
12. Theories could be divided into two categories: top-down
and bottom-up. In top-down theories protogalaxies are form in
a large-scale simultaneous collapse lasting about one hundred
million years. In bottom-up theories small structures such as
globular clusters form first, and then a number of such bodies
accrete to form a larger galaxy.
13. (or Outside –In)
14. The creation of a supermassive black hole appears to
play a key role in actively regulating the growth of galaxies by
limiting the total amount of additional matter added.
15. The evolution of galaxies can be significantly affected by
interactions and collisions. Mergers of galaxies were common
during the early epoch, and the majority of galaxies were
peculiar in morphology.
16. At present, most star formation occurs in smaller galaxies
where cool gas is not so depleted.
17. There are probably more than 100 billion (1011) galaxies in the
observable universe.

249
 18. Most galaxies in the universe are gravitationally bound to
a number of other galaxies.

Exercises
Fill in the blanks
1 In 1755 Immanuel Kant introduced the term ___________ for
distant nebulae.
2 Typical galaxies range from _________ with as few as ten
million (107) stars up to __________ with one trillion (1012) stars,
all orbiting the galaxy's center of mass.
3 The __________is one of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
4 Galaxies differ a great deal among themselves but majority fall
into two general classes____________ and ____________.
5 A minority of galaxies are classed as ___________.
6 Starburst galaxies are the result of a ___________ collision.
7 In spiral galaxies, the spiral arms have the shape of
approximate ___________ spirals.
8 Ultra-compact dwarf galaxies have recently been discovered
that are only ____________ across.
9 Stars are created within galaxies from a reserve of __________
that forms into giant molecular clouds.
10 A portion of the galaxies we can observe are classified as
________.
11 Theories of formation of galaxies could be divided into two
categories namely ______________ and _____________.
12 Only about ______ of the galaxies surveyed have been found
to be truly isolated.
13 _________ matter appears to account for around 90% of the
mass of most galaxies.
14 _________ are extremely luminous at all wavelengths.
Short questions with answer
Q1. What is a galaxy?
Ans. A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that
consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of
gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood
component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy

250
 derives from the Greek term for our own galaxy, galaxias "milky
circle" for its appearance in the sky.
Q2. When it was proved that Milky Way consists of number of
stars?
Ans. Actual proof of the Milky Way consisting of many stars came in
1610 when Galileo Galilei used a telescope to study the Milky
Way and discovered that it is composed of a huge number of
faint stars.
Q3. What is a nebula?
Ans. nebulae (plural of nebula) that literally means “clouds”. Faint
star clusters glowing gas clouds, dust clouds reflecting starlight,
and galaxies all appear as joint unresolved luminous patches
when viewed visually with the telescopes of only moderate size,
Since the true nature of these objects were not known to early
observers , all of them were called nebulae. Today we usually
reserve the word “nebula” for the true gas or dust clouds, but
some astronomers still refer to galaxies as nebulae or
extragalactic nebulae.
Q4. What is universe?
Ans. The word Universe means the entirety of existence.
Q5. What were the first galaxies other than the Milky Way to be
observed from Earth?
Ans. In the 10th century, the Persian astronomer, Abd al-Rahman al-
Sufi (known in the West as Azophi), made the earliest recorded
observation of the Andromeda Galaxy, describing it as a "small
cloud". Al-Sufi also identified the Large Magellanic Cloud, which
is visible from Yemen, though not from Isfahan; it was not seen
by Europeans until Magellan's voyage in the 16th century.
These were the first galaxies other than the Milky Way to be
observed from Earth.
Q6. What is a galaxy?
Ans. A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that
consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of
gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood
component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy
derives from the Greek term for our own galaxy, galaxias "milky
circle" for its appearance in the sky.
Q7. What do you understand by term island universe?

251
Ans. In 1755 Immanuel Kant introduced the term "island universe" in
his hypothesis for distant nebulae which states that spiral
nebulae are actually independent galaxies.
Q8. What is the structure of galaxy?
Ans. Typical galaxies range from dwarfs with as few as ten million
(107) stars up to giants with one trillion (1012) stars, all orbiting
the galaxy's center of mass. Galaxies can also contain many
multiple star systems, star clusters, and various interstellar
clouds.
Q9. What are the types of galaxy?
Ans. Galaxies differ a great deal among themselves but majority fall
into two general classes; ellipticals and spirals; a minority is
classed as irregular
Q10. How galaxies are classified?
Ans. There have been many classification schemes proposed for
galaxies, among them, one of the earliest, the simplest. And the
most used scheme was invented by Hubble during his studies
of galaxies in 1920s It consisted of three principal classification
sequences elliptical, spiral and barred spirals while the irregular
galaxies (IrrI and IrrII) forms a fourth class of object in this
classification
Q11. What are peculiar galaxies?
Ans. Peculiar galaxies are galactic formations that develop unusual
properties due to tidal interactions with other galaxies. An
example of this is the ring galaxy, which possesses a ring-like
structure of stars and interstellar medium surrounding a bare
core, another peculiar galaxy is a lenticular galaxy which is an
intermediate form that has properties of both elliptical and spiral
galaxies. These are categorized as Hubble type S0, and they
possess ill-defined spiral arms with an elliptical halo of stars
Q12. What is the relative prominence galaxy?
Ans. Despite the prominence of large elliptical and spiral galaxies,
most galaxies in the universe appear to be dwarf galaxies.
These tiny galaxies are about one hundredth the size of the
Milky Way; ultra-compact dwarf galaxies that have recently
been discovered are only 100 parsecs across.
Q13. What is average separation between galaxies?
Ans. The average separation between galaxies within a cluster is a
little over an order of magnitude larger than their diameter.

252
 Hence interactions between these galaxies are relatively
frequent, and play an important role in their evolution
Q14. What is a Starburst galaxy?
Ans. Starburst galaxies are characterized by dusty concentrations of
gas and the appearance of newly formed stars, including
massive stars that ionize the surrounding clouds to create H II
regions. Starburst galaxies were more common during the early
history of the universe, and, at present, still contribute an
estimated 15% to the total star production rate.
Q15. What is an active galaxy?
Ans. A portion of the galaxies we can observe are classified as
active. That is, a significant portion of the total energy output
from the galaxy is emitted by a source other than the stars, dust
and interstellar medium.
Q16. What is a Seyfert galaxy?
Ans. Active galaxies that emit high-energy radiation in the form of x-
rays are classified as Seyfert galaxies or quasars, depending
on the luminosity.
Q17. What are N-galaxies?
Ans. N-galaxies having small nuclei that are very bright compared
with the main part of these galaxies appear as stellar images
superposed on joint wispy or nebulous backgrounds. Their
bright nuclei indicate that enormous amount of energy being
emitted from those regions.
Q18. What are the different processes of the formation of galaxies?
Ans. The detailed process by which such early galaxy formation
occurred is a major open question in astronomy. Theories could
be divided into two categories: top-down (or outside – In) and
bottom-up (or inside – Out). In top-down theories protogalaxies
are form in a large-scale simultaneous collapse lasting about
one hundred million years. In bottom-up theories small
structures such as globular clusters form first, and then a
number of such bodies accrete to form a larger galaxy.
Q19. What are the numbers galaxies in the universe? How they are
arranged?
Ans. The Hubble Deep Field, an extremely long exposure of a
relatively empty part of the sky, provided evidence that there
are about 125 billion (1.25×1011) galaxies in observable
universe. Most galaxies are 1,000 to 100,000 parsecs in
diameter and are usually separated by distances on the order

253
 of millions of parsecs (or megaparsecs). The majority of
galaxies are organized into a hierarchy of associations called
clusters, which, in turn, can form larger groups called
superclusters. These larger structures are generally arranged
into sheets and filaments, which surround immense voids in the
universe.
Study Questions
Q1. What were the views of the ancients about the Milky Way?
Q2. What nebula? How do you differentiate from the galaxy?
Q3. What are the typical range of galaxies?
Q4. What are different types of galaxies?
Q5. Write note on:
• Elliptical galaxy
• Spiral Galaxies
• Barred spiral galaxy
• Irregular Galaxies
Q6. Explain the Hubble classification scheme of the galaxies?
Q7. Define the unusual galaxies?
Q8. What is active galactic nucleus?
Q9. Discuss the Violent Activities in Galaxies?
Q10. Discuss the properties source of energy of Active Galactic
Nuclei?
Q11. How the galaxies are formed?
Q12. What is the process of the evolution of the galaxies?
Q13. What is Quasars? Explain its characteristics?
Q14. Discuss the Large-scale structure of the cosmos?
Q15. What is gravitational lens?

Creation of Universe

254
 Unit V

Chapter 9
Albert Einstein (14 March
1879–18 April 1955) was a
German-born Swiss-American
theoretical physicist,
philosopher and author who is

255
widely regarded as one of the most influential and
best known scientists and intellectuals of all time. He
is often regarded as the father of modern physics. He
received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his
services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his
discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect."

The Universe
When we look off into space we look back into time for we see
remote objects as (and where) they were far in the past, when the
light left them to begin its long journey across space to reach our
telescopes. Remote objects, therefore in a sense are the historical
documents in the universe even though we have difficulty in
interpreting their meanings.

It is clear that if the stars are in the galaxies, galaxies in the cluster of
galaxies and clusters in superclusters, it is natural to wonder whether
hierarchy might go on to ever higher orders of clusters of galaxies.
The available evidence suggests that it does not because. First, if it
did, it would never be possible to define a region of space beyond
which the universe is homogeneous because large hierarchal
structures would always exist. This would violet the cosmological
principle as against the observations.

Further the superclusters appear to expanding and the meager

evidence suggests that most are not gravitationally bound. If
superclusters are not gravitationally bound, the next order cluster
should expand more rapidly and the order beyond them more so yet.
It is hard to see how this hierarchal structure be maintained.
Research by George Rainey has ruled out the inhomogeneites in a
scale as large as 500 million parsecs. This indicates that there cannot
be “super-duper” cluster. Moreover, faint background of radio
radiations that we interpret as dying glow of big bang that started the
expansion of the universe suggest that uniformity of the radiation in
different directions is impressive and argues for higher high degree of
homogeneity in the universe at large.

Most or all the matter of the universe appears to be clustered in the

system of size upto at least 300 million light years-superclusters, but

256
on very large scale the universe is very uniform which rules out the
hierarchal distribution of matter in space. However, the future of the
universe depends critically on mean density of the matter in space.
Since it would add to the mass and hence the gravitation of the
universe, but not to the light. If such matter was concentrated in the
cluster of galaxies, it could account for their, perhaps high mass to
light ratios. But the total mass of such matter in the universe would
nevertheless already be tallied, for it is included in the masses we
drive for clusters. One of the possible candidates for the dark matter
in the universe if it exists is neutrinos. In fact, they should turn out to
have non zero rest mass. If they are distributed uniformly throughout
the universe, it is estimated that at present each square centimeter
contains several hundred neutrinos, originally produced in big bang, If
they should have no rest mass, or very small rest mass, neutrinos are
expected to be distributed uniformly. A neutrino would have to have a
mass as much as 2 x 10‾6 times that of electron to contribute to the
density of the universe enough to effect its evolution and if they
should have very tiny rest mass neutrinos would probably clump with
clusters or superclusters of galaxies. Here we should point out that
the evidence for neutrinos having mass is only suggestive, but even if
this suggestion is correct, neutrinos probably cannot be important in
overall gravitation of the universe. They could however, play an
important role in resolving high mass to light ratio anomalies in
galaxies and clusters. The theory of large scale structure, which
governs the formation of structure in the universe
stars, quasars, galaxies and galaxy clusters, also suggests that the
density of baryonic matter in the universe is only 30% of the critical
density.

9.1 Nature of dark energy

The term "dark energy" was coined by Michael Turner in 1998, a term
similar to Fritz Zwicky's "Dark Matter" coined in the 1930's. By
that time, the missing mass problem of big bang nucleosynthesis
and large scale structure was established, and some
cosmologists had started to theorize that there was an additional

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 component to our universe. The first direct evidence for dark
energy came from supernova observations of accelerated
expansion.

Figure 9.1 Dark Energy

Figure 9.2 Dark Matter

In physical cosmology, astronomy and celestial mechanics, dark

energy is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space
and tends to increase the rate of expansion of the universe. Dark
energy is the most popular way to explain recent observations that
the universe appears to be expanding at an accelerating. In
the standard model of cosmology, dark energy currently accounts for
74% of the total mass-energy of the universe.

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Two proposed forms for dark energy are the cosmological constant, a
constant energy density filling space homogeneously, and scalar
fields such as quintessence or moduli, dynamic quantities whose
energy density can vary in time and space. Contributions from scalar
fields that are constant in space are usually also included in the
cosmological constant. The cosmological constant is physically
equivalent to vacuum energy. Scalar fields which do change in space
can be difficult to distinguish from a cosmological constant because
the change may be extremely slow.

The exact nature of this dark energy is a matter of speculation. It is

known to be very homogeneous, not very dense and is not known to
interact through any of the fundamental forces other than gravity.
Since it is not very dense — roughly 10−29 grams per cubic centimeter
— it is hard to imagine experiments to detect it in the laboratory. Dark
energy can only have such a profound impact on the universe,
making up 74% of universal density, because it uniformly fills
otherwise empty space. The two leading models
are quintessence and the cosmological constant. Both models
include the common characteristic that dark energy must
have negative pressure.

9.2 Negative pressure

Independently from its actual nature, dark energy would need to have
a strong negative pressure in order to explain the
observed acceleration in the expansion rate of the universe.

According to General Relativity, the pressure within a substance

contributes to its gravitational attraction for other things just as its
mass density does. This happens because the physical quantity that
causes matter to generate gravitational effects is the Stress-energy
tensor, which contains both the energy (or matter) density of a
substance and its pressure and viscosity. It can be shown that a
strong constant negative pressure in the entire universe causes
acceleration in universe expansion if the universe is already
expanding or a deceleration in universe contraction if the universe is
already contracting.

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This accelerating expansion effect is sometimes labeled "gravitational
repulsion", which is a colorful but possibly confusing expression. In
fact a negative pressure does not influence the gravitational
interaction between masses - which remains attractive - but rather
alters the overall evolution of the universe at the cosmological scale,
typically resulting in the accelerating expansion of the universe
despite the attraction among the masses present in the universe.

9.3 The Beginning of Universe

The specific model for the big bang was first proposed by
George Lemaitre. He envisioned all the matter of the universe starting
in one great bulk he called the primeval atom. It broke into
tremendous number of pieces, each of them further fragmenting and
so on until what were left were the present atoms of the universe,
created in vast nuclear fission. Today we know much more about
nuclear physics and that primeval fission model cannot be correct, yet
Lemarite’s vision inspired more modern work.

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Figure 9.3 Time Line for Big Bang

9.4 Standard Model for Big Bang

The modern theory of the evolution of early universe is called the

standard model of the big bang details of which were worked out in
1967 by Robert Wagoner at Stanford university and William Fowler
and Fred Hoyle at Caltech. In first tiny fraction of second, it is thought
that all kinds of particles existed in equilibrium with radiation-particles
and their antiparticles being produced in pair from photons and
annihilating reconverting to photons again. By the time the universe
was one second old, it would have cooled to about 10¹º K, by which
time the prevalent photons were not of high enough energy to create
pairs of particles. Then the matter consisted of particles such as

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protons, electrons, positrons and neutrons and neutrinos. By the time
the universe was 100 s old, the temperature has dropped to 109 K
and the particles began to combine to form heavier nuclei, this
neucleosynthesis continued for next few minutes during which about
25 percent of the mass of the material formed into helium. Some
deuterium was also formed but only a small amount probably less
than one part in ten thousand. The actual amount of the deuterium
formed depends critically on the density of the fireball, if it was fairly
high, most of the deuterium would have been built up into helium.
Scarcely any nuclei heavier than those of helium are expected to
have survived so the composition of the fireball when the nuclear
building ceased is thought to have been mostly hydrogen, about 25
percent helium and traces of deuterium. It was the striking success of
the standard model that the predicted ratio of hydrogen to helium –
three to one by mass is just the ratio observed in stars ad interstellar
matter. A small enhancement of helium must have resulted from the
neucleosynthesis in stars, to be sure, but by far most of the helium
must be primordial – especially in the outer layers of the stars. Hence
the agreement between prediction and observation must be regarded
as a second triumph for the big bang and the relativistic evolving
cosmological theories, the first being the expansion of the universe.

For next few hundred thousand years, the fireball was like a stellar
interior- hot and opaque with radiation being scattered from one
particle to another. By about 700,000 years after the big bang the
temperature has dropped to about 3000 K and the density of the
atomic nuclei to about 1000 per cubic centimeter. Under these
conditions, the electrons and nuclei combine to form stable atom of
hydrogen and helium. With no free electrons to scatter photons, the
universe became transparent, and the matter and radiation no longer
interacted subsequently each evolved in its separate way.

One thousand million years after the big bang stars and the galaxies
had probably begun to form but we are not sure of the precise
mechanisms. Certainly, deep in the interior of star the matter was
reheated, star began to shine, nuclear reactions were ignited and the
gradual synthesis of the heaver elements began. Now we must point
out that the fireball must not be thought of a localized explosion like
exploding superstar. There were no boundaries and no site of
explosion. It was everywhere. The fireball still exists in a sense. It

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has expanded greatly but the original matter and radiation are still
present and accounted for. The stuff of our bodies comes from the
material in the fireball. We were and are still in the midst of it. It is all
around us.

9.5 Hubble Expansion Model

In 1931, Hubble and Milton Humason jointly published their classical

paper in Astrophysical Journal, which compared the distances and
the velocities of remote galaxies moving away from us at so speed up
to nearly 20,000 Km/s. Their law of the red shift (Figure 9.4) now
known as Hubble Law established the expansion of the universe
beyond doubt, even though the authors were cautious about so
interpreting their observations.

Figure 9.4 Hubble and Humason’s velocity distance relation adapted

from their 1931 paper in the Astrophysical Journal.

Subsequently more and more remote galaxies of greater and greater

speed of recession have been found The cluster of galaxies as
shown in the Figure 9.5 moves away from us at the speed of 108,000
Km/s-36 percent of the speed of light. Even more remote clusters
have been found, in 1981 Hyron Spinrad at University of California,
Berkeley reported the observation of two clusters receding at about
60 percent the speed of light. The relative distances to the clusters
are known fairly well, and so the accuracy of the observations,
remote cluster of galaxies has velocities that are proportional to their
distances. The constant of proportionality, symbolized H and called
Hubble constant specifies the rate of recession of galaxies or clusters
of various distances. The Hubble constant is now believed to lie in the

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range 50 to 100 Km/s per million parsecs. If H is 75 Km/s per million
parsecs a cluster moves away from us at a speed of 75 Km/s for
every million parsecs of its distances. A test of Hubble law involved
the speed of receding galaxies at great distances. The evolutionary
model predicted the expansion to slow down due to the gravitational
forces between galaxies. Because of these changes in the rate of
expansion of universe, the radial velocities of remote galaxies would
deviate from a relation exactly proportional to their observed
distances, that is. The graph of radial velocity versus distance should
not necessarily be straight line for very distant galaxies.

Figure 9.5 JKCS 041 is a group of galaxies with the distinction of

being the farthest away group from Earth ever observed, as of 2009.
It is estimated to be 10.2 billion light years away, seen at redshift
1.9.The cluster is located at a photometrically determined redshift of
z=1.9 at right ascension 2h 26m 44s declination -04° 41′ 37″.

9.6 Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

It was realized by Alpher and Robert Herman that when the universe
became transparent it must have been radiating like a black body at a
temperature of 3000 K. If we cold have seen that freed radiations just
after the neutral atom were formed, it would have resembled that
from a reddish star, but that was at least ten thousand million years
ago. In the meantime the scale of universe has increased a thousand
fold. The light emitted by once hot gas in our part of the universe is
now thousands of millions of light years away. Thus to observe that
glow of the early universe, we must look in all directions in space to
such great distance-10 to 20 thousand million light year – that we are
looking back in time through those 10 to 20 thousand million years.

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Due to expansion these remote parts of universe should be receding
from us at a speed within two parts in a million of that of light. The
radiation from them would be Doppler shifted to the wavelengths a
thousand times than those at which it was emitted.

We know when the black body approaches us, the Doppler shift
shortens the wavelength of its light and because it to mimic a black
body of higher temperature, When a black body recedes, it mimics a
cooler black body. Alpher and Herman predicted that the glow from
the fireball should now be at radio wavelengths and should resemble
the radiation from a black body at a temperature of only 5 K- just little
degree above absolute zero, unfortunately, there was no way in
1948 of observing such radiation from space. Thus the prediction
does not attract much attention. However, in mid 1960s, the idea
occurred independently to Princeton physicist Robert H. Dick who
realized that microwave radio telescope could be built to detect the
dying glow of big bang. During this period Arno Penzias and Robert
Wilson of the Bell Laboratories used delicate microwave horn
antenna to make careful measures of absolute intensity of radio
radiation coming from certain places in the Galaxy, but they were
plunged with some unexpected background noise in the system that
they could not get rid off. They checked every thing and eliminated
the Galaxy as source, also the sun and sky, the ground and even the
equipment. Finally, they decided that the radiation they have been
detecting were from space. Penzias mentioned it in a telephonic
conversation with another radio astronomer B. Burke, who was aware
of Princeton work. Burke got Penzias in touch with Dick and it was
soon realized that the glow from primeval fireball has been observed.
Since then the radiations has been very thoroughly checked
throughout the entire radio spectrum. The observed microwave
background radiation closely matches that expected from blackbody
with a temperature of 2.7 K.

Penzias and Wilson received the Noble prize for their work in 1978,
and perhaps almost equally fitted, just before his death in 1966.
Lemaitre learned about the discovery of his “Vanished Brilliance”

9.7 Information from Cosmic Microwave Radiation

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Faint glow of radio radiation now called cosmic background radiation
(CBR). It has now been observed at many wavelengths and all
observations are compatible with CBR being red shifted radiation
emitted by hot gas. It indicated that the universe has been evolved
from a hot uniform state. At a given wavelength CBR is extremely
isotropic on a small scale, recent Soviet observations claim that CBR
is isotropic on a small scale to better than a few parts in 105. The
uniformity of the radiation reveals that at an age of less than a million
years the universe had to be present to allow matter to gravitationally
clump up to form stars and galaxies. The isotropy of the CBR put
interesting constraints on the theories of star and galaxy formation.

Estimated distribution of dark matter and dark energy in the universe,

the existence of dark energy, in whatever form, is needed to reconcile
the measured geometry of space with the total amount of matter in
the universe. Measurements of cosmic microwave background
radiation (CBR) anisotropies, most recently by the WMAP satellite;
indicate that the universe is very close to flat. For the shape of the
universe to be flat, the mass/energy density of the universe must be
equal to a certain critical density. The total amount of matter in the
universe (including baryons and dark matter), as measured by the
CBR, accounts for only about 30% of the critical density. This implies
the existence of an additional form of energy to account for the
remaining 70%. The most recent WMAP observations are consistent
with a universe made up of 74% dark energy, 22% dark matter, and
4% ordinary matter.

High-precision measurements of the expansion of the universe are

required to understand how the expansion rate changes over time. In
general relativity, the evolution of the expansion rate is parameterized
by the cosmological equation of state. Measuring the equation of
state of dark energy is one of the biggest efforts in observational
cosmology today.

Adding the cosmological constant to cosmology's standard FLRW

metric leads to the Lambda-CDM model, which has been referred to
as the “standard model” of cosmology because of its precise
agreement with observations? Dark energy has been used as a
crucial ingredient in a recent attempt to formulate a cyclic model for
the universe.

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In 1998, published observations of Type Ia supernovae ("one-A") by
the High-z Supernova Search Team followed in 1999 by
the Supernova Cosmology Project suggested that the expansion of
the universe is accelerating. Since then, these observations have
been corroborated by several independent sources. Measurements of
the background, gravitational, and the large scale structure of the
cosmos as well as improved measurements of supernovae have
been consistent with the Lambda-CDM model. Supernovae are useful
for cosmology because they are excellent standard candles across
cosmological distances. They allow the expansion history of the
Universe to be measured by looking at the relationship between the
distance to an object and its redshift, which gives how fast it is
receding from us. The relationship is roughly linear, according
to Hubble's law. It is relatively easy to measure redshift, but finding
the distance to an object is more difficult. Usually, astronomers
use standard candles: objects for which the intrinsic brightness,
the absolute magnitude, is known. This allows the object's distance to
be measured from its actually observed brightness, or apparent
magnitude. Type Ia supernovae are the best-known standard candles
across cosmological distances because of their extreme, and
extremely consistent, brightness.

Recent observations of supernovae are consistent with a universe

made up 71.3% of dark energy and 27.4% of a combination of dark
matter and baryonic matter.

9.9 Cosmological constant

The simplest explanation for dark energy is that it is simply the "cost
of having space": that is, a volume of space has some intrinsic,
fundamental energy. This is the cosmological constant, sometimes
called Lambda (hence Lambda-CDM model) after the Greek letter Λ,
the symbol used to mathematically represent this quantity. Since
energy and mass are related by E = mc2, Einstein's theory of general
relativity predicts that it will have a gravitational effect. It is sometimes
called a vacuum energy because it is the energy density of
empty vacuum. In fact, most theories of particle physics predict
vacuum fluctuations that would give the vacuum this sort of energy.
This is related to the Casimir Effect, in which there is a small suction
into regions where virtual particles are geometrically inhibited from

267
forming (e.g. between plates with tiny separation). The cosmological
constant is estimated by cosmologists to be on the order of
10−29g/cm³, or about 10−120 in reduced Planck units. However, particle
physics predicts a natural value of 1 in reduced Planck units, a large
discrepancy which is still not explained.

The cosmological constant has negative pressure equal to its energy

density and so causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate.
The reason why a cosmological constant has negative pressure can
be seen from classical thermodynamics; Energy must be lost from
inside a container to do work on the container. A change in
volume dV requires work done equal to a change of energy −p dV,
where p is the pressure. But the amount of energy in a box of vacuum
energy actually increases when the volume increases (dV is positive),
because the energy is equal to ρV, where ρ (rho) is the energy
density of the cosmological constant. Therefore, p is negative and, in
fact, p = −ρ.

A major outstanding problem is that most quantum field theories

predict a huge cosmological constant from the energy of the
quantum vacuum, more than 100 orders of magnitude too large. This
would need to be cancelled almost, but not exactly, by an equally
large term of the opposite sign. Some super symmetric theories
require a cosmological constant that is exactly zero, which does not
help. The present scientific consensus amounts to extrapolating
the empirical evidence where it is relevant to predictions, and fine-
tuning theories until a more elegant solution is found. Technically, this
amounts to checking theories against macroscopic observations.
Unfortunately, as the known error-margin in the constant predicts
the fate of the universe more than its present state, many such
"deeper" questions remain unknown.

Another problem arises with inclusion of the cosmic constant in the

standard model: i.e., the appearance of solutions with regions of
discontinuities at low matter density. Discontinuity also affects the
past sign of the pressure assigned to the cosmic constant, changing
from the current negative pressure to attractive, as one looks back
towards the early Universe. A systematic, model-independent
evaluation of the supernovae data supporting inclusion of the cosmic
constant in the standard model indicates these data suffer systematic

268
error. The supernovae data are not overwhelming evidence for an
accelerating Universe expansion which may be simply gliding. A
numerical evaluation of WMAP and supernovae data for evidence
that our local group exists in a local void with poor matter density
compared to other locations, uncovered possible conflict in the
analysis used to support the cosmic constant. These findings should
be considered shortcomings of the standard model, but only when a
term for vacuum energy is included.

In spite of its problems, the cosmological constant is in many

respects the most economical solution to the problem of cosmic
acceleration. One number successfully explains a multitude of
observations. Thus, the current standard model of cosmology, the
Lambda-CDM model, includes the cosmological constant as an
essential feature.

9.10 Quintessence
In quintessence models of dark energy, the observed acceleration of
the scale factor is caused by the potential energy of a dynamical field,
referred to as quintessence field. Quintessence differs from the
cosmological constant in that it can vary in space and time. In order
for it not to clump and form structure like matter, the field must be
very light so that it has a large Compton wavelength.

No evidence of quintessence is yet available, but it has not been

ruled out either. It generally predicts a slightly slower acceleration of
the expansion of the universe than the cosmological constant. Some
scientists think that the best evidence for quintessence would come
from violations of Einstein's equivalence principle and variation of the
fundamental constants in space or time. Scalar fields are predicted by
the standard model and string theory, but an analogous problem to
the cosmological constant problem occurs: renormalization theory
predicts that scalar fields should acquire large masses.

The cosmic coincidence problem asks why the cosmic acceleration

began when it did. If cosmic acceleration began earlier in the
universe, structures such as galaxies would never have had time to
form and life, at least as we know it would never have had a chance
to exist. Proponents of the entropic principle view this as support for

269
their arguments. However, many models of quintessence have a so-
called tracker behavior, which solves this problem. In these models,
the quintessence field has a density which closely tracks (but is less
than) the radiation density until matter-radiation equality, which
triggers quintessence to start behaving as dark energy, eventually
dominating the universe. This naturally sets the low energy scale of
the dark energy.

In 2004, when scientists fit the evolution of dark energy with the
cosmological data, they found that the equation of state had possibly
crossed the cosmological constant boundary (w=1) from above to
below. A No-Go theorem has been proved that to give this scenario
at least two degrees of freedom are required for dark energy models.
This scenario is so-called Quintom scenario.

Some special cases of quintessence are phantom energy, in which

the energy density of quintessence actually increases with time, and
k-essence (short for kinetic quintessence) which has a non-standard
form of kinetic energy. They can have unusual properties: phantom
energy, for example, can cause a Big Rip.

9.11 Alternative ideas

Some theorists think that dark energy and cosmic acceleration are a
failure of general relativity on very large scales, larger than
superclusters. It is a tremendous extrapolation to think that our law of
gravity, which works so well in the solar system, should work without
correction on the scale of the universe. Most attempts at modifying
general relativity, however, have turned out to be either equivalent to
theories of quintessence, or inconsistent with observations. It is of
interest to note that if the equation for gravity were to approach r
instead of r2 at large, intergalactic distances, then the acceleration of
the expansion of the universe becomes a mathematical artifact
negating the need for the existence of Dark Energy.

9.12 Implications for the fate of the universe

Cosmologists estimate that the acceleration began roughly 5 billion
years ago. Before that, it is thought that the expansion was
decelerating, due to the attractive influence of dark

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matter and baryons. The density of dark matter in an expanding
universe decreases more quickly than dark energy, and eventually
the dark energy dominate. Specifically, when the volume of the
universe doubles, the density of dark matter is halved but the density
of dark energy is nearly unchanged (it is exactly constant in the case
of a cosmological constant).

If the acceleration continues indefinitely, the ultimate result will be

that galaxies outside the local supercluster will move beyond
the cosmic horizon: they will no longer be visible, because their line-
of-sight velocity becomes greater than the speed of light. This is not a
violation of special relativity, and the effect cannot be used to send a
signal between them. (Actually there is no way to even define
"relative speed" in a curved space time. Relative speed and velocity
can only be meaningfully defined in flat space time or in sufficiently
small (infinitesimal) regions of curved space time). Rather, it prevents
any communication between them as the objects pass out of contact.
The Earth, the Milky Way and the Virgo supercluster, however, would
remain virtually undisturbed while the rest of the universe recedes. In
this scenario, the local supercluster would ultimately suffer heat
death, just as was thought for the flat, matter-dominated universe,
before measurements of cosmic acceleration.

There are some very speculative ideas about the future of the
universe. One suggests that phantom energy causes divergent
expansion, which would imply that the effective force of dark energy
continues growing until it dominates all other forces in the universe.
Under this scenario, dark energy would ultimately tear apart all
gravitationally bound structures, including galaxies and solar
systems, and eventually overcome the electrical and nuclear forces to
tear apart atoms themselves, ending the universe in a "Big Rip". On
the other hand, dark energy might dissipate with time, or even
become attractive. Such uncertainties leave open the possibility that
gravity might yet rule the day and lead to a universe that contracts in
on itself in a "Big Crunch". Some scenarios, such as the cyclic
model suggest this could be the case. While these ideas are not
supported by observations, they are not ruled out. Measurements of
acceleration are crucial to determining the ultimate fate of the
universe in big bang theory.

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9.13 History
The cosmological constant was first proposed by Einstein as a
mechanism to obtain a stable solution of the gravitational field
equation that would lead to a static universe, effectively using dark
energy to balance gravity. Not only was the mechanism an inelegant
example of fine-tuning, it was soon realized that Einstein's static
universe would actually be unstable because local inhomogeneities
would ultimately lead to either the runaway expansion or contraction
of the universe. The equilibrium is unstable: if the universe expands
slightly, then the expansion releases vacuum energy, which causes
yet more expansion. Likewise, a universe which contracts slightly will
continue contracting. These sorts of disturbances are inevitable, due
to the uneven distribution of matter throughout the universe. More
importantly, observations made by Edwin Hubble showed that the
universe appears to be expanding and not static at all. Einstein
famously referred to his failure to predict the idea of a dynamic
universe, in contrast to a static universe, as his greatest blunder.
Following this realization, the cosmological constant was largely
ignored as a historical curiosity.

Alan Guth proposed in the 1970s that a negative pressure field,

similar in concept to dark energy, could drive cosmic inflation in the
very early universe. Inflation postulates that some repulsive force,
qualitatively similar to dark energy, resulted in an enormous and
exponential expansion of the universe slightly after the Big Bang.
Such expansion is an essential feature of most current models of the
Big Bang. However, inflation must have occurred at a much higher
energy density than the dark energy we observe today and is thought
to have completely ended when the universe was just a fraction of a
second old. It is unclear what relation, if any, exists between dark
energy and inflation. Even after inflationary models became
accepted, the cosmological constant was thought to be irrelevant to
the current universe.

Summery
• There is High degree of homogeneity in the universe.
• The future of the universe depends on mean density of the
matter in the space.

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 • Dark energy is the hypothetical form of energy that
permeates all of the space and tends to increase the rate of
expansion of universe.
• Two forms of dark energy are Cosmological constant and
quintessence.
• Strong constant negative pressure in the entire universe
causes acceleration in universe expansion if the universe is
already expanding or a deceleration in universe contraction if
the universe is already contracting.
• The Hubble constant is now believed to lie in the range 50 to
100 Km/s per million parsecs.
• The most recent WMAP observations are consistent with a
universe made up of 74% dark energy, 22% dark matter,
and 4% ordinary matter.
• The cosmological constant has negative pressure equal to
its energy density and so causes the expansion of the
universe to accelerate.
• Quintessence differs from the cosmological constant in that it
can vary in space and time.
• Measurements of acceleration are crucial to determining the
ultimate fate of the universe in big bang theory.

Exercises
Fill in the blanks
1. Remote objects in the space are _____________ documents
in the universe.
2. Future of the universe depends on ____________ of the
matter in the space.
3. Amount of deuterium formed depends critically on the
____________ of the fireball.
4. The ratio of hydrogen to helium is _____ by mass as observed
in the space.
5. Universe is made up of 74% dark energy, 22% of dark matter
and 4% of __________ matter.
6. Cosmological constant is essential feature of ___________
model.
7. Big Bang model was first proposed by _________________.
8. Radiations from Big Bang indicate high degree of
___________ in universe.

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 9. Two forms of dark energies are ___________ and _________.
10 Stars and galaxies began to form about ____years after
Big Bang.

Short questions with answer

Q1. Does the hierarchy in the order of the cluster of galaxies go on
for ever?
Ans. The available evidence suggests that it does not because. First,
if it did, it would never be possible to define a region of space
beyond which the universe is homogeneous because large
hierarchal structures would always exist. This would violet the
cosmological principle as against the observations. Further the
superclusters appear to expanding and the meager evidence
suggests that most are not gravitationally bound. If
superclusters are not gravitationally bound, the next order
cluster should expand more rapidly and the order beyond them
more so yet. It is hard to see how this hierarchal structure be
maintained.
Q2. What is the evidence that suggest that the universe is
homogeneous?

Ans. The uniformity of the faint background of radio radiations that

we interpret as dying glow of big bang that started the
expansion of the universe in different directions is impressive
and argues for higher high degree of homogeneity in the
universe at large.
Q3. On what does the future of the universe depends?
Ans. The future of the universe depends critically on mean density of
the matter in space. Since it would add to the mass and hence
the gravitation of the universe, but not to the light.
Q4. What is the dark Energy?
Ans. Dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all
of space and tends to increase the rate of expansion of the
universe. Dark energy is the most popular way to explain recent
observations that the universe appears to be expanding at an
accelerating. In the standard model of cosmology, dark energy
currently accounts for 74% of the total mass-energy of the
universe.
Q5. What are the forms of Dark Energy?

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Ans. Two proposed forms for dark energy are the cosmological
constant, a constant energy density filling space
homogeneously, and scalar fields such as quintessence or
moduli, dynamic quantities whose energy density can vary in
time and space.
Q6. Define cosmological constant?
Ans. The cosmological constant was first proposed by Einstein as a
mechanism to obtain a stable solution of the gravitational field
equation that would lead to a static universe, effectively using
dark energy to balance gravity. The cosmological constant,
sometimes called Lambda (hence Lambda-CDM model) after
the Greek letter Λ, is the simplest explanation for dark energy, it
is simply the "cost of having space".
Q7. What was the condition of the universe when it was 100s old?
Ans. By the time the universe was 100 s old, the temperature has
dropped to 109 K and the particles began to combine to form
heavier nuclei, this neucleosynthesis continued for next few
minutes during which about 25 percent of the mass of the
material formed into helium.
Q8. What do you understand by the uniformity of cosmic
background radiation?
Ans. The uniformity of the radiation reveals that at an age of less
than a million years the universe had to be present to allow
matter to gravitationally clump up to form stars and galaxies.
Q9. Why supernova is useful in cosmological models?
Ans. Supernovae are useful for cosmology because they are
excellent standard candles across cosmological distances.
They allow the expansion history of the Universe to be
measured by looking at the relationship between the distance to
an object and its redshift, which gives how fast it is receding
from us.
Study Questions
Q1. Define Dark Energy?
Q2. What is Dark Matter? How does it affect the universe?
Q3. What are the effects of negative pressure?
Q4. When does universe became transparent?

275
Q5. Write a short note on Cosmic Microwave Background
Radiation?
Q6. What is Quintessence? How it differ from cosmological
constant?
Q7. What is divergent expansion of universe? How it is
responsible for ‘Big Rip’?
Q8. Write a note on Cosmological constant.
Q9. Explain Hubble expansion model.
Q10.Discuss the standard model of Big Bang.
Q11.Write a note on cosmic background radiation.
Q12. What is the significance of dark energy in the fate of
the universe?

Silently, one by one,

in the infinite meadows of the heaven,
blossumed the lovely stars,
the forget-me-nots of the angels.

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, 1847

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 Appendix A

The Constellations

A complete table with information about all the 88 Constellations as

defined by the I.A.U. (International Astronomical Union).
English
No. Abbrev. Constellation Genitive Name Area Hem. Alpha Star
1 And Andromeda Andromedae Andromeda 722 NH Alpheratz
2 Ant Antlia Antliae Air Pump 239 SH
Bird of
3 Aps Apus Apodis Paradise 206 SH
Water
4 Aqr Aquarius Aquarii Carrier 980 SH Sadalmelik
NH-
5 Aql Aquila Aquilae Eagle 652 SH Altair
6 Ara Ara Arae Altar 237 SH
7 Ari Aries Arietis Ram 441 NH Hamal
8 Aur Auriga Aurigae Charioteer 657 NH Capella
9 Boo Bootes Bootis Herdsman 907 NH Arcturus
10 Cae Caelum Caeli Chisel 125 SH
Camelopardali
11 Cam Camelopardalis s Giraffe 757 NH
12 Cnc Cancer Cancri Crab 506 NH Acubens
Canun Hunting
13 CVn Canes Venatici Venaticorum Dogs 465 NH Cor Caroli
14 CMa Canis Major Canis Majoris Big Dog 380 SH Sirius
15 CMi Canis Minor Canis Minoris Little Dog 183 NH Procyon
Goat
( Capricorn
16 Cap Capricornus Capricorni ) 414 SH Algedi
17 Car Carina Carinae Keel 494 SH Canopus
18 Cas Cassiopeia Cassiopeiae Cassiopeia 598 NH Schedar
Rigil
19 Cen Centaurus Centauri Centaur 1060 SH Kentaurus
20 Cep Cepheus Cephei Cepheus 588 SH Alderamin
21 Cet Cetus Ceti Whale 1231 SH Menkar
22 Cha Chamaleon Chamaleontis Chameleon 132 SH
23 Cir Circinus Circini Compasses 93 SH

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24 Col Columba Columbae Dove 270 SH Phact
Coma Comae Berenice's
25 Com Berenices Berenices Hair 386 NH Diadem
Corona Coronae Southern
26 CrA Australis Australis Crown 128 SH
Corona Coronae Northern
27 CrB Borealis Borealis Crown 179 NH Alphecca
28 Crv Corvus Corvi Crow 184 SH Alchiba
29 Crt Crater Crateris Cup 282 SH Alkes
Southern
30 Cru Crux Crucis Cross 68 SH Acrux
31 Cyg Cygnus Cygni Swan 804 NH Deneb
32 Del Delphinus Delphini Dolphin 189 NH Sualocin
33 Dor Dorado Doradus Goldfish 179 SH
34 Dra Draco Draconis Dragon 1083 NH Thuban
35 Equ Equuleus Equulei Little Horse 72 NH Kitalpha
36 Eri Eridanus Eridani River 1138 SH Achernar
37 For Fornax Fornacis Furnace 398 SH
38 Gem Gemini Geminorum Twins 514 NH Castor
39 Gru Grus Gruis Crane 366 SH Al Na'ir
40 Her Hercules Herculis Hercules 1225 NH Rasalgethi
41 Hor Horologium Horologii Clock 249 SH
Hydra ( Sea
42 Hya Hydra Hydrae Serpent ) 1303 SH Alphard
Water
Serpen
43 Hyi Hydrus Hydri ( male ) 243 SH
44 Ind Indus Indi Indian 294 SH
45 Lac Lacerta Lacertae Lizard 201 NH
46 Leo Leo Leonis Lion 947 NH Regulus
Smaller
47 LMi Leo Minor Leonis Minoris Lion 232 NH
48 Lep Lepus Leporis Hare 290 SH Arneb
49 Lib Libra Librae Balance 538 SH Zubenelgenubi
50 Lup Lupus Lupi Wolf 334 SH Men
51 Lyn Lynx Lyncis Lynx 545 NH
52 Lyr Lyra Lyrae Lyre 286 NH Vega
53 Men Mensa Mensae Table 153 SH
54 Mic Microscopium Microscopii Microscope 210 SH
55 Mon Monoceros Monocerotis Unicorn 482 SH

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56 Mus Musca Muscae Fly 138 SH
57 Nor Norma Normae Square 165 SH
58 Oct Octans Octantis Octant 291 SH
Serpent NH-
59 Oph Ophiucus Ophiuchi Holder 948 SH Rasalhague
NH-
60 Ori Orion Orionis Orion 594 SH Betelgeuse
61 Pav Pavo Pavonis Peacock 378 SH Peacock
Winged
62 Peg Pegasus Pegasi Horse 1121 NH Markab
63 Per Perseus Persei Perseus 615 NH Mirfak
64 Phe Phoenix Phoenicis Phoenix 469 SH Ankaa
65 Pic Pictor Pictoris Easel 247 SH
66 Psc Pisces Piscium Fishes 889 NH Alrischa
Pisces Southern
67 PsA Austrinus Pisces Austrini Fish 245 SH Fomalhaut
68 Pup Puppis Puppis Stern 673 SH
69 Pyx Pyxis Pyxidis Compass 221 SH
70 Ret Reticulum Reticuli Reticle 114 SH
71 Sge Sagitta Sagittae Arrow 80 NH
72 Sgr Sagittarius Sagittarii Archer 867 SH Rukbat
73 Sco Scorpius Scorpii Scorpion 497 SH Antares
74 Scl Sculptor Sculptoris Sculptor 475 SH
75 Sct Scutum Scuti Shield 109 SH
NH-
76 Ser Serpens Serpentis Serpent 637 SH Unuck al Hai
77 Sex Sextans Sextantis Sextant 314 SH
78 Tau Taurus Tauri Bull 797 NH Aldebaran
79 Tel Telescopium Telescopii Telescope 252 SH
Ras al
80 Tri Triangulum Trianguli Triangle 132 NH Mothallah
Triangulum Trianguli Southern
81 TrA Australe Australis Triangle 110 SH Atria
82 Tuc Tucana Tucanae Toucan 295 SH
83 UMa Ursa Major Ursae Majoris Great Bear 1280 NH Dubhe
84 UMi Ursa Minor Ursae Minoris Little Bear 256 NH Polaris
85 Vel Vela Velorum Sails 500 SH
NH-
86 Vir Virgo Virginis Virgin 1294 SH Spica
87 Vol Volans Volantis Flying Fish 141 SH

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88 Vul Vulpecula Vulpeculae Fox 268 NH

ABBREV: IAU abbreviation

CONSTELLATION: Latin name
GENITIVE: Latin genitive (Possessive)
ENGLISH NAME: English translation
AREA: constellation size or area, in square degrees
HEM: position in the celestial sphere:
NH - northern celestial hemisphere - declination between
0° and +90°
SH - southern celestial hemisphere - declination between
0° and - 90°
ALPHA STAR: proper name of the alpha star.

Appendix B
Some Constants
Quantity Symbol Value

280
 Mathematical constants
Pi Π 3.1415926536
Radian Rad. 57º.12957795
3437’.174677
206264’’.80
Number of square degrees 41252.96124
on a sphere
Physical Constants
Velocity of light C 2.99792458 x 1010 cm/s
Constant of gravitation G 6.672 x 10-8 dynes.cm2/g2
Plank’s constant h 6,626 x 10-27ergs.s
Boltzmann’s constant K 1.381 x 10-16 erg/deg
Mass of hydrogen atom mh 1.673 x 10-24 g
Mass of electron me 9.1095 x 10-28 g
Charge on electron e 4.803 x 10-10 electrostatic
units
Stefan-Boltzmann constant σ 5.670 x 10 -5 erg/ cm2 .deg4 .s
Rydberg’s constant R∞ 6.6x10-12
1 electron volt eV 1.60217653x10-19 J
Astronomical Constants
Astronomical unit A.U. 1.496 x 1011 meters
=149,597,870.691 km
Parsec pc 3.0857x1016 m
= 3.08567802× 1013 km
= 206,265 A.U.
Light year ly 9.4605x1015 m
= 9.460536207× 1012 km
= 63,240 A.U.
Tropical year 365.242199 ephemeris days
Sidereal year 365.256366 ephemeris days
Mass of earth 5.977 × 1027 g
Mass of sun 1.9818 × 1038 g
Solar Radius 6.9599x108 m
Solar Luminosity 3.90x1026 W

Appendix c

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 Astronomical coordinate system
One of the basic needs of astronomy, as well as other physical
sciences, is to give reasonable descriptions for the positions of
objects relative to each other. Scientifically, this is done in
mathematical language, by properly assigning numbers to each
position in space; these numbers are called coordinates and the
system defined by this procedure a coordinate system.

The coordinate systems considered here are all based at one

reference point in space with respect to which the positions are
measured, the origin of the reference frame (typically, the location of
the observer, or the center of Earth, the Sun, or the Milky Way
Galaxy). Any location in space is then described by the "radius
vector" or "arrow" between the origin and the location, namely by the
distance (length of the vector) and its direction. The direction is given
by the straight half line from the origin through the location (to
infinity). In the spherical coordinate systems used here, the direction
is fixed by two angles, which are given as follows:

A reference plane containing the origin is fixed, or equivalently the

axis through the origin and perpendicular to it (typically, an
"equatorial" plane and a "polar" axis); elementarily, each of these
uniquely determines the other. One can assign an orientation to the
polar axis from "negative" to "positive", or "south" to "north", and
simultaneously to the equatorial plane by assigning a positive sense
of rotation to the equatorial plane; these orientations are, by
convention, usually combined by the right hand rule: If the thumb of
the right hand point to the positive (north) polar axis, the fingers show
in the positive direction of rotation (and vice versa, so that a physical
rotation defines a north direction).

The reference plane or the reference axis define the set of planes
which contain the origin and are perpendicular to the "equatorial"
reference plane (or equivalently, contain the "polar" reference axis);
each direction in space then lies precisely in one of these
"meridional" planes (or half planes, if the reference axis is taken to
divide each plane into halfs), with the exception of the (positive and
negative) polar axis which lies in all of them by definition.

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The first angle used to characterize a direction, typically the "latitude",
is taken between the direction and the reference plane, within the
"meridional" plane. For the second angle, it is required to select and
fix one of the "meridional" half planes as zero, from which the angle
(of "longitude") is measured to the "meridional" half plane containing
our direction.

It should be noted that this selection of angles to characterize a

direction in a given reference frame is chosen by convention, which is
especially common in astronomy and geography, and which is used
in the following here, as well as in most astronomical databases.
Other, equivalent, conventions are possible, e.g. physicists often use
instead of the "latitude" angle to the reference plane, the angle
between the direction and the "positive" or "north" polar axis (called
"co-latitude"; co-latitde = 90 deg - latitude). It depends on taste at last
what the reader likes to use, but here we will stay as close to
standard astronomical convention as possible. In order to minimize
the requirement of case-to-case enumeration of conventions, we also
recommend the reader to do the same. The different coordinate
systems used are as follows:

The horizontal coordinate system is a celestial coordinate system

that uses the observer's local horizon as the fundamental plane. This
conveniently divides the sky into the upper hemisphere that you can
see, and the lower hemisphere that you cannot (because the Earth is
in the way). The pole of the upper hemisphere is called the zenith.
The pole of the lower hemisphere is called the nadir.

The horizontal coordinates are:

• Altitude (Alt), sometimes referred to as elevation, that is the

angle between the object and the observer's local horizon.
• Azimuth (Az), that is the angle of the object around the horizon,
usually measured from the north point towards the east. In
former times, it was common to refer to azimuth from the south,
as it was then zero at the same time the hour angle of a star
was zero. This assumes, however, that the star (upper)
culminates in the south, which is only true for most stars in the
Northern Hemisphere. The horizontal coordinate system is
sometimes also called the az/el or Alt/Az coordinate system.

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 Figure A 1: HORIZONTAL COORDINATES. Azimuth, from the
North point (red) -also from the South point toward the West (blue).
Altitude, green.

One can determine whether altitude is increasing or decreasing by

instead considering the azimuth of the celestial object:

• if the azimuth is between 0° and 180° (north–east–south), it is

rising.
• if the azimuth is between 180° and 360° (south–west–north), it
is setting.

Equatorial coordinate system is a widely-used method of mapping

celestial objects. It functions by projecting the Earth's geographic
poles and equator onto the celestial sphere. The projection of the
Earth's equator onto the celestial sphere is called the celestial
equator. Similarly, the projections of the Earth's north and south
geographic poles become the north and south celestial poles,
respectively.

Figure A 1: Equatorial Coordinate system

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The equatorial coordinate system allows all earthbound observers to
describe the apparent location in the sky of sufficiently distant objects
using the same pair of numbers: the right ascension and declination.
For example, a given star has roughly constant equatorial
coordinates. In contrast, in the horizontal coordinate system, a star's
position in the sky is different based on the geographical latitude and
longitude of the observer, and is constantly changing based on the
time of day.

Ecliptic coordinate system is a celestial coordinate system that

uses the ecliptic for its fundamental plane. The ecliptic is the path
that the sun appears to follow across the sky over the course of a
year. It is also the projection of the Earth's orbital plane onto the
celestial sphere. The latitudinal angle is called the ecliptic latitude
or celestial latitude (denoted β), measured positive towards the
north. The longitudinal angle is called the ecliptic longitude or
celestial longitude (denoted λ), measured eastwards from 0° to
360°. Like right ascension in the equatorial coordinate system, the
origin for ecliptic longitude is the vernal equinox. This choice makes
the coordinates of the fixed stars subject to shifts due to the
precession, so that always a reference epoch should be specified.
Usually epoch J2000.0 is taken, but the instantaneous equinox of
the day (called the epoch of date) is possible too.

Figure A 1: Ecliptic Coordinate Sysyem

Galactic coordinate system is a celestial coordinate system which

is centered on the Sun and is aligned with the apparent center of
the Milky Way galaxy. The "equator" is aligned to the galactic plane.

285
Similar to geographic coordinates, positions in the galactic
coordinate system have latitudes and longitudes.

Figure A 1: Galactic Coorsinate system. An artist's depiction of the

Milky Way galaxy, showing the galactic longitude relative to the sun.

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 Appendix D

Glossary
Aberration (of starlight). Apparent displacement in the direction of the star due to earth’s orbital motion.
Absolute magnitude. Apparent magnitude a star would have at a distance of 10 pc
Absolute zero. A temperature of -273 C (or 0 K) where all molecular motion stops
Accelerate. To change velocity ; either to speed up , slow down or change direction
Acceleration of gravity Numerical value of the acceleration produced by the gravitational attraction on
an object at the surface of the planet or a star
Accretion Gradual accumulation of mass, as by a planet forming by the building up of
colliding particles in the solar system
Active galactic nucleus A violent event in the nucleus of a galaxy; for example a Seyfert galaxy or a
quasar
Active sun The sun in the times of unusual solar activity- spots, flares, add associated
phenomena
Altitude Angular distance above or below the horizon, measured along the vertical
circle, to the central object
Angstrom (ºA) Unit of length equal to 10-8 cm
Angular diameter Angle subtended by the diameter of an object
Angular momentum A measure of the momentum associated with the motion about an axis or fixed
point.
Antimatter Matter consisting of antiparticles; antiprotons (protons with negative rather
then positive charge), positrons (positively charged electrons), and
antineutrons.
Apparent magnitude A measure of the observed light flux received from the star or object at the
earth.
Artificial satellite A manmade object put into closed orbit about the earth.
Associations A loose cluster of stars whose spectral types, motions, or position in the sky
indicate that they have probably the common origin
Astrology The pseudoscience3that treat with supposed influences of the configurations
and locations in the sky on the sun, moon and planets on human destiny; a
primitive religion having its origin in ancient Babylonia.
Astrometric binary A binary star in which one component is not observed, but its presence is
detected from the orbital motion of the visible component
Astronomical unit (AU) Originally meant to be the semi major axis of the orbit of earth; now defined as
the semi major axis of the orbit of a hypothetical body with the mass and
period that Gauss assumed for the earth. The semi major axis of the orbot of
the earth is 1.000000230 AU
Astronomy The branch of science that treats of the physics and morphology of that part of
the universe that lies beyond the earths atmosphere
Astrophysics A Part of astronomy that deals principally with the physics of the stars, stellar
systems, and interstellar material. Astrophysics also deals with the structure
and atmosphere of the sun
Barred spiral galaxy Spiral galaxy in which the spiral arm begin from the end of a “bar”, running
through the nucleus rather than the nucleus itself
Barycenter A center of mass of two mutually revolving bodies
Be star A spectral type b star with emission lines in the spectrum, which are
presumed to arise from material ejected from or surroundings of star
Big bang theory A theory of cosmology in which the expansion of universe is presumed to have
begun with primeval explosion
Binary star A double star; two stars revolving about each other
Black dwarf A presumed final state of evolution for a star, in which all its energy sources
are exhausted and it no longer emits any radiation.
Black hole A hypothetical body whose velocity of escape is equal to or greater than the

287
 velocity of light; that no radiation can escape.
Bode’s law A scheme by which a sequence of numbers can be obtained that gives the
approximate distances of the planets from the sun in astronomical units.
Bolometric magnitude A measure of the flux of radiation from a star or other object received just
outside the earth’s atmosphere, as it would be detected by a device sensitive
to all form of electromagnetic energy.
Busrter A source of sudden bursts of X rays, believed to be neutron star accreting
mass from a companion star, and suddenly igniting that material in nuclear
explosions.
cD galaxy A supergiant elliptical galaxy frequently found at the Center of the cluster of
galaxies.
Celestial mechanics That branch of astronomy which deals with the motions and gravitational
influences of the member of the solar system
Cephide variables A star that belong to one or two classes (type I and type Ii) of yellow supergiant
pulsating stars.
Ceres Largest of the dwarf planets and first to be discovered.
Clouds of Magellan Two neighboring galaxies visible to naked eyes fron southern latitudes
Cluster of galaxies A system of galaxies containing from several to thousands of galaxies.
Cluster variables (RR Lyrae A member of a certain large class of pulsating variable stars, all with period
variables) less than one day.. these stars are often present in globular star clusters
Color index Difference between the magnitude of a star or other object measured in light of
two different spectral regions, e.g. photographic minus photo visual
magnitudes.
Color-magnitude diagram Plot of magnitudes (apparent and absolute) of the stars in cluster against their
color index.
Comet A small body of ice and dusty matter, which revolves about the sun. when the
comet comes near the sun, some of its material vaporizes, forming a large
coma of tenuous gas, and often a tail
Compact galaxy A galaxy of small size and high surface brightness.
Constellation A configuration of stars named for a particular object, person or animal; or the
area of sky assigned to a particular configuration
Corona Atmosphere of the sun.
Corona of galaxy Extension of the nuclear bulge of the galaxy on the either side of the plane of
the milky way; a region containing hot gases that emit X rays.
Corpuscular radiation Charged particles, mostly atomic nuclei and electrons, emitted into space by
the sun and possibly other objects.
Cosmic background radiation The microwave radiation coming from all directions that is believed to be
(CBR) redshifted glow of big bang.
Cosmic rays Atomic nuclei 9mostly protons) that are observed to strike the earth’s
atmosphere with exceedingly high energy.
Cosmological constant A term that arises in the development of field equations of general relativity,
which represents a repulsive force in the universe. It is often assumed to be
zero.
Cosmological model A specific model or theory of organization and evolution of universe.
Cosmology A study of organization and evolution of universe.
Crab nebula The expanding mass of gas that is the remnant of supernova of 1054.
Dark nebula A cloud of interstellar dust that obscures the light of more distant stars and
appears as an opaque curtain.
Deceleration parameter (qo) A quantity that characterizes the future evolution of the various models of the
universe based on general relativity.
Degenerate gas A gas in which the allowable states for the electrons have been filled; it
behaves according to different laws from those that apply to “perfect’ gases
Density The ratio of the mass of the object to its volume.
Deuterium A “heavy” form of hydrogen, in which the nucleus of each atom consists of one
proton and one neutron.
Differential galactic rotation The rotation of galaxy, not as solid wheel, but so that parts adjacent to each

288
 other do not always stay close together.
Differential gravitational force The difference between respective gravitational forces exerted on two bodies
near each other by a third more distant body.
Diffuse nebula A reflection of emission nebula produced by interstellar matter (not a planetary
nebula).
Disk (of planet or other objects) The apparent circular shape that a planet ( or the sun , or moon or a star)
displays when seen in the sky or viewed telescopically.
Disk of Galaxy The central disk or wheel of our Galaxy, superimposed on the spiral structure
Diurnal Daily.
Doppler shift Apparent change in wavelength of the radiation from a source due to its
relative motion in the line of sight
Dwarf (star) A main sequence star (as oppose to giant or supergiant).
Eccentric The off-center position of the earth in the presumed circular orbits of the sun,
moon, and planets in Ptolemaic system.
Eccentricity (of ellipse) Ratio of the distance between the foci to the major axis.
Eclipse Cutting off of all parts of light of one body by another passing in front of it.
Eclipsing binary A binary star in which the plane of revolution of two stars is nearly edge on to
our line of sight, so that the light of one of the star is periodically diminished by
the other passing in front of it.
Electromagnetic force One of the four fundamental forces of the nature ; the force that acts on
charges and binds the atom and molecules.
Electromagnetic radiation Radiation consisting of waves propagated through the building up and
breaking down of electric and magnetic fields; these include radio, infrared,
light, ultraviolet, X rays and gamma rays.
Electromagnetic spectrum The whole array or family of electromagnetic waves.
Electron A negatively charged sub atomic particle that normally move about the nucleus
of an atom.
Element A substance that cannot be decomposed , by chemical means , into simpler
substances.
Elliptical galaxy A galaxy whose apparent photometric contours are ellipses, and which
contains no conspicuous interstellar material.
Emission nebula A gaseous nebula that derives its visible light from the fluorescence of
ultraviolet light from a star in ior near the nebula.
Energy Ability to do work.
Equation of state An equation relating the pressure, temperature and density of a substance
(usually a gas).
Equator A great circle on earth , 90º from poles
Eruptive variable A variable star whose changes in light are erratic or explosive.
Event A point in four dimensional spacetime.
Event horizon The surface through which a collapsing star is hypothesized to pass when its
velocity of escape is equal to the speed of light, that is, when star become a
black hole.
Evolutionary cosmology A theory of cosmology that assumes that all parts of universe have the
common age and evolved together.
Extragalactic Beyond Galaxy.
Fission A breakup of heavy atomic nucleus into two or more lighter ones.
Flare A sudden and temporary outburst of light from an extended region of solar
surface.
Flare star A member of the class of stars that show occasional, sudden, unpredicted
increase in light.
Fluorescence The absorption of light of one wavelength and reemission of it at another
wavelength; especially the conversion of ultraviolet into visible light.
Flux The rate at which the energy or matter crosses a unit area of a surface.
Force That which can change the momentum of a body, numerically, the rate at
which the body’s momentum changes.
Fusion The building up of heavier atomic nuclei from lighter ones.

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Galactic cluster An “open”: cluster of stars located in the spiral arm s or disk of Galaxy.
Galactic equator Intersection of the principal plane of Milky Way with the celestial sphere
Galactic latitude Angular distance north or south of galactic equator to an object, measures
along a great circle passing through the object and the galactic poles.
Galactic longitude Angular distance measured east or west along the galactic equator from the
galactic center, to the intersection of galactic equator with great circle passing
through the galactic poles and an object.
Galactic poles The poles of the galactic equator; the intersection with the celestial sphere of a
line through the observer that is perpendicular to the plane of galactic equator.
Galactic rotation Rotation of Galaxy.
galaxy A large number of stars; a typical galaxy contains millions to hundreds of
thousands of millions of stars.
Galaxy The galaxy to which the sun and our neighboring stars belong; the Milky Way
is the light from remote stars in the Galaxy.
Geodesic The path of the body in spacetime.
Giant (star) A star of large luminosity and radius.
Globular cluster One of about 120 large star clusters that forms a system of clusters centered
on the center of our Galaxy
Globule A small, dense, dark nebula; believed to be a possible site of star formation.
Gravitation The tendency of matter to attract itself.
Gravitational constant G The constant of proportionality in Newton’s law of gravitation; in metric unit g
has the value 6.627x10 -8 dyne.cm2/gm2
Gravitational energy Energy that can be released by the gravitational collapse of, or partial collapse
of a system.
Gravitational lens A configuration of celestial objects, one of which provides one or more images
of the other by gravitationally deflecting its light.
Gravitational redshift The redshift caused by a gravitational field. The showing of clocks in
gravitational field.
Gravitational waves Oscillations in spacetime propagated by the changes in the distribution of
matter.
Halo (around the sun or moon) A ring of light around the sun or moon caused by the refraction by the ice
crystals of cirrus clouds.
Halo (of galaxy) The outermost extent of our Galaxy or another, containing the sparse
distribution of stars and globular clusters in a more or less spherical
distribution.
Harmonic law Kepler’s third law of planetary motion: the cube of semimajor axis of the
planetary orbits is proportional to the square of the sidereal periods of the
planetary revolutions about the sun.
Hayashi line The track of evolution on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of a completely
convective star.
Helio Prefix referring to the sun.
Heliocentric Centered on the sun.
Helium flash The nearly explosive ignition of helium in the triple alpha process in the dense
core of a red giant star.
Helmholtz-Kelvin contraction The gradual gravitational contraction of a cloud of or a star, with the release of
the gravitational potential energy.
Hertzsprung gap A v shaped gap in the upper part of Hertzsprung-Russell diagram where few
stable stars are formed.
Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R)diagram A plot of absolute magnitude against temperature (or spectral class or color
index) for a group of stars.
Homogenous star (or stellar model) A star (or theoretical model of a star) whose chemical composition is same
throughout its interior.
Horizon (astronomical) A great circle in the celestial sphere 90º from the zenith.
Horizon system A system of celestial coordinates (altitude and azimuth) based on the
astronomical horizon and north point.
Horizontal branch A sequence of stars on Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of a typical globular

290
 cluster of approximately constant absolute magnitude (near Mo=0)
Hubble constant A constant of proportionality between velocities of the remote galaxies and
their distances. The Hubble constant is thought to lie between 50 to 100 km/s
per million persac.
Hubble law The law of redshift
Hydrostatic equilibrium A balance between the weight of different layers , as in a star or the earth’s
atmosphere, and the pressure that support them.
Inferior planets A planet whose distance from the sun is less than the earth’s.
Interplanetary medium The sparse distribution of gas and solid particles in the interplanetary space
Interstellar dust Microscopic solid grains, believed to be mostly dielectric compounds of
hydrogen and other common elements in interstellar space.
Interstellar gas Sparse gas in interstellar space.
Interstellar matter Interstellar gas and dust.
Irregular galaxy A galaxy without rotational symmetry neither a spiral nor elliptical galaxy.
Irregular variable A variable star whose light variations do not repeat with regular period.
Island universe Historical synonym for galaxy.
Jovian planets Any of the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Jupiter The fifth planet from the sun in the solar system.
Kepler’s law Three laws, discovered by J. Kepler’s, that describes the motion of the planets.
Kinetic theory (of gases) The science that treat the motion of the molecules that composes gases.
Latitude A north-south coordinate on the surface of the earth; the angular distance
north or south of the equator measured along the meridian passing through a
place.
Law A statement of order or relation between phenomena that, under given
conditions, is presumed to be invariable.
Law of areas Kepler’s second law; the radius vector from the sun to any planet sweeps out
equal areas in the planets orbital plane in equal interval of time.
Law of redshift The relation between radial velocity and distance of the remote galaxy; the
radial velocities are proportional to distances of the galaxies.
Light Electromagnetic radiation that is visible to eye.
Light curve A graph that displays the time variation in light or magnitude of a variable or
eclipsing binary star.
Light year The distance light travels in vacuum in one year; 1LY = 9.46 x 1027 cm or about
6 x 1012mi.
Limiting magnitude The faintest magnitude that can be observed with a given instrument or under
given conditions.
Local group The cluster of galaxies to which our Galaxy belongs.
Local super cluster The super cluster of galaxies to which the local group belongs.
luminosity The rate of radiation of electromagnetic energy into space by a star or other
object.
Luminosity class Classification of a star according to its luminosity for a given spectral class.
Luminosity function The relative numbers of stars 9or other objects) of various luminosities or
absolute magnitudes.
Magnetic fields The region of space near a magnetized body within which the magnetic forces
can be detected.
Magnetosphere The region around the earth or a planet occupied by the magnetic fields.
Main sequence A sequence of stars on Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, containing the majority
of stars, that runs diagonally from upper left to the lower right.
Major planets A Jovian planet.
Mars Forth planet from the sun in the solar system.
Mass A measure of total amount of material in a body; defined either by internal
properties of the body or by its gravitational influence.
Mass luminosity relation An empirical relation between masses and the luminosities of many
(particularly main sequence) stars.
Mass radius relation (for white A theoretical relation between the masses and radii of white dwarf stars.
dwarfs)

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Mean density of matter in the The average density of the universe if all its matter and energy could be
universe smoothed out to absolute uniformity.
Mechanics A branch of physics which deals with the behavior of material bodies under the
influence of , or in absence of forces.
Mercury The nearest planet to the sun in the solar system.
Messier Catalogue A catalogue of non stellar objects compiled by Charles Massier. In 1787.
Milky Way The band of light encircling the sky, which is due to many stars and diffused
nebulae lying near the plane of Galaxy.
Mira Ceti-type variable star Any of the large class of red giant long period or irregular pulsating variable
stars, of which Mira is a prototype.
N galaxy A galaxy with a stellar appearing nucleus with the reminder of galaxy
appearing as surrounding faint haze. Most or all N galaxies are probably either
Seyfert galaxies or quasars.
nebula Cloud of interstellar gas or dust.
Nebular hypothesis The basic idea that the sun and the planets formed from the same cloud of gas
and dust in interstellar space.
Neptune Eighth planet from the sun in the solar system.
Neutron Star A star of extremely high density composed almost entirely of neutrons
New General Catalogue (NGC) A catalogue of star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies compiled by J.L.E. Dreyer
in 1888.
Newton’s law The laws of mechanics and gravitation formulated by Sir. Issac Newton.
Nova A star that experiences a sudden outburst of radiant energy, temporarily
increasing its luminosity by hundreds to thousands of times.
Nuclear bulge Central part of our Galaxy.
Nucleosynthesis The building up of heavy elements from lighter ones.
O-association A stellar association in which the stars are predominantly of types O and B.
Open cluster A comparatively loose or “open” cluster of stars, containing from a few dozen
to few thousand members, located in the spiral arm of the disk of the Galaxy;
galactic cluster.
Optical binary Two stars at different distances nearly lined up in projection so that they
appear close together, but which are not dynamically associated
Orbit The path of the body that is in revolution about another body or point.
parallax Apparent displacement of the object due to the motion of the observer.
Parsec The distance of an object that would have a stellar parallax of one second of
arc; 1 parsec = 3.26 light year.
Perfect cosmological principle Assumption that on the large scale, universe appears same from every place
and at all the time.
Perfect gas law Certain laws that describes the behavior of the ideal gas; Charle’s law, Boyle’s
law and the equation of state for the perfect gas.
Period density relation Proportionality between the period and the inverse square root of the mean
density for a pulsating star.
Period luminosity relation An empirical relation between the period and luminosities of Cepheid variable
star.
Photo visual magnitude A magnitude corresponding to the spectral region to which the human eye is
most sensitive, but measured by photographic methods with suitable green-
and yellow- sensitive emulsion and filter.
Planet Any of the eight solid bodies revolving about the sun.
Planetary nebula A shell of gas ejected from, and enlarging about , a certain kind of extremely
hot star.
Plank’s constant A constant of proportionality relating energy of photon and its frequency.
Population I and II Two classes of stars (and system of stars), classified according to their
spectral characteristics, chemical compositions, radial velocities, ages, and
location in the Galaxy.
Primeval atom A single mass whose explosion (in some cosmological theories) has been
postulated to have resulted in all the matter now present in the universe.
Primeval fireball Extremely hot opaque gas that is presumed to have comprised the entire mass

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 of the universe at the time of or immediately following the “big bang”; the
exploding primeval atom.
Proton sphere A surface surrounding the black hole
Pulsar A variable radio source of a small angular size that emits radio pulses in very
regular periods that range from 0.03 to 3 seconds.
Pulsating variable A variable star that pulsates in size and luminosity.
Quantum mechanics The branch of physics that deals with the structure of the atoms and their
interactions with each other and with radiation.
quasar A stellar appearing object of very high redshift, presumed to be extragalactic
and highly luminous an active galactic nucleus.
Radio astronomy The technique of making astronomical observations in radio wavelengths.
Radio galaxy A galaxy that emits greater amount of radio radiation than average
Redgiant A large cool star of high luminosity; a star occupying the upper right portion of
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
Redshift A shift to the longer wavelength of light from remote galaxies; presumed to be
produced by Doppler shift.
Reflection nebula A relatively dense dust cloud in interstellar space that is illuminated by
starlight.
RR Lyrae variable One of the class of giant pulsating stars with period less than one day; a
cluster variable.
Satellites A body that revolves about the large one.
Saturn Sixth planet from the sun in the solar system.
Schwarzschild radius See event horizon
Science The attempt to find the order in the nature or to find laws that describe the
natural phenomena.
Seyfery galaxy A galaxy belonging to a class of those with active galactic nuclei; one whose
nucleus shows bright emission lines; one of the classes of galaxies first
described by c. Seyfert.
Solar activity Phenomena of solar atmosphere; sunspots, plages’ and related phenomena.
Solar constant Mean amount of solar radiation received per unit time, by a unit area, just
outside the earths atmosphere and perpendicular to the direction of the sun;
the numerical value is 1.37x 108ergs/cm2.s
Solar nebula The cloud of gas and dust from which solar system is presumed to be formed.
Solar system The system of the sun and the planets, their satellites, the minor planets,
comets, meteoroids and other objects revolving around the sun.
Solar wind A radial flow of corpuscular radiation leaving the sun.
Spacetime A system of one time and three spatial coordinates, with respect to which the
time and place of the event can be specified.
Specific gravity The ratio of the density of the body or substance to that of water.
Spectral class A classification of stars according to characteristics of its spectrum.
Spectral sequence A sequence of the spectral classes of the stars arranged in order of decreasing
temperatures of stars of those classes.
Spectroscopic binary A binary star in which the components are not resolved optically, but whose
binary nature is indicated by periodic variation in radial velocity, indicating
orbital motion.
Spectrum binary A binary star whose binary nature is revealed by spectral characteristics that
can only result from the composite of the spectra of two different stars.
Spiral arms Arms of interstellar material and young stars that winds out in the plane from
the central nucleus of a spiral galaxy.
Spiral galaxy A flattened, rotating galaxy with pin-wheel like arms of interstellar material and
young stars winding out from its nucleus.
star A self luminous sphere of gas.
Star cluster An assembly of stars held together by their mutual gravitation.
Stellar evolution The change that takes place in the size, structures and so on , of star as they
age
Stellar model The result of theoretical calculations of the run of physical conditions in stellar

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 interior.
sub dwarf A star of luminosity lower than that of main sequence star of same spectral
type.
Sub giant A star of luminosity intermediate between those of main sequence star and
normal giants of same spectral type.
sun The star about which earth and other planets.
Super cluster A large region of space (50 to 100 million parsecs across) where matter is
concentrated into galaxies, group of galaxies and cluster of galaxies, a cluster
of cluster of galaxies.
Supergiant A star of very high luminosity.
Superior planet A planet more distant from the sun than the earth.
supernova A stellar outburst or explosion to which a star suddenly increases its luminosity
by from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of time.
Surface gravity. The weight of the unit mass on the surface of the body.
T association A stellar association containing T-Tauri stars.
T Tauri star Variable star associated with interstellar matter that shows rapid and erratic
change in light.
Terrestrial planets Any of the planets Mercury, Venus, earth and mars, and some times Pluto.
Thermal equilibrium A balance between input and outflow of heat in a system
Triple alpha process A series of two nuclear reactions by which three helium nuclei are built up into
one carbon nucleus.
Uranus Seventh planet from the sun in the solar system.
Variable stars A star that varies in luminosity.
Velocity of escape The speed with which an object must move in order to enter a parabolic orbit
about another body (such as earth) and hence move permanently away from
the vicinity of that body.
Venus The second planet from the sun in the solar system.
Visual binary star A binary star in which two components are telescopically resolved.
Voyagers A series of space crafts that were launched by US in 1977 to explore Jupiter
and more distant planets.
Wavelength The spacing of Crests and troughs in a wave train.
Weight A measure of force due to gravitational attraction.
White dwarf A star that has exhausted most or all of its nuclear fuel and has collapsed to a
very small size; believed to be near its final stage of evolution.
Wolf-Rayet star One of the classes of the very hot stars that eject shells of gas at very high
velocity.
X-ray bursters
X-ray stars Stars other than sun) that emit observable amount of radiation at x- ray
frequency.
Zero age main sequence Main sequence for a system of stars that have completed their contraction
from interstellar matter , are now deriving all its energy from nuclear reactions,
but whose chemical composition has not yet been altered by nuclear reactions.
Zodiac A belt around the sky 18º wide centered on the ecliptic.

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 Appendix E

Model Test Paper-1

Note: Attempt all Questions. Total Marks: 100

Section A
Attempt all parts of this question. All parts of the question carry equal
marks.
1. This Question contains 10 objective types/fill in the blank type /
true-false type questions (2X10=20)
1. ______ cannot be defined via other quantities because nothing
more fundamental is known at the present.
The star derives their energy by ______________ conversion.
2. The heliosphere partially shields the _____________, and
planetary magnetic fields.
3. Kepler believed in underlying the harmony in the nature, and he
constantly searched for ___________ relations in the celestial
realm.
4. The three ways in which teat can be transported; by ________,
by __________ and by ______________.
5. ___________ measurements demonstrated the vast separation
of the stars in the heavens.
6. To be truly representative of stellar population a
____________should be plotted for all stars within certain
distance.
7. No nonrotating white dwarf can be ___________ than the
Chandrasekhar limit.
8. Galaxies differ a great deal among themselves but majority fall
into two general classes____________ and ____________.
9. Universe is made up of 74% dark energy, 22% of dark matter
and 4% of __________ matter.

Section B
2. Attempt any three parts of the following: (3x10=30)
a) What do you understand by space science? What was the
golden period of space science?
b) What is a solar system? When it is thought to be created?

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 c) Describe the main characteristics of population I and II stars?
d) What is Kepler’s first law? What correction did the Newton
introduced?
e) What is Eddington Luminosity?

Section C
Attempt all questions. All questions carry equal marks (5x10=50)
3. Attempt any two parts of the following
a) What are metals in astronomy? What is the effect of metallicity
on stellar evolution?
b) How we can differentiate star clusters? What are its different
types?
c) What is a nebula? How do you differentiate from the galaxy?

4. Attempt any two of the following: (2X5=10)

Write the note on:
a) Schwarzschild radius
b) Globular Clusters
c) Open Clusters
d) Associations

5. Attempt any one of the following: (1X10)

a) A cow attempted to jump over the moon but landed into the
orbit around the moon. Describe how the cow could be used to
determine the mass of the moon?
b) What is the significance of dark energy in the fate of the
universe?

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 Model Test Paper-2
Note: Attempt all Questions. Total Marks: 100

Section A
Attempt all parts of this question. All parts of the question carry equal
marks.
1. This Question contains 10 objective types/fill in the blank type /
true-false type questions (2X10=20)
1. There are _________ overall categories in space science
that can generally be described on their own.
The _________ of Planets and _______ of dwarf planets are
orbited by their moons.
2. Most of the material of the solar system that is not a part of
the sun itself is concentrated in the __________.
3. Each planet moves about the sun in a orbit that is an ellipse,
with the sun at one focus of the __________.
4. Using the stellar spectrum, astronomers can also determine
the _____________ temperature, surface gravity, metallicity
and rotational velocity of a star.
5. A substantial number of stars lie above the main sequence
of the H-R diagram in the upper right (cool, highly luminous),
these are called ___________.
6. The structure of the neutron star is analogous to white dwarf
except that neutron stars are much _____________.
7. Typical galaxies range from _________ with as few as ten
million (107) stars up to __________ with one trillion (1012)
stars, all orbiting the galaxy's center of mass.
8. Radiations from Big Bang indicate high degree of
___________ in universe.
Theories of formation of galaxies could be divided into two
categories namely ______________ and _____________.
Section B
2. Attempt any three parts of the following: (3x10=30)
a) What is the role of Milky Way in its Local Group?
b) How solar system is thought to be originated? What are the two
important theories of its origin?
c) What are dwarf planets? Name and give their characteristics?
d) How we can measure the masses of the astronomical bodies?

297
 e) What factors influence the magnetic fields of a star?
Section C
Attempt all questions. All questions carry equal marks (5x10=50)

3. Attempt any two parts of the following

a) How the stars evolve from the main sequence to giants?
b) What is Black Hole? How it is formed?
c) Discuss the properties source of energy of Active Galactic
Nuclei?

4. Attempt any two of the following: (2X5=10)

Write the note on:
a) Elliptical galaxy
b) Spiral Galaxies
c) Barred spiral galaxy
d) Irregular Galaxies

5. Attempt any one of the following: (1X10)

a) Explain Hubble expansion model.
b) How you can establish the reliability of Chandrasekhar's
formula?

298
 Model Test Paper-3
Note: Attempt all Questions. Total Marks: 100

Section A
Attempt all parts of this question. All parts of the question carry equal
marks.
1. This Question contains 10 objective types/fill in the blank type /
true-false type questions (2X10=20)
Most of the large objects in orbit round the sun lie near the orbit of the
earth called ___________
1) The oldest stars contain few_______, while stars born later
have more.
2) If the bodies are permanently associated, their orbit will be
_________. If they are not permanently associated, their orbits
will be ____________.
3) Stars with high rates of proper motion are likely to be relatively
close to the _______, making them good candidates for
parallax measurements
4) Supernova ___________ release an enormous amount of
energy both in electromagnetic radiation and in the form of
violent stellar wind.
5) Novae remain bright for only __________ or weeks and then
gradually fade.
6) _________ matter appears to account for around 90% of the
mass of most galaxies
7) Future of the universe depends on ____________ of the matter
in the space.
8) Ultra-compact dwarf galaxies have recently been discovered
that are only ____________ across.
9) The oldest stars contain few_______, while stars born later
have more.

Section B
2. Attempt any three parts of the following: (3x10=30)
a) What are the major subfields within astronomy?
b) Name the disk like regions of the interplanetary medium?

299
 c) Consider Kepler’s third law as given in section 4.5, carefully
explain why K= 1 when a is measured in astronomical units
and p2 in years?
d) What is Spectral Sequence?
e) What is Jeans Instability?

Section C
Attempt all questions. All questions carry equal marks (5x10=50)

3. Attempt any two parts of the following

a) What is the location of the solar system in the Galaxy? What is
solar system's cosmic year?
b) Suppose Kepler’s law applies to the motion of Jupiter’s satellite
Io round that planet, and that one of the satellite has period of
5.196 times as long as another one. What will be the ratio of
semimajor axes of their orbits?
c) What is the significance of the spectrum of a star in determining
its properties?

4. Attempt any two of the following: (2X5=10)

Write the note on:
(i) Hydrostatic Equilibrium.
(ii) Perfect Gas Law:
(iii) Minimum Pressure and Temperature in Stellar Interior.
(iv) Thermal Equilibrium.

5. Attempt any one of the following: (1X10)

a) What are the different scenarios by which a protostar
condensation may get started?
b) How galaxies are classified?

300