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Red Clump
The red clump is a clustering of red giants in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram at around 5,000 K and absolute magnitude (MV) +0.5, slightly hotter than most red-giant-branch stars of the same luminosity. It is visible as a denser region of the red-giant branch or a bulge towards hotter temperatures. It is prominent in many galactic open clusters, and it is also noticeable in many intermediate-age globular clusters and in nearby field stars (e.g. the Hipparcos stars). The red clump giants are cool horizontal branch stars, stars originally similar to the Sun which have undergone a helium flash and are now fusing helium in their cores. Properties Red clump stellar properties vary depending on their origin, most notably on the metallicity of the stars, but typically they have early K spectral types and effective temperatures around 5,000 K. The absolute visual magnitude of red clump giants near the sun has been measured at an average of +0.81 with metallicities between &min ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CNO Cycle
In astrophysics, the carbon–nitrogen–oxygen (CNO) cycle, sometimes called Bethe–Weizsäcker cycle, after Hans Albrecht Bethe and Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, is one of the two known sets of fusion reactions by which stars convert hydrogen to helium, the other being the proton–proton chain reaction (p–p cycle), which is more efficient at the Sun's core temperature. The CNO cycle is hypothesized to be dominant in stars that are more than 1.3 times as massive as the Sun. Unlike the proton-proton reaction, which consumes all its constituents, the CNO cycle is a catalytic cycle. In the CNO cycle, four protons fuse, using carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopes as catalysts, each of which is consumed at one step of the CNO cycle, but re-generated in a later step. The end product is one alpha particle (a stable helium nucleus), two positrons, and two electron neutrinos. There are various alternative paths and catalysts involved in the CNO cycles, but all thes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
K Band (infrared)
In infrared astronomy, the K band is an atmospheric transmission window centered on 2.2 μm (in the near-infrared 136 THz range). HgCdTe-based detectors are typically preferred for observing in this band. Photometric system In astronomy, a photometric system is a set of well-defined passbands (or optical filters), with a known sensitivity to incident radiation. The sensitivity usually depends on the optical system, detectors and filters used. For each photometric s ...s used in astronomy are sets of filters or detectors that have well-defined windows of absorption, based around a central peak detection frequency and where the edges of the detection window are typically reported where sensitivity drops below 50% of peak. Various organizations have defined systems with various peak frequencies and cutoffs in the K band, including , and KS, and Kdark. Table 1., Filter sets used at Mauna Kea and the South Pole. See also * Absolute magnitude References Electromagn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UBVRI
__NOTOC__ The UBV photometric system (from ''Ultraviolet, Blue, Visual''), also called the Johnson system (or Johnson-Morgan system), is a photometric system usually employed for classifying stars according to their colors. It was the first standardized photometric system. The apparent magnitudes of stars in the system are often used to determine the color indices B−V and U−B, the difference between the B and V magnitudes and the U and B magnitudes respectively. The system is defined using a set of color optical filters in combination with an RMA 1P21 photomultiplier tube. The choice of colors on the blue end of the spectrum was assisted by the bias that photographic film has for those colors. It was introduced in the 1950s by American astronomers Harold Lester Johnson and William Wilson Morgan. A telescope and the telescope at McDonald Observatory were used to define the system. The filters that Johnson and Morgan used were Corning 9 863 for U and 3 384 for V. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Photometric System
In astronomy, a photometric system is a set of well-defined passbands (or optical filters), with a known sensitivity to incident radiation. The sensitivity usually depends on the optical system, detectors and filters used. For each photometric system a set of primary standard stars is provided. A commonly adopted standardized photometric system is the Johnson-Morgan or UBV photometric system (1953). At present, there are more than 200 photometric systems. Photometric systems are usually characterized according to the widths of their passbands: * broadband (passbands wider than 30 nm, of which the most widely used is Johnson-Morgan UBV system) * intermediate band (passbands between 10 and 30 nm wide) * narrow band (passbands less than 10 nm wide) Photometric letters Each letter designates a section of light of the electromagnetic spectrum; these cover well the consecutive major groups, near-ultraviolet (NUV), visible light (centered on the V band), near-infra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Near Infrared
Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those of red light (the longest waves in the visible spectrum), so IR is invisible to the human eye. IR is generally (according to ISO, CIE) understood to include wavelengths from around to . IR is commonly divided between longer-wavelength thermal IR, emitted from terrestrial sources, and shorter-wavelength IR or near-IR, part of the solar spectrum. Longer IR wavelengths (30–100 μm) are sometimes included as part of the terahertz radiation band. Almost all black-body radiation from objects near room temperature is in the IR band. As a form of EMR, IR carries energy and momentum, exerts radiation pressure, and has properties corresponding to both those of a wave and of a particle, the photon. It was long known that fires emit invis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extinction (astronomy)
In astronomy, extinction is the absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption and light scattering, scattering of electromagnetic radiation by dust and gas between an emitting astronomical object and the observation, observer. Interstellar extinction was first documented as such in 1930 by Robert Julius Trumpler. However, its effects had been noted in 1847 by Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, and its effect on the colors of stars had been observed by a number of individuals who did not connect it with the general presence of Cosmic dust, galactic dust. For stars lying near the plane of the Milky Way which are within a few thousand parsecs of the Earth, extinction in the visual band of frequencies (photometric system) is roughly 1.8 Magnitude (astronomy), magnitudes per kiloparsec. For Observatory#Ground-based_observatories, Earth-bound observers, extinction arises both from the interstellar medium and the Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; it may also arise fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Standard Candle
The cosmic distance ladder (also known as the extragalactic distance scale) is the succession of methods by which astronomers determine the distances to celestial objects. A ''direct'' distance measurement of an astronomical object is possible only for those objects that are "close enough" (within about a thousand parsecs or 3e16 km) to Earth. The techniques for determining distances to more distant objects are all based on various measured correlations between methods that work at close distances and methods that work at larger distances. Several methods rely on a ''standard candle'', which is an astronomical object that has a known luminosity. The ladder analogy arises because no single technique can measure distances at all ranges encountered in astronomy. Instead, one method can be used to measure nearby distances, a second can be used to measure nearby to intermediate distances, and so on. Each rung of the ladder provides information that can be used to determine the distan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bolometric Luminosity
Luminosity is an absolute measure of radiated electromagnetic energy per unit time, and is synonymous with the radiant power emitted by a light-emitting object. In astronomy, luminosity is the total amount of electromagnetic energy emitted per unit of time by a star, galaxy, or other astronomical objects. In SI units, luminosity is measured in joules per second, or watts. In astronomy, values for luminosity are often given in the terms of the luminosity of the Sun, ''L''⊙. Luminosity can also be given in terms of the astronomical magnitude system: the absolute bolometric magnitude (''M''bol) of an object is a logarithmic measure of its total energy emission rate, while absolute magnitude is a logarithmic measure of the luminosity within some specific wavelength range or filter band. In contrast, the term ''brightness'' in astronomy is generally used to refer to an object's apparent brightness: that is, how bright an object appears to an observer. Apparent brightness depen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hertzsprung Gap
The Hertzsprung gap is a feature of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram for a star cluster. This diagram is a plot of effective temperature versus luminosity for a population of stars. The gap is named after Ejnar Hertzsprung, who first noticed the absence of stars in the region of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram between A5 and G0 spectral type and between +1 and −3 absolute magnitudes. This gap lies between the top of the main sequence and the base of red giants for stars above roughly 1.5 solar mass. When a star during its evolution crosses the Hertzsprung gap, it means that it has finished core hydrogen burning. Stars do exist in the Hertzsprung gap region, but because they move through this section of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram very quickly in comparison to the lifetime of the star (thousands of years, compared to millions or billions of years for the lifetime of the star Table 5.2, Figure 5.2.), that portion of the diagram is less densely populated. Full Her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
OU Andromedae
OU Andromedae (also HR 9024) is a rotationally variable star in the constellation Andromeda. Varying between magnitudes 5.87 and 5.94, it has been classified as an FK Comae Berenices variable, but the classification is still uncertain. It has a spectral classification of G1IIIe, meaning that it is a giant star that shows emission lines in its spectrum. It is considered to be on the subgiant branch, contracting across the Hertzsprung gap towards the red giant branch. In 1985, Jeffrey Hopkins ''et al.'' discovered that HR 9024 is a variable star, with a period of ~23.3 days. It was given the variable star designation OU Andromedae in 1986. Paola Testa ''et al.'' reported that the star showed X-ray flare activity, in 2007. Fast rotation The spin rate of OU Andromedae is unusually high for an evolved star of this type, showing a projected rotational velocity of 21.5 km/s. One possible explanation is that it may have engulfed a nearby giant planet, such as a hot Jupiter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stellar Evolution
Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the course of time. Depending on the mass of the star, its lifetime can range from a few million years for the most massive to trillions of years for the least massive, which is considerably longer than the current age of the universe. The table shows the lifetimes of stars as a function of their masses. All stars are formed from Gravitational collapse, collapsing clouds of gas and dust, often called nebulae or molecular clouds. Over the course of millions of years, these protostars settle down into a state of equilibrium, becoming what is known as a main sequence star. Nuclear fusion powers a star for most of its existence. Initially the energy is generated by the fusion of hydrogen atoms at the stellar core, core of the main-sequence star. Later, as the preponderance of atoms at the core becomes helium, stars like the Sun begin to fuse hydrogen along a spherical shell surrounding the core. This process causes the st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
