Review Questions

How does the mass of the Sun compare with that of other stars in our local neighborhood?

Name and describe the three types of binary systems.

Describe two ways of determining the diameter of a star.

What are the largest- and smallest-known values of the mass, luminosity, surface temperature, and diameter of stars (roughly)?

You are able to take spectra of both stars in an eclipsing binary system. List all properties of the stars that can be measured from their spectra and light curves.

Sketch an H–R diagram. Label the axes. Show where cool supergiants, white dwarfs, the Sun, and main-sequence stars are found.

Describe what a typical star in the Galaxy would be like compared to the Sun.

How do we distinguish stars from brown dwarfs? How do we distinguish brown dwarfs from planets?

Describe how the mass, luminosity, surface temperature, and radius of main-sequence stars change in value going from the “bottom” to the “top” of the main sequence.

One method to measure the diameter of a star is to use an object like the Moon or a planet to block out its light and to measure the time it takes to cover up the object. Why is this method used more often with the Moon rather than the planets, even though there are more planets?

We discussed in the chapter that about half of stars come in pairs, or multiple star systems, yet the first eclipsing binary was not discovered until the eighteenth century. Why?