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Astronomy 2e

Thought Questions

Astronomy 2eThought Questions

Thought Questions

22.

Is the Sun on the zero-age main sequence? Explain your answer.

23.

How are planetary nebulae comparable to a fluorescent light bulb in your classroom?

24.

Which of the planets in our solar system have orbits that are smaller than the photospheric radius of Betelgeuse listed in Table 22.2?

25.

Would you expect to find an earthlike planet (with a solid surface) around a very low-mass star that formed right at the beginning of a globular cluster’s life? Explain.

26.

In the H–R diagrams for some young clusters, stars of both very low and very high luminosity are off to the right of the main sequence, whereas those of intermediate luminosity are on the main sequence. Can you offer an explanation for that? Sketch an H–R diagram for such a cluster.

27.

If the Sun were a member of the cluster NGC 2264, would it be on the main sequence yet? Why or why not?

28.

If all the stars in a cluster have nearly the same age, why are clusters useful in studying evolutionary effects (different stages in the lives of stars)?

29.

Suppose a star cluster were at such a large distance that it appeared as an unresolved spot of light through the telescope. What would you expect the overall color of the spot to be if it were the image of the cluster immediately after it was formed? How would the color differ after 1010 years? Why?

30.

Suppose an astronomer known for joking around told you she had found a type-O main-sequence star in our Milky Way Galaxy that contained no elements heavier than helium. Would you believe her? Why?

31.

Stars that have masses approximately 0.8 times the mass of the Sun take about 18 billion years to turn into red giants. How does this compare to the current age of the universe? Would you expect to find a globular cluster with a main-sequence turnoff for stars of 0.8 solar mass or less? Why or why not?

32.

Automobiles are often used as an analogy to help people better understand how more massive stars have much shorter main-sequence lifetimes compared to less massive stars. Can you explain such an analogy using automobiles?

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