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Astronomy

For Further Exploration

AstronomyFor Further Exploration

Articles

Balick, B. & Frank, A. “The Extraordinary Deaths of Ordinary Stars.” Scientific American (July 2004): 50. About planetary nebulae, the last gasps of low-mass stars, and the future of our own Sun.

Djorgovsky, G. “The Dynamic Lives of Globular Clusters.” Sky & Telescope (October 1998): 38. Cluster evolution and blue straggler stars.

Frank, A. “Angry Giants of the Universe.” Astronomy (October 1997): 32. On luminous blue variables like Eta Carinae.

Garlick, M. “The Fate of the Earth.” Sky & Telescope (October 2002): 30. What will happen when our Sun becomes a red giant.

Harris, W. & Webb, J. “Life Inside a Globular Cluster.” Astronomy (July 2014): 18. What would night sky be like there?

Iben, I. & Tutokov, A. “The Lives of the Stars: From Birth to Death and Beyond.” Sky & Telescope (December 1997): 36.

Kaler, J. “The Largest Stars in the Galaxy.” Astronomy (October 1990): 30. On red supergiants.

Kalirai, J. “New Light on Our Sun’s Fate.” Astronomy (February 2014): 44. What will happen to stars like our Sun between the main sequence and the white dwarf stages.

Kwok, S. “What Is the Real Shape of the Ring Nebula?” Sky & Telescope (July 2000): 33. On seeing planetary nebulae from different angles.

Kwok, S. “Stellar Metamorphosis.” Sky & Telescope (October 1998): 30. How planetary nebulae form.

Stahler, S. “The Inner Life of Star Clusters.” Scientific American (March 2013): 44–49. How all stars are born in clusters, but different clusters evolve differently.

Subinsky, R. “All About 47 Tucanae.” Astronomy (September 2014): 66. What we know about this globular cluster and how to see it.

Websites

Encylopedia Britannica Article on Star Clusters: http://www.britannica.com/topic/star-cluster. Written by astronomer Helen Sawyer Hogg-Priestley.

Hubble Image Gallery: Planetary Nebulae: Go to https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/ and in the search box enter "planetary nebulae". See also a similar gallery from NOIRLab: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/. (Again, enter "planetary nebulae" in the search box.)

"Hubble Image Gallery: Star Clusters: Go to https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/ and in the search box enter "star clusters". (See also a similar European Southern Observatory Gallery at: https://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/starclusters/).

Measuring the Age of a Star Cluster: https://www.e-education.psu.edu/astro801/content/l7_p6.html. From Penn State.

Videos

Life Cycle of Stars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM9CQDlQI0A. Short summary of stellar evolution from the Institute of Physics in Great Britain, with astronomer Tim O’Brien (4:58).

Missions Take an Unparalleled Look into Superstar Eta Carinae: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rJQi6oaZf0. NASA Goddard video about observations in 2014 and what we know about the pair of stars in this complicated system (4:00).

Star Clusters: Open and Globular Clusters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGPRLxrYbYA. Three Short Hubblecast Videos from 2007–2008 on discoveries involving star clusters (12:24).

Tour of Planetary Nebula NGC 5189: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D2cwiZld0o. Brief Hubblecast episode with Joe Liske, explaining planetary nebulae in general and one example in particular (5:22).

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