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Stars and Galaxies

Dive into the wonders of the universe with this educational PowerPoint from the Lunar and Planetary Institute. Learn about our place in the cosmos, the electromagnetic spectrum, star classification, galaxy types, and more. Discover the mysteries of star clusters, nebulae, and the vastness of our Milky Way galaxy. Explore stunning images of spiral, elliptical, and irregular galaxies, and gain insights into the components that make up our universe. Engage in activities and assessments to enhance your understanding of space science in a fun and interactive way. Take a journey through the cosmos and expand your knowledge of the celestial realm.

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Stars and Galaxies

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  1. Stars and Galaxies Created by the Lunar and Planetary Institute For Educational Use Only LPI is not responsible for the ways in which this powerpoint may be used or altered. Space Science for Middle School at HCDE February 20, 2009 Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/galaxy/spiral/2009/07/image/g/results/50/

  2. Welcome! • Please complete the pre-assessment • It’s for us—it’s not about you • Please let us know how much YOU know, not how much your friends sitting next to you know

  3. What are we going to cover? • Our Place in the Universe • The Electromagnetic Spectrum • Classifying Stars • Classifying Galaxies • History of the Universe

  4. First up… • Our Place in the Universe • What is our Universe made of? • How big are things? How far away? • How do we know?

  5. What is our Universe made of? • Stars and planets • Gas and dust • Organized into star clusters • Organized into nebulae • Organized into galaxies • Other things: • Black holes • Dark matter • Dark energy What was in your drawing? Image from http://galileo.rice.edu/lib/student_work/astronomy95/orionpleiades.html

  6. Activity!! • Use the Venn diagrams to place the stickers—where does everything go? • After you’re finished, let’s discuss…

  7. Examining the Components • Stars • Gas and dust (Nebulae) • Star clusters • Galaxies

  8. Different types of stars Image from http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/star%20cluster/globular/2003/21/image/a/results/50/

  9. Types of Stars • Big • Small • Red • Blue • Yellow • In groups • Alone • More later

  10. What is a “star cluster”? • stars formed together at same time • stars may be gravitationally bound together • two types: open (galactic) and globular Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/star%20cluster/globular/2007/18/image/a/format/web/results/50/

  11. Open Clusters • dozens to thousands of stars • young stars! only a few million years old • may still be surrounded by nebula from which they formed • located in the spiral arms of a galaxy • example: Pleiades Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/star%20cluster/open/2004/20/image/a/results/50/

  12. More open star clusters Image from http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/star%20cluster/open/2006/17/image/a/results/50/

  13. Globular Clusters • millions to hundreds of millions of stars • old! 6 to 13 billion years • mostly red giants and dwarfs • stars are clumped closely together, especially near the center of the cluster (densely) • surround our disk as a halo Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/star%20cluster/globular/1999/26/image/a/results/50/

  14. What is a “nebula”? • A cloud in space • Made of gas and dust • Can have stars inside • Most of the ones we see are inside our Milky Way Galaxy • Different types Orion image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2006/01/image/a/results/50/

  15. Large, massive, bright nebulae • Emission Nebula • The hot gas is emitting light Orion image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2006/01/image/a/results/50/

  16. Colder, darker nebulae Dark dust blocking the hot gas behind it NOAO/AURA/NSF Image from http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/dark/2001/12/image/c/results/50/

  17. Leftovers from an Explosion Supernova remnant (smaller, less gas) Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/supernova-remnant/2005/37/results/50/

  18. What is a “galaxy”? • A large group of stars outside of our own Milky Way • Made of billions to trillions of stars • Also may have gas and dust • Spiral, or elliptical, or irregular shaped Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/galaxy/spiral/2007/41/results/50/

  19. Spiral galaxy--Andromeda NOAO/AURA/NSF Images at http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0606.html and http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0685.html

  20. Elliptical Galaxies Images at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/galaxy/elliptical/2007/08/image/a/format/large_web/results/50/and http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/galaxy/elliptical/1995/07/results/50/

  21. Irregular Galaxies NASA and NOAO/AURA/NSF Images at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/galaxy/irregular/2005/09/results/50/ , http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0560.html , and http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0993.html

  22. Our Galaxy: the Milky Way • has about 200 billion stars, and lots of gas and dust • is a barred-spiral (we think) • about 100,000 light-years wide • our Sun is halfway to the edge, revolving at half a million miles per hour around the center of the Galaxy • takes our Solar System about 200 million years to revolve once around our galaxy

  23. The Milky Way Image at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/1945371.html

  24. Mapping the Milky Way How do we know what our Galaxy looks like? We can see stars • star clusters • nebulae • Galaxies • Let’s try to Map our Galaxy

  25. Measuring Distances • Parallax (let’s model it) • As Earth orbits the Sun, we see nearby stars move relative to more distant stars • How many degrees did the plate move, relative to the background? • Can you calculate the distance to the plate? • Sine of the parallax (angle) x Earth’s distance to the Sun = Distance to the star • The angles involved for strellar observations are very small and difficult to measure. Proxima Centauri, has a parallax of 0.77 arcsec. This angle is approximately the angle subtended by an object about 2 centimeters in diameter located about 5.3 kilometers away.

  26. Measuring Distances • What is a Light Year? • A light year is the distance light travels in a year. Light moves at a velocity of about 300,000 kilometers (km) each second; how far would it move in a year? • About 10 trillion km (or about 6 trillion miles). • Why do we use light years? • Show me how far 5 centimeters is. • Now show me 50 centimeters. • Now tell me (without thinking about it, or calculating it in meters) how far 500 centemeters is. 2000? 20,000? • We need numbers that make sense to us in relationship to objects; we scale up and use meters and kilometers for large numbers.

  27. Time for a Break! Next Up • Our Place in the Universe • The Electromagnetic Spectrum • Classifying Stars • Classifying Galaxies • History of the Universe

  28. Let’s check your knowledge • Please draw an electromagnetic spectrum on a sheet of paper, and label the parts. • You can work in groups.

  29. Radiation • There are lots of types of light (radiation), including visible and invisible Electromagnetic spectrum http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/ir_tutorial/what_is_ir.html .

  30. Let’s Observe A Spectrum • What will the spectrum look like with a red filter in front of your eyes? A blue filter? • Hypothesize and test your hypothesis. • Now let’s examine the invisible parts—using our cell phones and a solar cell.

  31. There are different types of spectra • Continuous • Emission or Bright Line (from ionized gas, like a nebula or a neon sign) • Absorption or dark line (from stars) Illustration at http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/how_l1/spectra.html

  32. Radiation • All stars emit radiation • Radio, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-ray and even some gamma rays • Most sunlight is yellow-green visible light or close to it The Sun at X-ray wavelengths Image at http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/sun.html Image and info at http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/gammaraybursts/imagine/page18.html .

  33. Using a Star’s Spectrum • We can use a star’s spectrum to classify it. NOAO/AURA/NSF image at http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010530.html

  34. Stellar Evolution

  35. Time to Create a Stellar Graph • Everyone will receive several “stars” • Place them on the large paper, according to their color and their brightness • This is a version of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.

  36. Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram Images from http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2007/spectrum_plants.html and http://sunearthday.gsfc.nasa.gov/2009/TTT/65_surfacetemp.php

  37. Young stars form in nebulaefrom Small Magellanic Cloud Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2007/04/image/a/results/50/

  38. Star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/31/image/a/results/50/

  39. Orion image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2006/01/image/a/results/50/

  40. Interstellar “eggs” Movie at http://www.stsci.edu/EPA/PR/95/44/M16.mpg

  41. Our Sun is a Regular/ Small Star On the “Main Sequence” Image at http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20011210insidesun.html

  42. In a few Billion years… Red Giant Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1997/26/image/a/

  43. Our Sun’s Habitable Zone Billions of years ago, things may have been different • The Sun was cooler (by up to 30%!) • Earth’s atmosphere was different (thicker, carbon dioxide) • Conditions will be different in the future • By many accounts, increases in the Sun’s temperature will make Earth uninhabitable in 1 billion years or less • These changes will also affect other planets… Mars? Animation at http://www.nasa.gov/97994main_BHabitableZone.MPG

  44. By 5 billion years… White Dwarf Small, but very hot Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/planetary/1998/39/results/50/

  45. Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/planetary/2000/28/image/a/format/web_print/results/50/

  46. Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/planetary/2004/27/image/a/format/large_web/results/50/

  47. Massive Stars are different On the “Main Sequence” but not for long Image from http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/emission/1997/33/results/50/

  48. Betelgeuse—Red Supergiant Image from http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/star/massive%20star/1996/04/image/a/results/50/

  49. Supernova—Massive Star Explodes Images at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/star/supernova/2004/09/results/50/http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/supernova-remnant/2005/37/results/50/ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/casa/

  50. Neutron Star or Pulsar Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/supernova-remnant/2002/24/results/50/

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