When you have completed this chapter you should be able to: 1. Describe how analyzing the spectrum of a star can provide information on the star's structure, temperature, composition, condition of matter, magnetism, and motion.
2. State what is meant by the photosphere of the sun.
3. Explain why solar energy cannot come from combustion.
4. Identify the basic process that gives rise to solar energy.
5. Describe how the elements more massive than hydrogen are created and distributed throughout the universe.
6. Describe the appearance in the sky and the origin of auroras.
7. Discuss sunspots, the sunspot cycle, and some effects on the earth that are correlated with sunspot activity.
8. Define light-year.
9. Describe the parallax method of finding the distance to a star.
10. Describe how the distance to a star can be found by comparing its apparent and intrinsic brightness.
11. Explain why Cepheid variable stars are useful in finding the distance of a star group.
12. Describe how the mass and size of a star can be found.
13. Account for the relatively small range of stellar masses.
14. State what a brown dwarf is.
15. Interpret in terms of stellar structure the observation that nearly all stars have absorption (dark line) spectra.
16. State what is plotted on a Hertzsprung-Rusell (H-R) diagram.
17. Draw an H-R diagram and indicate the positions of main-sequence stars, red giants, and white dwarfs.
18. Compare the properties of red giants and white dwarf stars.
19. Outline the life history of an average star like the sun.
20. Outline the life history of a very massive star.
21. State what a supernova is.
22. Define neutron star and pulsar and discuss the connection between them.
23. Describe what black holes are and explain how they can be detected.