KNOWING THE UNIVERSE

History and Philosophy of Astronomy

Chris Impey, Distinguished Professor

University of Arizona
History and Philosophy of Astronomy

Module 10 : Stars and Atoms

The Sun
 Powering the Stars
William Thomson, Lord Kelvin (1824—1907)
Mathematician, physicist, and, later engineer
Chemical energy can last 3000 years – too short even for Bishop Ussher!
Gravitational contraction would cause a star to heat up
Kelvin estimated in 1862 that stars could last from 20 to 400 million years
Startlingly long timescale – too long for Kelvin!
But shorter than Kelvin’s estimate for the cooling time of the Earth!
Charles Darwin [1809—1882]
1859 Origin of Species estimated the time for erosion to
have buried fossils to be at least hundreds of millions of years
Charles Lyell’s uniformitarianism in geology also gave similar “deep
time” ages for the Earth
Kelvin insisted that these times were too long – a physics crisis!
The Earth emerged from formation at high temperature and
then cooled quickly
It would eventually become too cool to support life
Hydrostatic Equilibrium
Solar Dynamo
Sunspot Formation
Filaments
 Sun’s Energy Source
Stars are gravity engines. The pressure of gravity in a star’s
core raises the temperature to millions of degrees, so hot
that atomic nuclei move fast enough to overcome electrical
repulsion and “stick” in a process called nuclear fusion. As
fusion is a million times more efficient than chemical energy
so the Sun’s lifetime is consistent with the age of the Earth.

In fusion, the product is slightly lighter than the sum of the

nuclei that went into the reaction. The mass difference is
converted into energy that makes its way out of the star:

E= mc 2 Sunlight!
Why The Sun Shines
Formation
 How Stars and Planets Form

Stars are born in molecular clouds consisting mostly of

hydrogen molecules, with some heavier elements and dust
30 Doradus Zoom
Eta Carina Approach
Eta Carina Entry
Cosmic Element Abundance
Main features are:

H and He are dominant

Second peak at C, N and O

Third peak at Iron

Overall saw-tooth pattern

Extreme rarity beyond Iron

Light element trough

How can we explain this?

 Origin of the Lightest Elements
The lightest elements — hydrogen, helium, and a smattering of
deuterium (heavy hydrogen isotope) and lithium — were from
the big bang itself, produced by fusion in the first three minutes
when the universe was as hot as the core of a star like the Sun!

If no stars had formed in the expanding universe, we would not

be here to have this discussion, since hydrogen and helium can
combine to form…. nothing! Chemistry and biology impossible.
 Stars and Life

To understand the role of biology in the universe, we first

have to look at where the ingredients for life come from.
These are the percentage of atoms in a typical sample of:

The Sun Humans Earth’s Crust

H 91% H 61% O 47%

He 9% O 26% Si 28%
O 0.078% C 11% Al 8%
C 0.033% N 2.4% Fe 5%
Ne 0.011% Ca 0.23% Ca 3.6%
N 0.010% Ph 0.13% Na 2.8%
Mg 0.004% S 0.13% K 2.6%
 Stars and Life

We see that C,N and O are enriched in living organisms by

a factor of 300 relative to the typical stuff of stars and the
universe as a whole, a majority of it in the form of water:

The Sun Humans Earth’s Crust

H 91% H 61% O 47%

He 9% O 26% Si 28%
O 0.078% C 11% Al 8%
C 0.033% N 2.4% Fe 5%
Ne 0.011% Ca 0.23% Ca 3.6%
N 0.010% Ph 0.13% Na 2.8%
Mg 0.004% S 0.13% K 2.6%
Properties
 Stellar Classification
Mary Anna Draper (1839-1914) & Henry Draper (1837-1882)
Wealthy amateur astronomers
Pioneers in astrophotography, especially of photographic spectra
Upon the death of Henry, in 1886 Mary donated their equipment
to the Harvard College Observatory and endowed a research fund
there for work on stellar spectroscopy

Edward Charles Pickering (1846-1919)

Trained as a physicist at Harvard, taught at MIT
Appointed director of Harvard College Observatory in 1877
Pioneered stellar photographic spectroscopy
Invented objective prism spectroscopy
Massive collection of stellar spectra
Needed help to sort and digest this pile of data!
 The Computers
In part because a woman (Mary Draper) donated the research funds, in part because women
could be hired at lower wages than men (50 cents per hour!) and were often willing to work
for free to break into the field, Pickering began hiring women to do the work.

Williamina Fleming (1857-1911)

• Scottish teacher emigrated to US; husband died
soon thereafter leaving her with a son
• Found work as a maid for the Pickerings
• Hired at HCO by Pickering as one of the first
“computers”
• Devised stellar classification scheme based on
strength of H lines in spectra
• Discovered first white dwarf (so recognized)
• In 1898, appointed Curator of Astronomical
Photographs at Harvard College Observatory
Annie Jump Canon (1863—1941)
Attended Wellesley College, studied physics & mathematics
Became a noted photographer
Suffered bad case of scarlet fever in 1893 and became deaf
Enrolled in Radcliffe as “special student,” hired by Pickering
Improved Fleming’s classification scheme, changing it to
reflect temperature as indicated by spectral lines
Created the OBAFGKM
Classified more than 350,000 stars in her career
The Henry Draper Catalog gave 225,300 stellar classifications
to 10 magnitude
Worked with Cecila Payne to determine that the stars were
mostly Hydrogen and Heluim
Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921)
Attended Oberlin College, graduated from Radcliffe and hired
by Pickering
Like Cannon, she was deaf
Worked on photometric catalogs, especially of the Magellanic
Clouds
Discovered 1777 variable stars in the SMC and LMC
Discovered the period-luminosity relation of Cepheid
variables – crucial for measuring the distance to galaxies!
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900—1979)
Urged by Gustav Holst to study music
Instead studied physics and chemistry at Univ. of
Cambridge in England
Turned to astronomy after hearing a lecture by
Eddington on his eclipse expedition
Was not awarded a degree at Cambridge (woman
did not receive degrees there until 1948)
Met Harlow Shapley of HCO who had just started
a graduate program
A fellowship for women to study at HCO enabled
her to enroll
In 1925, first to receive an astronomy Ph.D. from
Harvard (Radcliffe)
In 1956, was the first woman to be appointed a
full professor, became chair of the Department of
Astronomy
 Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram
Ejnar Hertzprung (1873-1967)
Danish physicist and astronomer
Chemical engineer, came to astronomy through photography
Measured proper motions of HD stars, yielding luminosities
Invented "spectroscopic parallax“ line widths predict luminosity
Created first "H-R" diagram, of the Pleiades cluster (all same
distance)
identified two "sequences" -- main sequence and giant branch
Henry Norris Russell (1877-1957)
B.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton
Worked in stellar parallax
Correlated stellar magnitude with spectral type
In 1912, found same behavior in "H-R" diagram as Hertzsprung
Stars evolve by changing their chemical composition
Russell interpreted the H-R diagram as showing that stars began
as red giants and evolved to smaller radii, higher temperatures,
and lower luminosities as they contracted
 Model for Stellar Structure
Arthur Stanley Eddington (1882-1944)
Astronomer, physicist, and mathematician
Plumian Professor at Cambridge
Popularizer of science – science celebrity
1926 The Internal Constitution of the Stars
Eddington Standard Model:
“Equation of state” (EOS): relation between 𝑃, 𝑇, 𝜌, 𝑋
𝑁𝑘
Perfect gas: 𝑃 = 𝜌𝑇
𝜇
𝑎
Radiation gas: 𝑃 = 𝑇4
3
Eddington was very confident in the power of scientific inference. He claimed that
even if humans had lived on a cloud-shrouded planet with no visible night sky, we
would have been able to use physics to predict the existence and properties of stars.
He was also supremely self-confident. Asked in 1919 if it was true that only three
people in the world understood general relativity, he replied: “Who’s the third?”
 Stellar Properties Overview

Luminosity: from brightness and distance

10-4 LSun - 106 LSun

Temperature: from color and spectral type

3,000 K - 50,000 K

Mass: from period (p) and average separation (a)

of binary-star orbit

0.08 MSun - 100 MSun

 Stellar Properties Overview

Luminosity: from brightness and distance

(0.08 MSun) 10-4 LSun - 106 LSun (100 MSun)

Temperature: from color and spectral type

(0.08 MSun) 3,000 K - 50,000 K (100 MSun)

Mass: calculated from period (p) and average

separation (a) of a binary-star orbit

0.08 MSun - 100 MSun

 Mass and Lifetime
Until core hydrogen
(10% of the total) is
nearly all used up
Sun’s life expectancy: 10 billion years

Life expectancy of 10 MSun star:

10 times as much fuel, uses it 104 times as fast

10 million years ~ 10 billion years x 10 / 104

Life expectancy of 0.1 MSun star:

0.1 times as much fuel, uses it 0.01 times as fast

100 billion years ~ 10 billion years x 0.1 / 0.01

High Mass:
High Luminosity
Short-Lived
Large Radius
Blue

Low Mass:
Low Luminosity
Long-Lived
Small Radius
Red
Large Stars: Small Stars:
Giants and supergiants Dwarfs are low mass
are massive stars near stars, either cool and
the end of their lives, on the main sequence
with very hot cores. or hot stellar embers.
Stellar Evolution
George Gamov (1904-1968)
Russian émigré, physicist, popularizer of physics
Defected to US at the 1933 Solvay Conference in Brussels
In 1928, the irst application of quantum mechanics to nuclear system
Liquid-drop model mass formula of nuclear binding energy
Coined “big bang,” proposed big-bang nucleosynthesis

Hans Albrecht Bethe (1906-2005)

Studied in Munich under Sommerfeld
Left Germany in 1933, eventually arriving in Cornell
Lead Theoretical Division of Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project
Later, major anti-nuclear activist
In 1938, published two papers; one on the PP reactions and one on CNO
Quantitative results, quickly adopted by others (Nobel Prize in 1967)
Noted that there were no stable nuclei with mass numbers 5 and 8
Bethe did important work on supernovae, neutron stars, and solar
neutrinos, working well into his 80’s
In 1935, Gamov wrote a paper outlining the future of nuclear astrophysics
Coulomb barrier between two heavy nuclei too large for known temperatures in stars
In addition to α-reactions, suggested looking at (n,γ) and (p,γ) reactions
Especially, the role of neutron capture in building up heavy nuclei
In low mass stars like the Sun, energy comes from the proton-proton chain:
𝑝 + 𝑝 → 2𝐻 + 𝑒 + + 𝜈𝑒
2𝐻 + 𝑝 → 3𝐻𝑒 + 𝛾
2𝐻 + 2𝐻 → 3𝐻𝑒 + 𝑛

This process is only The Sun and every

efficient because other star like it on
quantum tunneling the main sequence
allows the protons gets energy this way.
to overcome strong Total main sequence
electrical repulsion. life: 10 billion years.
 Very
massive
stars are
Luminosity rare

Low-mass
stars are
common

Temperature
 Stars more
massive than
~100 MSun
would blow
apart before
stabilizing
Luminosity

Stars less
massive than
~0.08 Msun
are too cool
to sustain
any fusion
Temperature
 Low mass stars can make carbon

Helium fusion requires higher temperatures than hydrogen

fusion because larger charge leads to greater repulsion

Fusion of two helium nuclei doesn’t work, since beryllium

decays in a tiny fraction of a second, so helium fusion must
combine three He nuclei to make carbon. Less likely – rare!
 High mass stars make heavy elements

Helium-capture reactions add two protons at a time

Advanced nuclear fusion reactions require extremely

high temperatures, several billion degrees at least

Only high-mass stars can attain a high enough core

temperature to create the elements up to iron
Advanced nuclear burning happens in multiple shells,
hotter layers near the core create the heavier elements.
Iron is a dead
end for fusion
because nuclear
reactions using
iron do not
release energy

Iron is the most

stable element;
energy must be
added to have
fusion past Fe
Evidence for
helium capture:

Note the higher

abundances of
elements with
even numbers
of protons (the
saw tooth). It is
caused when a
helium nucleus
with 2 protons
is added.
Secondary peak
at iron, the most
stable element

Elements created
during supernova
explosions and in
rare neutron star
collisions
Cosmic Element Abundance
Cosmic chemistry:

H is fundamental and the He is

fused in the early hot big bang

Elements from C to Fe fused in

moderately massive stars

Elements beyond Fe from SN

blasts and N-star collisions

Sawtooth is He nucleus added,

trough due to unstable atoms

Stars are chemical factories.

The universe is built for life!
Late Stages
 Leaving the Main Sequence
• Lifetime ~ M / L = M / M3.5 = 1 / M2.5 = M-2.5
• The core begins to collapse
• H shell heats up and H fusion begins there
• There is less gravity to balance it, so the shell gets bigger
 Red Giants

• The He core collapses until it heats to 108 K

• He fusion begins ( He  C)
• sometimes called the “triple- process”

 The star, called a Red Giant, is once again stable

 gravity vs. pressure from He fusion reactions
Red Giants

The star divides into a newly dense and hot

core fusing helium into carbon, and a large
envelope of hot gas. In the case of the Sun,
the red giant shell of gas will extend to the
orbit of Mars, and on it way out the gas will
be hot enough to eradicate all life on Earth.
 Planetary Nebulae
• When the Red Giant exhausts its Helium fuel
• the C core collapses
• Low and intermediate-mass stars don’t have enough gravitational
energy to heat to 6 x 108 K (temperature at which C can fuse)
• The Helium and Hydrogen fusion shells overcome gravity
• the outer envelope of the star is gently blown away
• this forms a planetary nebula
A star like our
Sun will die by
puffing off its
outer layers of
gas, creating a
planetary
nebula.

Only a white
dwarf is left, a
cooling ember
slowly eking its
radiation into
deep space.
Planetary Nebulae
In degenerate matter, two particles cannot occupy the same space
with the same momentum (energy)
For very dense solids, the electrons cannot be in their ground states,
they become very energetic---approaching the speed of light
The pressure holding up the star no longer depends on temperature
 Degenerate Stars
Degenerate matter obeys different laws of physics
The more mass the star has, the smaller the star becomes!

The central star of the Planetary Nebula heats up as it collapses

The star has insufficient mass to get hot enough to fuse Carbon
Gravity is finally stopped by the force of electron degeneracy.
The star is now stable…...
End Points
 Limit on White Dwarf Mass
Chandra formulated the laws of
degenerate matter.
• for this he won the Nobel Prize in
Physics
He also predicted that gravity will
overcome the pressure of electron
degeneracy if a white dwarf has a
mass > 1.4 M
• energetic electrons, which cause
this pressure, reach the speed of
light (i.e. they are relativistic)

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1910-1995)

Chandrasekhar Limit
 Degenerate Stars
In the leftover core of a dead star…
• degeneracy pressure supports the star against the gravity
A degenerate star which is supported by:
• electron degeneracy pressure is a white dwarf
• neutron degeneracy pressure is a neutron star
If the remnant core is so massive that the force of
gravity is greater than the neutron degeneracy
pressure…
• there is no physical force that can resist the pull of gravity
• the star collapses out of existence beyond an event horizon
and is called a black hole
• this is the fate of the cores of the most massive stars, only
one in a thousand stars will die this way
A Sun-mass white dwarf is 200,000 x denser than the Earth,
or 109 kg/m3, which equals about 10,000 tons per cubic inch!
 Supernova

• BUT… the force of gravity increases as the mass of the Fe core increases
• Gravity overcomes electron degeneracy
• Electrons are smashed into protons  neutrons

 The neutron core collapses until it

is abruptly stopped by neutron
degeneracy pressure
this takes only seconds
The core recoils and sends the
rest of the star flying into space
 Supernova
The amount of energy
released is so great,
that most elements
heavier than Fe are
instantly created in an
immense blast wave.

In the last millennium,

four supernovae have
been observed in our
part of the Milky Way
Galaxy: in 1006, 1054,
1572, and 1604. Once
The Crab Nebula in Taurus per 100 years is typical
supernova exploded in 1054 so we’re long overdue.
 SN 1987A in the LMC

SN 1987A is the
nearest supernova
to explode since SN 1987 A
the invention of
the telescope; it
was a massive star
that detonated in
a nearby galaxy,
the LMC or Large
Magellanic Cloud,
which is 50,000
kpc, or 170,000
light years away.
during after
Type 1 supernova – binary star system

Type 2 supernova – single massive star

Supernova Explosion
SN Remnant Fly-Through
 Neutron Star Collisions

Since LIGO started we have seen a number of neutron star mergers, when
gravitational waves are generated. The merger is very efficient at “injecting”
neutrons into an atomic nucleus, where they convert into protons and boost
the atomic number. Iron can be turned into precious metals like silver & gold.
 Neutron Stars
…are the leftover cores from supernova explosions.
If the core < 3 M, it will stop collapsing and be held up by
neutron degeneracy pressure.
Neutron stars are very dense (1012 g/cm3 )
– 1.5 M with a diameter of 10 to 20 km
They rotate very rapidly: Period = 0.0003 to 4 sec
Their magnetic fields are 1013 times stronger than Earth’s.
Earth’s magnetic field 1 Gauss
Refrigerator magnet 100 Gauss
Sunspot 1000 Gauss
White dwarf 106 Gauss
Neutron star 1012 Gauss
Magnetar 1015 Gauss

Chandra X-ray image of the neutron

star left behind by a bright supernova
observed in A.D. 386 by the Chinese.
 Pulsars
In 1967, graduate student Jocelyn Bell and her
advisor Dr. Anthony Hewish accidentally
discovered a radio source in Vulpecula.
It was a sharp pulse which recurred every 1.3
seconds, more accurate than any known clock.
They determined it was 300 pc away.
They called it a pulsar, but what was it?

Jocelyn Bell

Light Curve of Jocelyn

Bell’s discovery pulsar
Pulsar
The most famous pulsar is in the heart of the Crab Nebula
The Crab Nebula in X-rays and optical
 Pulsars and Neutron Stars

PSR 0329+54 1.4 rev/s

PSR 0532+21 33.1 rev/s

PSR 1937+21 642 rev/s

 Pulsars and Neutron Stars

PSR 0329+54 1.4 rev/s

PSR 0532+21 33.1 rev/s

PSR 1937+21 642 rev/s

 Pulsars show timing “glitches”
when the neutron crust gets
altered in a quake, releasing
prodigious amounts of X-rays
and blinding X-ray satellites.

Schematic view of a neutron star,

where each patch is 30x30 degrees.
Gravitational deflection means that
more than half the surface is visible.
 Pulsar Planets
Pulsar timing can be
used to find planets
(very unlikely to be
habitable). In 1992,
three planets were
discovered in orbit
of the 10,000 rpm
pulsar PSR1257+12,
three years before
the “first” planet,
51 Peg, discovery.

4.3 Earth mass, 66 days

3.9 Earth mass, 98 days
0.02 Earth mass, 22 days PSR B1257+12
 Black Holes
Einstein’s view of space involves very
complex mathematics, using tensors
and 2nd order differential equations.
For weak gravity, results are identical
to Newton’s theory, but when gravity
is strong, it gives much better results.
It’s hard enough to do real problems
so only ideal situations have solutions.

Einstein’s triumphs: Gravitational lensing by the Sun in 1919, the Orbit of

Mercury (closest planet to Sun). Since then, precision tests all passed with
flying colors by the theory. It was recently tested by NASA’s Gravity Probe B.
Space is curved by the presence of mass and energy
 Defining a Black Hole
A black hole is any object with
an escape velocity greater than
the speed of light. The sphere
at this radius is called the event
horizon. This is an information
barrier rather than a physical
barrier. The center of a black
hole is called a singularity.

Earth: escape velocity = 11 km/sec

Sun: escape velocity = 600 km/sec
Black hole: escape velocity = 300,000 km/sec
 Warping of Space by Gravity

Space, time, and people (!) get stretched near the event horizon
Falling into a Black Hole
Shine On You Crazy Diamond
 Shine on you Crazy Diamond (Pink Floyd, 1975)
Main sequence
Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun. Carbon-rich
Shine on you crazy diamond. white dwarf
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond. End state of
You were caught on the cross fire of childhood and stardom, massive star
blown on the steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter, come on you stranger,
you legend, you martyr, and shine!

Nobody knows where you are, how near or how far. Difficulty of
Shine on you crazy diamond. stellar parallax
Pile on many more layers and I'll be joining you there. Recycling of life
Shine on you crazy diamond. elements to ISM
And we'll bask in the shadow of yesterday's triumph,
and sail on the steel breeze. Onion-skin model
Come on you boy child, you winner and loser, of the red giants
come on you miner for truth and delusion, and shine! Dark stages after
the end of fusion
Metals ejected by
a supernova wind
History and Philosophy of Astronomy

Module 10 : The End