Explorations: An Introduction to Astronomy (Arny), 7th Edition

Chapter 13: Measuring the Properties of Stars

Questions for Review

1
Describe the method of distance measurement by triangulation.
2
How do astronomers triangulate a star's distance?
3
How is the parsec defined? How big is a parsec compared with a light-year?
4
How do astronomers measure a star's temperature?
5
What do astronomers mean by an inverse-square law?
6
What is luminosity? What two characteristics of a star determine its luminosity?
7
What does a star's magnitude measure? Which is brighter, a star of magnitude 1 or a star of magnitude 3?
8
What are the stellar spectral types? Which are hot and which cool?
9
Why do stars have dark lines in their spectra?
10
What is different about the spectra of different types of stars?
11
What is a binary star? How are they useful to astronomers?
12
How do visual and spectroscopic binaries differ?
13
What is an eclipsing binary? What can be learned from eclipsing binaries?
14
What is the H-R diagram? What are its axes?
15
What is the main sequence?
16
How do we know that giant stars are big and dwarf stars are small?
17
How does mass vary along the main sequence?
18
What is the mass-luminosity relation?
19
What is a standard candle and how is it used?
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