Physics exam 2 Study Guide

If a star has a parallax of 0.05”, then its distance in light years is about:

Star A and star B both have an apparent magnitude of 7.0, but star A is at a distance of 15 pc and star B is at a distance of 30 pc. Which statement is correct?

Star A and star B both have an absolute magnitude of 2.0, but star A has an apparent magnitude of 5.0 and star B has an apparent magnitude of 7.0. Which statement is correct?

Which physical property of a star does the spectral type measure?

Which of the following is the most common type of star:

The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram plots ____ against the spectral type or temperature:

On the H-R diagram, red supergiants like Betelguese lie:

Having nothing to do with trigonometry, _____ parallaxes use the width of absorption lines to estimate the star’s luminosity and size and distance:

Reflection nebulae usually appear red.

What two things are needed to create an emission nebulae?

A reflection nebula is caused by:

Interstellar dust clouds are best observed at what wavelength?

Shock waves from supernovae disrupt an interstellar cloud and prevent it from forming stars.

What event marks the birth of a star?

What happens when an interstellar cloud fragment shrinks?

A cloud fragment too small to form a star becomes:

Which relationship concerning the mass of protostars is FALSE?

A star (no matter what its mass) spends most of its life:

What inevitably forces a star like the Sun to evolve away from being a main sequence star?

Noting the turnoff mass in a star cluster allows you to determine its:

Unlike supernovae, novae can explode more than once, increasing their luminosity by thousands of times:

Iron is the most stably bonded atomic nucleus:

What produces a type-I supernova?

Nearly all the elements found in nature were formed inside stars, EXCEPT for:

Which type of heavy atomic nuclei are most common, and why?

Which statement about young stars is FALSE:

In a neutron star, the core is:

Which of these does NOT exist?

Which of the following can actually escape from inside a black hole’s event horizon?

A method for identifying a black hole is to:

In the stellar magnitude system invented by Hipparchus, a smaller magnitude indicates a _____ star:

When a star’s visible light passes through interstellar dust, the light we see:

Objects more massive than our Sun form into stars:

A star will spend most of its “shining” lifetime:

Stars gradually lose moss as they become white dwarfs during the:

Stars like our sun will end their lives as:

The source of pressure that makes a white dwarf stable is:

What is the most important property of a star that determines how it will evolve and die?

The region around a black hole from which no radiation can escape is called the:

If the sun was replaced by a one-solar-mass black hole: