Reach for the Stars

Description (2002 Rules)
"Students will demonstrate an understanding of the basic concepts of mathematics and astrophysics relating to stellar evolution."

For this competition, you may bring ANY resources, including programmable calculators and laptop computers. You need to provide your own scientific calculator at least.

First of all, you need to review the rules. Make sure you are familiar with all the terms used in the rules.

You are asked to use information which includes the following:


 * Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams


 * Spectra


 * Light curves


 * Kepler's laws


 * Energy transfer


 * Impulse-momentum


 * Circular motion


 * Radiation laws (Wien's and Stefan-Boltzmann)


 * Period-luminosity relationship


 * Stellar magnitudes and classification


 * Parallax


 * Slides


 * Photographs


 * Star charts and animations

To complete activities which include:


 * Determine answers relating to stellar birth


 * Determine answers relating to stellar evolution and the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram


 * Determine answers relating to the motions and evolution of star systems


 * Identify and be knowledgeable about multi-wavelength images of the different stages of stellar evolution listed above

following objects...'''
 * '''Identify, know the location, be knowledgeable about, and/or answer questions relating to the stellar evolution of the

Know these pictures!!!: (Harvard's Chandrasekhar X-Ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope are to be credited with these images)

Cas A (Cassiopeia A) - super nova remnant (infrared, optical, radio, and X-ray images)

M1 (Crab Nebula) - Nebula (infrared, optical, radio, and X-ray imagees

Crab Pulsar - fastest pulsar known (30 pulses per second)

Orion Trapezium Cluster - 4 hot young stars in an open cluster in the Orion Nebula

47 Tucanae - globular cluster

Rho Ophiuchi molecular clouds - contain protostars

M4 - globular cluster in Scorpius

LP 944-20 - brown dwarf (no picture available at this time)

Eta Carinae - massive star that is "blowing bubbles" (infrared, optical, radio, and X-ray images)

NGC 6543 (Cat's Eye Nebula) - planetary nebula

Circinus X-1 - X-ray binary (artist's impression)

Mayall II

SS Cygni - variable star (SS Cygni's light curve)

Gliese 229B - brown dwarf

NGC2244? - Rosette Nebula

Familiarize yourself with these pictures, print them out, or put them on your laptop.

Identification certainly is not the most important part of this event but I have found it is it easiest way to begin your study. For the rest of the event, you must study the things mentioned in the table above (make it a checklist if you want). This task is facilitated by Astronomy Today--I have found all the information I have ever needed, either during a test or after a test, in that book

Useful Resources:

Astronomy Today by Eric J. Chaisson Foundations of Astronomy by Michael A. Seeds