Astronomy: The Birth, Life and Death of Stars
By Paul Ruffle
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Podcast Description
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are!" How often did we sing that as a child without realising what we were asking? The wonder of how stars are born, live their lives and finally die is revealed in these highly informative discussions between astronomer Paul Ruffle and broadcaster Sara Hinchliffe.
| Name | Description | Released | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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1 |
Part 9: Supernovae | Iron fusion is the end of the road for massive stars. Their core collapses to form a neutron star or black hole, generating an highly energetic explosion of the star's outer layers. This produces shockwaves that can trigger star formation elsewhere. | 8 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
2 |
Part 8: Planetary Nebulae | Helium fusion in red giants generates pulsations that expel more material to produce an AGB star. Heavier elements get caught up in this outflow that eventually becomes a planetary nebula. Ultimately this material is returned to the interstellar medium, increasing its metallicity. | 8 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
3 |
Part 7: Stellar Lifetimes | Our Sun is half way through its 10 billion year lifetime, but massive stars only live for a few tens of millions of years. Towards the end of its life a star will swell into a red giant with a lower surface temperature. | 8 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
4 |
Part 6: Stellar Nucleosynthesis | Stars like our Sun will only ever fuse hydrogen into helium, but more massive stars can fuse heavier elements like carbon, oxygen, silicon and iron. This process provides radiation pressure to support a star's core from gravitational collapse. | 8 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
5 |
Part 5: Stars on the Main Sequence | The colour of stars is related to their temperature, which is dictated by their mass when on the main sequence (of the H-R diagram), where they spend most of their lives. High mass stars are hot and blue, whereas lower mass stars are cooler and redder. | 8 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
6 |
Part 4: Star and Planet Formation | The random motions in a cloud lead to a rotating disk of gas and dust around the protostellar core. A star is born when the core gets hot enough to fuse hydrogen into helium. Planets, asteroids, and comets form from the leftover debris disk. | 8 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
7 |
Part 3: Triggers for Star Formation | Clouds of dust and gas need an external energy input to initiate gravitational collapse. Nearby massive stars provide this as highly energetic solar winds or supernova shockwaves. Surveys using radio telescopes identify such regions of potential star formation. | 8 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
8 |
Part 2: Molecular Clouds | Although the space between the stars looks empty, tenuous clouds of dust and molecular gas in the interstellar medium are the only place where stars can form. Gravity causes these clouds to collapse and eventually form protostars. | 8 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
9 |
Part 1: Introduction | Paul Ruffle explains how he became an astronomer and how he does his research using radio telescopes in far flung places throughout the world. He also discusses how the construction of radio telescopes enables them to be upgraded to improve their sensitivity. | 8 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 9 Episodes |
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