The Sun and Stellar Properties flashcards

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What is meant by “Nuclear fusion” in this lesson?How the Sun Works: Fusion combines light nuclei with energy release under suitable conditions.
What is meant by “Solar core” in this lesson?How the Sun Works: The core is the central region where the Sun's main energy-generating fusion occurs.
What is meant by “Radiative transport” in this lesson?How the Sun Works: Radiative transport carries energy through absorption and emission within relevant stellar regions.
What is meant by “Convection” in this lesson?How the Sun Works: Convection transports energy through moving material.
What is meant by “Photosphere” in this lesson?How the Sun Works: The photosphere is the visible layer from which much observed optical sunlight emerges.
What is meant by “Corona” in this lesson?How the Sun Works: The corona is the hot outer solar atmosphere.
What is meant by “Spectral class” in this lesson?Classifying Stars: A spectral class categorizes stellar spectra and is related to temperature in the standard sequence.
What is meant by “Hertzsprung-Russell diagram” in this lesson?Classifying Stars: An H-R diagram plots luminosity against temperature or a related spectral measure.
What is meant by “Main sequence” in this lesson?Classifying Stars: The main sequence groups stars sustained mainly by core hydrogen fusion.
What is meant by “Giant star” in this lesson?Classifying Stars: A giant has a large radius and differs from a dwarf at similar surface temperature.
What is meant by “Stellar radius” in this lesson?Classifying Stars: Radius helps connect luminosity with surface temperature under a thermal approximation.
What is meant by “Mass-luminosity trend” in this lesson?Classifying Stars: Main-sequence mass and luminosity are related, with the relation depending on range and conditions.
What is meant by “Annual parallax” in this lesson?Measuring Stellar Distances: Annual parallax is apparent positional change from Earth's orbital viewpoints.
What is meant by “Parallax-distance relation” in this lesson?Measuring Stellar Distances: Distance in parsecs equals one divided by parallax in arcseconds under the standard small-angle relation.
What is meant by “Binary-star measurement” in this lesson?Measuring Stellar Distances: Binary orbits can constrain stellar masses with appropriate distance and geometry information.
What is meant by “Variable star” in this lesson?Measuring Stellar Distances: A variable star changes observed brightness over time for various possible reasons.
What is meant by “Cepheid relation” in this lesson?Measuring Stellar Distances: Calibrated Cepheid period-luminosity relationships support distance estimation with relevant corrections.
What is meant by “Distance ladder” in this lesson?Measuring Stellar Distances: A distance ladder links calibrated methods across progressively greater scales.