12.1: Module Introduction
I like the night. Without the dark, we’d never see the stars.
Stephenie Meyer
Twilight
“I think that we sare like stars. Something happens to burst us open; but when we burst open and think we are dying; we’re actually turning into a supernova. And then when we look at ourselves again, we see that we’re suddenly more beautiful than we ever were before!”
C. JoyBell C.
This module looks at how stars form and develop over time, including the less-massive stars, like the Sun, and more-massive stars.
Objectives
Upon completion of this module, the student will be able to:Upon completion of this module, the student will be able to:
- Define the biology-like terms astronomers use when describing stars.
- Identify the characteristics of low-mass stars.
- Describe how white dwarfs, novae, and Type 1a supernovae are formed in low-mass stars.
- Identify the characteristics of high-mass stars.
- Describe how neutron stars, supernovae, and black holes are formed in high-mass stars.
- Define GRBs.
- Describe GRB characteristics