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Feb 2006
41m 19s

Lecture 21: Testing Stellar Evolution

Richard Pogge
About this episode
What are our observational tests of Stellar Evolution? This lecture discusses how we use Hertzsprung-Russell Diagrams of star clusters to test stellar evolution theory, and some of the conclusions we have drawn. In particular, we will see how the age of a star cluster can be estimated from the Main-Sequence Turn-Off for the cluster. We also introduce Ope ... Show More
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Feb 2006
Lecture 20: Black Holes
What happens if even Neutron Degeneracy pressure is insufficient to halt the collapse of gravity? In that case, the object simply collapses in upon itself, approaching a state of infinite density. Such an object has such strong gravity that nothing, not even light can escape from ... Show More
43m 15s
Jan 2006
Lecture 19: Extreme Stars: White Dwarfs & Neutron Stars
What happens to the cores left behind at the end of a star's life? This lecture introduces these stellar remnants: White Dwarfs (remnants of low-mass stars held up by Electron Degeneracy Pressure), and Neutron Stars (remnant cores of core-bounce supernovae held up by Neutron Dege ... Show More
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Jan 2006
Lecture 18: Supernovae
Once a massive star builds a massive Iron/Nickel core at the end of the Silicon Burning day, it is doomed. A catastrophic core collapse is followed by explosive ejection of the envelope in a Supernova. This lecture describes the stages of a core-bounce supernova explosion, and th ... Show More
41m 21s
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