Paper Example on Life Cycle of a Star: From Dust to Brown Dwarfs

Introduction

Stars start their lives as a collection of clouds of dust and gas. The gravitational force then pulls them together to form a small protostar, which often times forms in densely packed clouds of gas, which are challenging to detect. Due to their small mass which is less than 0.08 of the sun's mass. This protostar cannot reach the nuclear fusion stage at their core and instead form brown dwarfs (stars that can never ignite). In the case that the collapsing gas has enough mass to reach the nuclear fusion at the core, the protostar burns hotter, reaching high enough temperatures to fuse two hydrogen atoms resulting in helium (Prialnik, 2004).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The star becomes a main sequence star afterward, which is powered by the fusion of hydrogen atoms. The lifespan of a sequence star depends on its massive size and the core temperatures resulting from gravitational forces from within its nuclear and the external force. The sun has a lifespan of approximately 10 billion years on the main sequence, compared to other stars that are 10 times its size, it shows that the weight of a star does not determine its lifespan. This is because, the stars that are times heavier than the sun, have a significantly smaller lifespan. This indicates their instability and thus they are not stable enough to host life. in this regard, a star can be considered suitable to host life, if it has a long lifespan, to sustain generations without worries of its collapse.

What is a planetarium? What would a planetarium show consist of?

A planetarium is a room with a dome-like shaped ceiling. It has a star projector at the center of the room that is used to shine images of stars and other objects in the night sky on the dome ceiling. Most of the planetariums also have telescopes that are used in exhibiting the space. A planetarium show would consist of shows of stars and other objects present in the sky during the night (Alberti & Shipe, 2004). The show can present objects in the sky, of the present or the past depending with the look of the sky at the time and the viewers' expectations.In this regard, a planetarium can be used to view the sky since it contains important gadgets and instruments like telescopes. The telescopes can be used to look through various exhibits in the sky. Special projectors are also used on demand on a planetarium to show different objects like stars in the sky.

Describe comets and asteroids. What are their features? What do their orbits look like?

Both comets and asteroids were formed early during the formation of the solar system, about 4.5 billion years ago. Comets originated from icy objects beyond Neptune and were knocked out of their zones into the orbits closer to the sun. Conversely, asteroids are minor planets, made of large rocky masses, without atmospheres (Miller, 2006). They are formed as a result of combinations of clay, nickel, iron, and rocks. Asteroids are made of metals and rocky materials whereas comets are made of ice, dust and rocky materials as. The reason for their composition differences is because asteroids were formed much closer to the sun and hence their composition of metallic objects and rocky materials. On the other hand, comets were formed in a farther distance from the sun, where its ice forming properties, would not melt. This is the reason why comets lose weight and materials with every approach on the sun as its ice materials melt away with each orbit closer to the sun. Asteroids orbit the sun in a band of approximately 19.4 million miles wide between Mars and Jupiter. If the asteroid movement is slowed down within its orbit, chances are it will fall towards the sun, Jupiter or Mars. Comets go around the sun in an elliptical orbit. It can take hundreds or thousands of years out in the depths of the solar system before returning to the sun. as the comets approach the sun, it causes their materials to melt and vaporize producing a characteristic tail like a trail that acts as a warning of their presence in the sun's orbit.

What is the importance of learning about celestial bodies?

Learning about celestial bodies is vital. It is a platform that helps in understanding the changing times of the evolving universe. By seeing the look of stars, shows us the look of our planet earth back in time, billions of years in the past. The study of asteroids and comets have saved millions of lives as the impacts and dangers they could pose on the earth can be mitigated and avoided in time before they occur. Incidences of falling comets can be projected and people evacuated from the target areas. The study has been helpful in predicting tornadoes, hurricanes, and typhoon as it also prepares the area to be affected earlier in time to avoid the catastrophic impacts of the occurrences. The study of celestial bodies helps us in understanding our planet earth better and the objects surrounding it in the universe. The study of the unknown in the universe acts as a security measure to the people on earth as it prepares them in predictable eventualities that can be avoided. This study helps scientists determine the reason for the existence of some objects in the universe and their composition as well as the possibility of existing life outside planet earth. The study is a possibility of knowhow on the uncertainties in the universe

Describe at least one research project that has been conducted on the ISS. What was the purpose of the research? If the results are known, what did the study find? Describe the planet Saturn. What is its surface like? What is its atmosphere like? What are its major features?

Human research project species involved included space mice which were among the research work conducted on the ISS. The purpose of this research was to study the resulting difficulties for human health in space exploration. The research results from this experiment were however not yet published. However, from various online sources, I found some factors that affected human life in space exploration which included space radiation, gravity field variation, spacecraft ecosystem and the effects of the long distance from the earth to space among others.

Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun's radius and the second largest in the solar system. It is the farthest planet from earth, which is visible to the naked human eye via a telescope. Saturn's surface is not solid, as it is made up of entirely hydrogen and helium. As one goes into its depth, the density and temperatures change. No one can stand or walk on Saturn's surface, as they would sink into it. Saturn's atmosphere is made up of super-fast winds in the upper atmosphere, this combined with the heat originating from its interior rises the high temperatures up to 1100 mph (1800km/h). Saturn's atmosphere is made of water vapor, which prevents warm air from rising in the short term thus creating a gap between storms that take place in a time span of 30 years. Saturn's major features include its visible rings by the use of telescopes one is able to view them from planet earth. Despite its large size, it has a lower density than water and has an extremely slow orbit.

Provide a brief overview of the history of space exploration leading up to the ISS. Mention and describe at least three named space programs as part of this overview.

From curiosity, humans have always desired to explore space. This led them to the innovation of rockets in the 20th century that was powerful enough to withstand the force of gravity and reach orbital velocities. On Oct. 4, 1957, Soviets launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, into space. These developments occurred in quick successions until 1961 when astronauts were able to send one of their own to space and returned them safely. America's first space station was a human-spaceflight highlighted in the 1970s. these technological advancements lead one from another until the occurrence of the ISS that were executed in 2014 as most of them are yet not yet documented.

There are several space programs carried out by researchers and they included human research, earth and space science, and biology and biotechnology. The practical experiments include headless flatworms, space mice, and putting out the fire experiments. The human research and biology and biotechnology research work targeted establishing factors that affected human life in space explorations.

Describe (you do not need to use numbers) the most common orbital eccentricities for planets. What about other objects in the solar system?

Most objects in space follow oval or 'stretched out circles' in their orbit movements. This shape is referred to as an eclipse by astronomers. Eccentricity is the shape of an eclipse describing how stretched out an eclipse looks like. The smaller the eccentricity of an object in the universe, the more circular like it will be. The earth's orbit is nearly circular as a result of its small orbit. The earth has the smallest eccentricity as it is the closest to the sun, whereas Pluto has the largest eccentricity as it is the furthest from the sun. Eccentricity can be defined as the radius of the orbit of a planet from the sun. the earth has an approximate 0.02 eccentricity compared to Pluto's 0.25. The earth is a little off to one side of its elliptical orbit. For this reason, planets move closer to and further from the sun in every orbit they make around the sun. Perihelion is the closest distance between a planet in its orbit away from the sun.

What is Kepler's third law? Describe what it means for objects in orbit around other objects. Explain using an example of actual orbiting objects.

Kepler's third law states that the square of the orbital period of a planet is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit (Hasan, 2005). This implies, if you square the 'year' of each planet, and divide it by the cube of its distance to the sun, the answer is similar for all planets (Hasan, 2005). An orbit is a path followed by one body such as the moon around another body in an elliptical path as a result of gravitational pull between the two objects (Hasan, 2005). For example, when an object is orbiting the earth, the object can be said to be falling around Earth rather than falling to the ground (falling on to the earth's surface). The earth is curved and not a flat surface. It curves downward approximately 5 meters. If an object is thrown to fall on earth's surface from a given height, the ball would fall along in a curvature shape of the earth, making it orbit the earth as it approaches the ground.

Describe the difficulties to human life in space caused by resource usage. What methods can be used to overcome these issues?

Space Radiation is a hazard to a human mission to the space. It is invisible to the human eye and is considered to be the most dangerous to human life, of all the threats a trip to mass is made of. This radiation exposes one to risks of cancer damages and central nervous system. A significantly long period of confinement with no compromise at the mass exploration exercise and period may affect the behaviors of the involved persons as well as their ability to resume a normal life of socialization back on earth (Haskell, Haskell, & Rycroft, 1996). To mitigate this challenge, space vehicles that are meant to be used in any study on mass must have significant protective shielding and alerts in case of breakage or penetration of radiations. Besides, this can be mitigated by training and supporting the group of crews chosen for research work in space, as well as put measures to ensure they are fully rehabilitated when they arrive back from space.

The distance of space from earth poses a significant effect on the persons at the site of exploration in mars. In case of such exploration, contacts of the medical emergency at...