Astronomy Chapter 13 Vocabulary – Flashcards

Unlock all answers in this set

Unlock answers
question
Electron Degeneracy Pressure
answer
degeneracy pressure exerted by electrons, as in brown dwarfs and white dwarfs
question
White dwarf limit
answer
the maximum possible mass for a white dwarf, which is about 1.4Msun
question
Accretion disk
answer
a rapidly rotating disk of material that gradually falls inward as it orbits a starlike object (e.g. white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole).
question
Nova
answer
The dramatic brightening of a star that lasts for a few weeks and then subsides; it occurs when a burst of hydrogen fusion ignites ina shell on the surface of an accreting white dwarf in a binary star system
question
White dwarf supernova
answer
A supernova that occurs when an accreting white dwarf reaches the white-dwarf limit, ignites runaway carbon fusion, and explodes like a bomb.
question
Massive star supernova
answer
A supernova that occurs when a massive star dies, initiated by the catastrophic collapse of its iron core
question
Neutron degeneracy pressure
answer
Degeneracy pressure exerted by neutrons, as in neutron stars
question
Pulsars
answer
A neutron star from which we see rapid pulses of radiation as it rotates.
question
X-ray binaries
answer
A binary star system that emits substantial amounts of X rays. thought to be from an accretion disk around a neutron star or black hole
question
X-ray bursters
answer
An object that emits a burst of X rays every few hours to every few days; each burst lasts a few seconds and is thought to be caused by helium fusion on the surface of an accreting neutron star in a binary system
question
Space time
answer
The inseperable, four-dimensional combination of space and time
question
Event horizon
answer
The boundary that marks the "point of no return" between a black hole and the outside universe; events that occur within the event horizon can have no influence on our observable unviverse
question
Schwarzschild radius
answer
A measure of the size of the event horizon of a black hole
question
Singularity
answer
The place at the center of a black hole where, in principle, gravity crushes all matter to an infinitely tiny and dense point
question
Gamma ray bursts
answer
A sudden burst of gamma rays from deep space; such bursts apparently come from distant galaxies, but their precise mechanism is unknown
Get an explanation on any task
Get unstuck with the help of our AI assistant in seconds
New