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Thread: Astronomy Question and some story planning related

  1. #1
    The Son of a Submariner: Edgar's Avatar
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    Default Astronomy Question and some story planning related

    I was gonna create a 'project' regarding essay writings (novels). I was in the process of planning 'how the world is formed' part when I got stuck.



    I was assuming that when the sun dies, it created a powerful supernova, sort of almost destroying the other planets for the planets have some magical abilities (which I would not explain how these 'shields' come about). However, that ultra-supernova had really What happens to the Sun when it dies?

    1) does it explode/implode?
    2) after the explosion/implosion, what happens?
    3) Atomic (if any) processes (as in the atomic formation, vibration, reaction, etc) leading to the explosion/implosion.affected the planets deeply

    Let put it in other words, if not for the 'shields' the planets would be destroyed instantly. Instead, now they had withheld the supernova, but to no avail for they are now dying due to the blast.

    These planets soon began to throw their life forces away for it is dying (again, I will not go into details).

    Now the questions come into place. After the death of the sun, I would assume that it turned into something like the Black Hole, 'devouring' the planets and sucking up their life forces, forming 3 beings due to the reaction caused by the combination of mana and atomic AND chemical reaction (frankly, I haven't decided that part yet, but heck, for some reason, 3 beings were formed :P)

    These 3 beings were the so-called 'gods'

    But back to the topic:

    What happens to the Sun when it dies?

    1) does it explode/implode?
    2) after the explosion/implosion, what happens?
    3) Atomic (if any) processes (as in the atomic formation, vibration, reaction, etc) leading to the explosion/implosion.

    Maybe I could shift things here and there, distorting certain facts and such. But my essay would be something that connects the actually world and that world. I'm heavily considering the formation of humans at the moment (No, not created by gods or morphed from apes :P).

    Ideas, are welcome of course

  2. #2
    Prinny God Recognized Member Endless's Avatar
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    <3 Google.

    From the <a href="http://www.astro.cornell.edu/courses/astro201/evol_sun.htm">Astro 201</a> course at Cornell:

    <h1> The Evolution of the Sun</h1>

    <ul>
    <li><p> A cloud of gas and dust begins to contract under the force of gravity.
    In regions of <a href="star_birth.htm">star birth</a>, we find gaseous nebulae
    and molecular clouds.
    These sites of pre-birth are dark patches called globules.</p>

    <li><p> The protosun collapsed. As it did, its temperature rose to about
    150,000 degrees and the sun appeared very red. Its radius was about 50 present
    solar radii.</p>

    <li><p> When the central temperature reaches 10 million degrees, nuclear
    burning of hydrogen into helium commences.</p>

    <li><p> The star settles into a stable existence on the Main Sequence, generating
    energy via <a href="hydrogen_burn.htm">hydrogen burning</a>.
    This is the longest single stage in the evolutionary
    history of a star, typically lasting 90% of its lifetime.
    <a href="fusion_control.htm"> Thermonuclear fusion</a>
    within the Sun is a stable process, controlled by its
    internal structure. </p>

    </ul>
    <table width=800>
    <tr>
    <td width=500>
    <ul>
    <li><p> The hydrogen in the core is completed burned into helium nuclei.
    Initially, the temperature in the core is not hot enough to ignite helium
    burning. With no additional fuel in the core, fusion dies out. The core cannot
    support itself and contracts; as it shrinks, it heats up. The rising
    temperature in the core heats up a thin shell around the core until the
    temperature reaches the point where hydrogen burning ignites in this
    shell around the core. With the additional energy generation in the H-burning
    shell, the outer layers of the star expand but their temperature decreases
    as they get further away from the center of energy generation.
    This large but cool star is now a <b> red giant</b>, with a surface temperature
    of 3500 degrees and a radius of about 100 solar radii.</p>

    <li><p> The helium core contracts until its temperature reaches about
    100 million degrees. At this point, <a href="helium_burn.htm">helium burning</a>
    ignites, as helium is
    converted into carbon (C) and oxygen (O). However, the core cannot
    expand as much as required to compensate for the increased energy
    generation caused by the helium burning. Because the expanion does not
    compensate, the temperature stays very high, and the helium burning proceeds
    furiously. With no safety valve, the helium fusion is uncontrolled and
    a large amount of energy is suddenly produced. This <b> helium flash </b>
    occurs within a few hours after helium fusion begins.</p.

    <li><p> The core explodes, the core temperature falls and the core contracts
    again, thereby heating up. When the helium burns now, however, the reactions
    are more controlled because the explosion has lowered the density enough.
    Helium nuclei fuse to form carbon, oxygen, etc..</p>

    <li><p> The star wanders around the red giant region, developing its
    distinct layers, eventually forming a carbon-oxygen core.</p>

    <li><p> When the helium in the core is entirely converted into C, O, etc.,
    the core again contracts, and thus heats up again. In a star like the
    Sun, its temperature never reaches the 600 million degrees required for
    carbon burning. Instead, the outer layers of the star eventually become
    so cool that nuclei capture electrons to form neutral atoms (rather than
    nuclei and free electrons). When atoms are forming by capturing photons
    in this way, they cause photons to be emitted; these photons then are
    readily available for absorption by neighboring atoms and eventually
    this causes the outer layers of the star to heat up. When they heat up,
    the outer layers expand further and cool, forming more atoms, and releasing
    more photons, leading to more expansion. In other words, this process
    feeds itself.</p>

    <li><p> The outer envelope of the star blows off into space, exposing the
    hot, compressed remnant core. This is a <a href="nebulae_planetary.htm">
    planetary nebula </a>.</p>

    </ul>
    </td>
    <td width=0>
    <img src = "images/sun_life.gif">
    </td>
    </tr>
    </table>

    <ul>
    <li><p> The core contacts but carbon burning never ignites in a
    one solar mass star. Contraction is halted when the electrons become
    <b> degenerate</b>, that is when they can no longer be compressed
    further. The core remnant as a surface temperature of a hot
    10,000 degrees and is now a <b> white dwarf </b>.</p>

    <li><p> With neither nuclear fusion nor further gravitational collapse
    possible, energy generation ceases. The star steadily radiates is energy,
    cools and eventually fades from view, becoming a <b> black dwarf</b>.</p>
    </ul>

    <p> With this understanding of how the Sun will evolve, we can
    <a href="sun_hrtrack.htm">follow its evolution</a>
    on the <a href="hr_diagram.htm">HR diagram</a>.</p>
    <hr>
    <p><b> Suggested readings: </b> </p>


    <ul>
    <li><p>
    "Giants in the Sky: The Fate of the Sun", Kaler, James, B.,
    1993, <i> Mercury</i>, <b>Mar-Apr</b>, pp. 34-41.</p>
    </ul>

    And then there is Death

  3. #3
    The Son of a Submariner: Edgar's Avatar
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    Btw...I knew this was wierd...I kept thinking this is the wrong place for this post.

    I couldn't find the Study Hall =\
    But I found it today =\

    Thanks anyway Master Vivi, it's a great help

  4. #4

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    OUR weird astronomy questions were better, don't you think, Raf?


    Anyway. Assuming anything lived the death of the star, it would freeze to death. But, really, the heat or radiation would most likely kill anything in the system, and that's IF the planets aren't just physically destroyed.

    Also, if the sun WERE to suddenly collapse into a black hole (it can't, but bear with me), the Earth's orbit would not be changed. The mass of the star doesn't increase, simply the density. Anything surviving in the system would continue to orbit normally. This doesn't ACTUALLY happen in black-hole forming stars because of the size of the giant and the supernova, but... you get the picture.

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