observationalconsequencesofthosemodels.

Theobservationofaphenomenonpredictedbyamodel
allowsastronomerstoselectbetweenseveralalternateorconflictingmodels.
Theoristsalsotrytogenerateormodifymodelstotakeintoaccountnewdata.Inthecaseofan
inconsistency,thegeneraltendencyistotrytomakeminimalmodificationstothemodelsothatit
producesresultsthatfitthedata.Insomecases,alargeamountofinconsistentdataovertimemay
leadtototalabandonmentofamodel.
Topicsstudiedbytheoreticalastronomersinclude:stellardynamicsandevolution;galaxyformation;
largescalestructureofmatterintheUniverse;originofcosmicrays;generalrelativityandphysical
cosmology,includingstringcosmologyandastroparticlephysics.Astrophysicalrelativityservesasa
tooltogaugethepropertiesoflargescalestructuresforwhichgravitationplaysasignificantrolein
physicalphenomenainvestigatedandasthebasisforblackhole(astro)physicsandthestudyof
gravitationalwaves.
Somewidelyacceptedandstudiedtheoriesandmodelsinastronomy,nowincludedinthe
LambdaCDMmodelaretheBigBang,Cosmicinflation,darkmatter,andfundamentaltheoriesof
physics.
Afewexamplesofthisprocess:
Physicalprocess Experimentaltool Theoreticalmodel Explains/predicts
Gravitation Radiotelescopes
Selfgravitating
system
Emergenceofastarsystem
Nuclearfusion Spectroscopy Stellarevolution
Howthestarsshineandhow
metalsformed
TheBigBang
HubbleSpace
Telescope,COBE
Expandinguniverse AgeoftheUniverse
Quantum
fluctuations
Cosmicinflation Flatnessproblem
Gravitational
collapse
Xrayastronomy Generalrelativity
Blackholesatthecenterof
Andromedagalaxy
CNOcycleinstars
Thedominantsourceofenergyfor
massivestar.
Darkmatteranddarkenergyarethecurrentleadingtopicsinastronomy,
[55]
astheirdiscoveryand
controversyoriginatedduringthestudyofthegalaxies.
Solarastronomy
Atadistanceofabouteightlightminutes,themostfrequentlystudiedstaristheSun,atypical
mainsequencedwarfstarofstellarclassG2V,andabout4.6billionyears(Gyr)old.TheSunisnot
consideredavariablestar,butitdoesundergoperiodicchangesinactivityknownasthesunspotcycle.
Thisisan11yearfluctuationinsunspotnumbers.Sunspotsareregionsoflowerthanaverage
temperaturesthatareassociatedwithintensemagneticactivity.
[56]
TheSunhassteadilyincreasedinluminosityoverthecourseofitslife,increasingby40%sinceitfirst
becameamainsequencestar.TheSunhasalsoundergoneperiodicchangesinluminositythatcan
haveasignificantimpactontheEarth.
[57]
TheMaunderminimum,forexample,isbelievedtohave
AstronomyWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomy
8of21 9/6/20142:52PM