CONSTELLA

TIONS
 RIGEL

SIRIUS

Which star is bigger? ---- Sirius or Rigel? Can

you really tell the size of the star just by
looking at it?
Definition of terms:
Star – is a swirling, glowing ball of gases.
Constellation – is a group of stars that
has a shape resembling that of an
animal, a mythological character, or
some other object.
Galaxy – is a large constellation or large
groups of gases, dust and stars in space
held together by gravity .
Type: Elliptical galaxy, spiral galaxy and
irregular galaxy .
 STARS

Galaxy (Milky Way)

Constellation
TYPES OF
GALAXY
When we look at the night sky,
we see thousands of stars. In
reality, there are
approximately 400 billion stars
in our galaxy, and there are
about 170 billion galaxies. A
person
can see only about 3,000 stars
on the average.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF STARS

 Color and Temperature

 Brightness and Magnitude
of Stars
 Sizes of Stars
 Distances of Stars
 Composition of Stars
 Color & Temperature
• Star color ranges from red to blue.
The color of the star indicates its
surface temperature.
• The coolest star is about 2800⁰C at
the surface. These star appear red.
• The temperature of the hottest star
is about 28000 ⁰C or higher . These
star appear blue.
Sun – Yellowish, 5500⁰C
• Stars that are cooler appear
orange, stars that are hotter
than the sun appear white.
 Color and Temperature of
Selected Stars
Surface
Star Color Temperature in
Celsius
Sun Yellow 5,700
Proxima Cantuari Red 2,300
Epsilon Iridani Orange 4,600
Vega White 9,900
Sirius White 10,000
Alnilam Blue 27,000
Figure 2 shows the size of the Sun, the
closest star to Earth, as compared to
some other stars that we see at night.
As we can see, the Sun is so small
compared to other nearby stars.
Also, Sirius, which appear bigger than
Rigel, is actually very small compared
toRigel. It appears larger only
because it is closer to us.
 Brightness
• The brightness of a star as seen from
the Earth depends on two factors:
distance and the actual brightness
(or absolute brightness) of the star.
• The star’s brightness as seen from
Earth is its apparent brightness,
apparent brightness depends on
how far away a star is from the
Earth.
Effect of Distance to aaprent brightness

• Compared to the Sun, Sirius is

about 27 times as powerful as the
Sun, but Rigel is almost 100 times
farther away than Sirius.
• In terms of apparent brightness,
Sirius is about as twice as bright as
Rigel. Sirius looks very bright when
viewed from the Earth because it
is closer to Earth
Astronomers consider the
star’s absolute brightness
when comparing stars. A
star’s absolute brightness is
the brightness the star would
have if all stars were the
same standard distance from
Earth.
 RIGEL

SIRIUS
 Sizes of Star
• Stars varies in size, from huge to super
giants to tiny neutron stars.
• Astronomers group stars in to five
types:
o Neutron stars
o White dwarfs
o Medium-sized stars
o Giants
o Super giants
Types of stars according to sizes:
Neutron stars – the smallest, it has a
diameter of about 16 km
White dwarf – about 7300 km, slightly
greater than that of the Earth
Medium-sized star – about one-tenth the
diameter of the sun. Sun has 1.35 million
km in diameter
Giant star – 10 to 100 times that of the sun
Supergiant stars – up to 1000 times the
diameter of the sun
 Distances of Stars
• Scientist use parallax to determine
how far away a star is from Earth.
Parallax – an apparent change in the
position of an object caused by a
change in the position of the observer
• The closer a star is to Earth, the
greater its apparent change of
position. Very distant stars seem not
to shift position at all.
• Scientists express distances
between stars in light years.
• Light year is the distance that
light travels in one year at a
speed of 300 000 km per
second (kps) or 186,000 miles
per second
• A light year is about 9.5 trillion
km (9 500 000 000 000 km)
• The closest star is Proxima Centauri, 4.2
light years from Earth.
• Other stars are hundred of light years
away .
 Composition of Stars
• Using spectroscope, astronomers
have found that almost all stars
have the same general chemical
make-up .
• The most element in stars is
hydrogen, the lightest element
that makes up 60% to 80% of the
total mass of a star .
• The second element is
helium, combination of H
and He make up about
96% to 99% of stars mass.
• Other elements are
oxygen, neon, carbon
and nitrogen.
 The Polaris
• Polaris, commonly known as North Star, is the
• brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor
(Little Dipper).
• It is very close to the north celestial pole,
making it the current northern pole star .
Because it lies nearly in a direct line with the
axis of the Earth's rotation "above" the North
Pole, Polaris stands almost motionless in the
sky, and all the stars of the Northern sky
appear to rotate around it.
In Figure 3, Polaris and the
star trail are seen.
Star trail – a type of
photograph that utilizes long-
exposure times to capture
the apparent motion of stars
in the night sky due to the
rotation of the Earth.
• In Metro Manila, when you face North,
Polaris, which is 11.3⁰ from the horizon,
is seen at around 15° due to
atmospheric refraction.
• In some parts of the country (i.e.
Southern Philippines), it would be very
difficult to locate Polaris since star
lights near the horizon are washed out
by lights lit by men, and /or obstructed
by manmade or topographical
structures and/or trees.
Constellatio
n for a
certain
• An observer from Earth will be able to
see the stars that are on the night side.
The stars on the same side as the sun
cannot be seen because sunlight
overpowers all the star lights.
• During summer in the Philippines, the
constellations of Orion and Taurus are not
visible at night. They will be visible again
as the cold season begins. During this
time, Scorpios will not be seen in the night
sky .
• As the Earth revolves around its orbit, the
stars that were concealed by the bright
light of the Sun in the previous months will
appear in the night sky.
 How Early People Used the
Constellations
While constellations were
associated with religion, they
also have practical uses. Before
the calendars, people had no
way of determining when to sow
or harvest except by looking at
these patterns in the sky .
 Ancient people developed a way
to remember the patterns by
giving these patterns names and
stories. For example, in the
northern hemisphere, the
constellation Orion indicates the
coming of cold season.
 The constellations made it easier
for them to recognize and
interpret patterns in the sky .
• For example, Gemini is seen in the
Philippines during the months of April
and May .
• Farmers interpreted the appearance
of Gemini as the end of planting
season and it signified rich harvest.
• The table below shows how the
Matigsalug Manobo of Bukidnon
used the stars and constellations in
relation to their agriculture.
 Month of Related Western
Local Name
Appearance Agricultural Act. Equivalent
Baha Dec to Feb Clearing of forest Taurus
Start of planning what
Pandarawa January crops to be planted & Pleiades
how wide is the area
Start planting & setting of
Balatik Feruary Orion’s Belt
traps
Planting of rice, corn &
Malihe March
veggies
End of planting season,
Gibbang April & May Gemini
signifies rich harvest
Malara May Stop planting Canis Minor

Time to clean or clear

Lepu Late May the fields while waiting Aquila
for harvest time

Start of the rainy

Buwaya June
season