Skip to main content

Star Life in Starlight

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
  • 616 Accesses

Part of the book series: Astronomers' Universe ((ASTRONOM))

Abstract

As stars go the Sun is not particularly big. It is not the oldest star and it certainly is not the brightest. Yet to us humans it has been a seemingly eternal light. Its light has shone down for the whole entirety of human existence, never faltering and apparently endless. It warmed the backs of our ancestors as they hunted and gathered on the dry plains of Africa and even today in our modern hi-tech world it is to the Sun we have turned to provide us with one source of clean and renewable energy, in the hope that it might keep us going another few hundred thousand years.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

eBook
USD   19.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   32.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Sources

Press releases

  • ESA Hubble. “Dying star creates fantasy-like sculpture of gas and dust.” (September 9, 2004)

    Google Scholar 

  • ESA Hubble. “Eye-catching celestial helix.” (May 9, 2003)

    Google Scholar 

  • STScI/NASA. “Supernova blast begins taking shape.” (January 14, 1997)

    Google Scholar 

  • STScI/NASA. “Shock wave sheds new light on fading supernova.” (February 10, 1998)

    Google Scholar 

  • STScI/NASA. “Hubble finds mysterious ring structure around supernova 1987A.” (May 19, 1994)

    Google Scholar 

  • NASA/JPL. “Famous space pillars feel the heat of star’s explosion.” (January 9, 2007)

    Google Scholar 

  • RAS National Astronomy Meeting. “Where is the gas in interstellar space?” (April 17, 2007)

    Google Scholar 

  • ESA Hubble. “Hubble finds multiple stellar ‘baby booms’ in a globular cluster.” (May 2, 2007)

    Google Scholar 

Scientific papers

  • R. L. M. Corradi et al. “Rings in the haloes of planetary nebulae.” Astronomy & Astrophysics 417 (2004): 637–646

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • C. R. O’Dell et al. “Unraveling the Helix nebula: Its structure and knots.” arXiv:astro-ph/0407556v1 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  • Howard E. Bond et al. “An energetic stellar outburst accompanied by circumstellar light echoes.” Nature 422 (2003): 405–408

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • D. P. K. Banerjee et al. Spitzer observations of V838 Monocerotis: detection of a rare infrared light echo.” The Astrophysical Journal 644 (2006): L57–L61

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • N. Soaker, R. Tylenda. “Main sequence stellar eruption model V838 Monocerotis.” The Astrophysical Journal 582 (2003): L105–L108/arXiv:astro-ph/0210463 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • U. Munari et al. “The mysterious eruption of V838 Mon.” Astronomy & Astrophysics 389 (2002): L51–L56

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Book

  • L. A. Marschall. The Supernova Story. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ (1994)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Gater, W. (2009). Star Life in Starlight. In: The Cosmic Keyhole. Astronomers' Universe. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0513-0_10

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0513-0_10

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-0512-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-0513-0

  • eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics