The following topics are important and are chosen from the Voyages text. This list includes many of the important topics (including all bold-faced terms in the text - these are defined in the glossary), but is not exhaustive.

Chapter 14. The Sun: A Garden-Variety Star. Molecules in the Sun, photosphere, structure of the Sun (Figure 14.2), chromosphere, transition region, spicules, limb of the Sun, corona, solar wind, coronal holes, aurora, granulation, convection, sunspots (umbra and penumbra), differential rotation of the Sun, sunspot cycle, Zeeman effect (Figure 14.13), plages, prominences, solar flare, active regions (and the Sun's magnetic field), Maunder Minimum and solar variability and the Earth's climate.

Chapter 15. The Sun: A Nuclear Powerhouse. Watt, E=mc², antiparticles, positron, neutrino, strong nuclear force, the stability of iron, fusion, fission, the three steps in the proton-proton (p-p) cycle, deuterium, CNO cycle, hydrostatic equilibrium, conduction, convection, radiation, opacity, interior of the Sun (Figure 15.10), solar pulsations and solar seismology.

Chapter 16. Analyzing Starlight. Luminosity, apparent brightness, magnitudes, color indices, spectral classes (O, B, A, F, G, K, M), giants, compositions of stars, radial velocities, proper motion, rotation and line broadening (Figure 16.9).

Chapter 17. The Stars: A Celestial Census. Luminosity, binary stars, visual binaries, spectroscopic binaries, center of mass, radial velocity curve, use of Kepler's third law to determine masses of binaries, brown dwarfs, mass-luminosity relation, eclipsing binaries, light curve, H-R diagram, main sequence, white dwarfs, giants, supergiants.

Chapter 18. Celestial Distances. Distances from radar, astronomical unit, triangulation, baseline, parallax (Figure 18.3), parsec, light year, Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri, cepheids, RR Lyrae variables, pulsating variables, period-luminosity relationship for cepheids, luminosity classes, spectroscopic parallax.

Chapter 19. Between the Stars: Gas and Dust in Space. Nebulae, interstellar matter and interstellar medium (ISM), interstellar grains, Charles Messier, H II regions, flouresence, 21 cm line of H, ultra-hot interstellar gas, interstellar molecules and molecular clouds, Local Bubble, dark nebulae, infrared cirrus, interstellar extinction, reflection nebulae, interstellar reddening, cosmic rays, positrons.

Chapter 20. The Birth of Stars and the Search for Planets. Giant molecular clouds, star formation in molecular clouds (Figures 20.7 and 20.8), stellar wind, jets, Herbig-Haro (HH) objects, evolutionary track of a star on the H-R diagram (Figure 20.11), extrasolar planets (search by orbital motion and Doppler shift - Figure 20.14).

Chapter 21. Stars: From Adolescence to Old Age. Zero-age main sequence, evolution from main-sequence to red giant (p. 419 and Figure 21.3), globular clusters, open clusters, associations, determine cluster ages from H-R diagram (Figure 21.7), triple alpha process, helium flash, "we are made of star stuff!", future evolution of the Sun (Figure 21.14), supergiants, nucleosynthesis.

Chapter 22. The Death of Stars. White dwarfs, degenerate gas, Chandrasekhar limit, planetary nebulae, black dwarf, neutron star, supernova, neutrinos and supernovae, pulsars, mass transfer in binaries and novae.

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