Transcript Aldebaran
Aldebaran Anne Kozak Aldebaran’s Characteristics The Sun has a diameter about 1,391,980 km or 864,938 miles, but Aldebaran’s diameter is 40 to 52 times that. Aldebaran’s temperature is 4100° Kelvin, which is much colder than our Sun, whose temperature is about 5778° Kelvin. Aldebaran is red, while our Sun is yellow. Aldebaran is 65.1 light years away from the Sun. Aldebaran on an H-R Diagram Aldebaran in Taurus Once there was a princess, who was the daughter of King Agenor. On a fine spring day, the princess, whose name was Europa, went to the seashore to gather flowers. Zeus, who had fallen in love with Europa, seized the opportunity. He transformed himself into a magnificent white bull and joined King Agenor’s grazing herd. Europa noticed the white beast. She wove wreathes of flowers for it, and wrapped them around his horns. As he trotted down to the seashore, she jumped onto his shoulders. Suddenly, to her surprise and fright, he pushed into the sea and carried Europa to Crete, a Greek island. When they reached the Cretan shore, Zeus turned back into his original form. Aldebaran’s Life Cycle Aldebaran started off as a large, relatively cool mass of gas, part of a nebula. As gravity caused the gas to contract, its temperature rose, eventually becoming high enough to trigger a nuclear reaction in its atoms. When the gases and dust of the nebula contracted, a protostar was formed. Gravity caused the protostar to condense further and heat up. Nuclear reactions occurred when the temperature in the center of the protostar reached about 10 million degrees, and the star was born. Further expansion and heating of the star’s exterior then led to the formation of a red giant. This is what Aldebaran is now. Aldebaran is a massive star, so it will grow to form a supergiant. Then it will explode and its matter will be released into space. If the entire supergiant explodes it will evolve into a supernova. Depending on the mass, the supernova will give birth either to a neutron star or, if the exploded supergiant is of a high enough mass, a black hole. If only the outer part of the supergiant will explode a supernova will form. Information Pages • www.bo.astro.it/copernic/alde-eng.html • www.solstation.com/stars2/aldebaran.htm • www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia /A/Aldebaran.html • http://www.dibonsmith.com/tau_con.htm • http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/eduoff/cas/cas2002/casprojects/uk_aldebaran_1/