Starlight

__Starlight__
Edited by Julie Bennett Astro 10, Th 7:00p-9:50p Spring 2013, Los Medanos College

Edited by Danielle Armstrong Astro 10: Los Medanos College Spring 2011 T 4:00-6:50

Edited by Andrew Murphy Astro 10: Los Medanos College M 4:00-6:50pm

[|Astronomy Picture of the Day: A Witch by Starlight, 2008]


 * By definiton, //starlight// is the light given by stars. Below is a series of reviewed links that give a more in-depth explanation of what starlight is, how it is measured, and many other topics associated with the subject.**

__Extracting Information from Starlight__
//NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, (author unknown) 2010// [|Science Daily:Science News] Last updated: March 31, 2010 Date read: May 15, 2013 This website is full of compiled articles and readings from "universities, journals, and other research organizations" (Science Daily 2013). This site is trustworthy considering that all of the information put forth is from credible sources and cited. Science Daily is beneficial because it covers a large variety of topics and provides a countless amount of articles on them. The material on this page is accurate and in-depth, leaving no questions unanswered. Nothing stated in the article strays from known truths or theories. the intended audience is an average, knowledgeable person, researcher, scientist, teacher, and/or student. It is not too difficult to follow, but heavily-worded. If more information is desired on the same subject, similar topics, or terms in the article, plenty of links are available all over the page, making it very useful for anyone. //Reviewed by Julie Bennett//

__Starlight__
//Author unknown// [|Measuring Starlight] Last updated: (no date provided) Date read: May 15, 2013 This webpage is written by a teacher for his students as a course document. The site seems trustworthy because it is an educational sponsored page and provided by an educator. The purpose of the site is to provide the basics of starlight and many more important facts about the subject to astronomy students. The facts stated on this site coincide with astronomy textbooks and match the things stated in your average astronomy class, considerably so, seeing as they were written by an astronomy teacher. The material is organized well and heavily detailed, making it a perfect source for students. If someone wanted to find out more, there a few links available on the page, but it is for the most part a flat-out, standard informational page. //Reviewed by Julie Bennett//

__Ask an Astrophysicist__
//Damian Audley// [|NASA's Imagine the Universe] Last updated: December 1, 2005 Date read: May 15, 2013 This website is derived from NASA, which is a highly reliable source. The purpose of this site is to have your questions about astronomy answered by an individual on the "Ask an Astrophysicist" team that runs the page. If one were to scan through the questions asked, a variety of topics would be explained, including "FAQ" type of subjects and things you might never even have thought about to begin with. The information given by this source seems accurate as it does not contradict any theories broken down by textbooks or educational sites I have gone through. The intended audience is the average person who is not very knowledgeable in the subject of astronomy, therefore the material is quite easy to read and understand. Because this is simply a tool to be used to sate your curiosity and answer random, astronomy-related questions, there are no more related webpages. //Reviewed by Julie Bennett//

__Starlight Reflections__
//Robert Gendler// [| Astronomy Picture of the Day: Starlight Reflections] Last updated: December 28, 2001 Date read: May 15, 2013 This is a government agency website, so the information given, on this topic at least, can be trusted. This site's purpose is to share interesting astronomy photos, day by day, with explanations given on the topic. Not only is the information trustworthy, but it seems accurate and up to date. This particular page discusses a unique topic about starlight, so there are not a variety of other sources that could be visited to confirm its authenticity. the intended audience consists of astronomers, astronomy students, and the average astronomy hobbyist. the material is fairly easy to follow, with the exception of a few terms that might be necessary to look up. This is the only page from this site on this specific topic, as it is more of an article, but there are many links within the page to dig deeper on the things discussed. //Reviewed by Julie Bennett//

__What is the Color of Starlight?__
//Chris White// [|Physics Stack Exchange] Last updated: December 10, 2012 Date read: May 15, 2013 This website is a place you can go to ask questions about physics. For the most part, the information is exchanged from researcher to researcher, so it is not all cited or guaranteed accurate. The facts stated by this particular answerer are accurate and align with the above-average astronomy student's knowledge. The intended audience consists of "active researchers, academics, and students of physics" (Stack Exchange 2013). The material is written in lamen's terms, very easily understoo while still being full of good information. The written word of White is embedded with many links, making it easy to delve into and pick apart the topic. //Reviewed by Julie Bennett//

__**Star**__
//Britannica (author unknown)// [|Light from the Stars] Last updated: (no date provided) Date read: May 20, 2011 This is an ideal website for the basics of stars. It includes a lot of interesting and unique stars and topics such as star birth, light, and star death. It covers the basics of truly understanding each subject and knowing how stars work inside and out. This website is a wonderful tool to refer to for accurate information that covers a wide idea of stars. It lays down the foundation for each topic and for the next subject. It even explains measurement and the chemical materials that make up stars along with spectrums and galaxies.

**__Measuring Distances to Stars__**
//Earth Guide: University of California, San Diego (author unknown)// [|Methods of Observational Astronomy] Last updated: 2002 Date read: May 20, 2011 In this website, it is more mathematical and focuses on the technical aspect of starlight and measuring the distance of objects. It states the equations needed to find the answers to multiple questions involving starlight or distance. It is slightly confusing with so much information compacted into only a few paragraphs but it is in proper order for understanding it as long as it is read fully. This is a great website for understanding starlight down to the mathematical aspects of it. It guides you through the process and gives you accurate information to build a understanding off of.

**__Magnitude System__**
//Nick Strobel, Astronomy Notes// [|Properties of Stars] Last updated: November 2, 2010 Date read: May 20, 2011 This web site is great for more detailed information. It goes further than just understanding the colors of stars and the scale they fall on with brightness and temperature; it explains thoroughly why they are there. The information can be a little confusing, but it is accurate and is broken down for easy understanding. The detail is remarkable and organization is orderly.

__**Star Colors Explained**__
//Brian Ventrudo// [|One-Minute Astronomer] Last updated: December 23, 2008 Date read: May 20, 2011 This page doesn't just cover the brightness of star light, but also the color. It breaks it all down in a easy manner so that the information can be understood fully. It also helps break down some more technical terms so that there is no need to do any extra research to understand the information.

__**Modified from "All About the Sun"**__
//San Jose State University (author unknown)// [|Spectroscopy: Starlight, Star Bright] Last updated: (no date provided) Date read: May 16, 2011 This site states true facts and gives accurate information. Although it is direction for another college and isn't necessarily meant to be used for information, it does help answer questions that some may have on starlight. It explains things clearly and breaks down the information easily. It identifies the different ways to determine starlight, what category the color of light would be placed in, and why it is in that catagory.

__"Laser Comb" to Measure the Accelerating Universe__
//Nancy Atkinson// [|Universe Today] Last updated: December 8, 2008 Date read: November 11, 2009 This is a very interesting site. The only downside is that there is a lot of advertisements, but it is still an overall useful site for understanding how starlight is measured. According to Atkinson, "astronomers use instruments called spectrographs to spread the light from celestial objects into its component colors, or frequencies, in the same way water droplets create a rainbow from sunlight." Spectrographs are used by astronomers to measure starlight just like we use rulers to measure the distance from one object to another.

__Star Light, Star Bright Teacher Page: Science Background__
//Liz Dover, Linda Webb, Anuradha Koratkar// [|Star Light, Star Bright] Last updated: (no date provided) Date read: November 11, 2009 This website is plain and straight to the point. It is designed as a lesson plan to help teachers explain to their students the nature of the electromagnetic spectrum. In the site it explains that an electromagnetic spectrum "consists of all the different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, including light, radio waves and x-rays." Also included in the website are two graphs and explains what is the relationship between frequency and wavelength and what is a light wave. The reason why we use a electromagnetic spectrum is because we are not able to travel to a star or take samples from a galaxy, therefore we must depend on electromagnetic radiation to carry information to us from distant objects in space.

__Analyzing Starlight Chapter 11__
//Prof. Jon Bjorkman// [|Analyzing Starlight] Last updated: (no date provided) Date read: November 17, 2009 This website is a power point presentation about starlight. This is a great site since it has tons of notes and many pictures explaining how to measure starlight. The presentations states starlight depends on "luminosity which is the amount of energy emitted per second as well as distance and other dimming effects". I feel that this site is the best on this topic and would recommend this site to anyone who wants great background on starlight or just wants more information on it. The site also has a few homework questions if you want to quiz yourself on your knowledge of starlight.