INSTRUCTIONS:
(1) Read “READING ASTRONOMY News – “Mystery of nearby SS Cygni star system finally resolved”. (2) Evaluate the News by answering the following questions:

R. 1: In the second paragraph, the article states that “the distance measured” was a puzzle, because “the measured brightness of the system was considerably higher than expected.” Did the author really mean “brightness” or “luminosity” here? Explain your reasoning.

R. 2: Evaluate the author’s description of parallax, is his expectation accessible and correct? Explain.

R. 3: How do the studies describe in this article reflect what you learned about the scientific method in chapter 1? Explain.

PART II: SCIENTIFIC WRITING SKILLS (TEXTBOOK – PAGE 277.
INSTRUCTIONS:
(1) Avoid using of and/or referring to any online sources!
(2) Write in your own words and sufficiently explain your reasoning based on your understanding of the astronomy concepts and thoughts presented in the chapter/textbook and related astronomy/astrophysics journals!
NEXT PAGE!
W. Q. 1: Albireo, a star in the constellation Cygnus, is a visual binary system whose two components can be seen easily with even a small amateur telescope. Viewers describe the brighter star as “golden” and the fainter one as “sapphire blue.”
a. What does this description tell you about the relative temperatures of the two stars? Explain.
b. What does it tell you about their respective sizes? Explain.

W. Q. 2: The stars Betelgeuse and Rigel are both in the constellation Orion. Betelgeuse appears red in color and Rigel in bluish white. To the eye, the two stars appear almost equally bright. If you can compare the temperature, luminosity, or size from just this information, do so. If not, explain why.

W. Q. 3: Explain why the stellar spectral types (O, B, A, F, G, K, M) are not in alphabetical order. Also, explain the sequence of temperatures defined by these spectral types.

W. Q. 4: Suppose you discover a red star with a radius of 100 RSun. Use Figure 10.19 (page 272) to argue whether this is a main sequence star.

W. Q. 5: Compare the temperature, luminosity, and radius of stars at the lower left and upper right of the H-R diagram.