Philips Atlas of the Universe

THE SUN ▼The lovely Diamond Ring effect,seen just before and just after totality. This photograph was taken from Java on 11 June ...

The Sun in Action ATLAS OF THE UNIVERSE T he Sun is never calm. Even the photosphere is in a constant state of turmoil. In the c ...

THE SUN ▼ Solar prominence, imaged by the SOHO spacecraft on 14 September 1997. At lower left is a huge eruptive prominence. Wit ...

The Southern Cross embedded in the Milky Way. The colours are natural but enhanced by the light- gathering power of a large te ...

Introduction to the Stars H ow many stars can you see with the naked eye on a clear, dark night? Many people will say, ‘Millions ...

THE STARS can reach down to at least 28. On the other end of the scale, there are few stars with zero or even negative magnitude ...

The Celestial Sphere ATLAS OF THE UNIVERSE First Point of Aries (0h or 24h RA, 0 ̊ Dec) South celestial pole (–90 ̊ Dec) North c ...

THE STARS to be circumpolar. To decide which stars are circumpolar and which are not, simply subtract the latitude of the ob- se ...

Distances and Movement of the Stars ATLAS OF THE UNIVERSE I t is very easy to take an attractive star picture. All you need is a ...

THE STARS they can be measured. The ‘speed record’ is held by a dim red dwarf, Barnard’s Star, which is 5.8 light-years away and ...

ATLAS OF THE UNIVERSE Different Types of Stars A sk any professional astronomer to name the most valuable scientific instrument ...

THE STARS STELLAR SPECTRA Type Spectrum Surface temperature, °C Example W Many bright lines. Divided into WN up to 80,000 ÁVelor ...

ATLAS OF THE UNIVERSE The Lives of the Stars W hen we try to work out the life-story of a star, we are faced with the initial di ...

THE STARS What happens next depends mainly upon the star’s initial mass. If it is less than one-tenth that of the Sun, the core ...

Double Stars ATLAS OF THE UNIVERSE L ook at Mizar, the second star in the tail of the Great Bear, and you will see a much fainte ...

THE STARS 10,000 years. The real separation seems to be about 60,000 million kilometres (over 37,000 million miles). With the Mi ...

Variable Stars V ariable stars are very common in the Galaxy – and, for that matter, in other galaxies too. They are of many typ ...

Next come the longer-period Mira stars, named after Mira or Omicron Ceti, the first-discovered and brightest member of the class ...

Novae O ccasionally a bright star will flare up where no star has been seen before. Naturally enough, this is known as a ‘nova’, ...

THE STARS
Gas shell around Nova Cygni 1992. A Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of a rapidly ballooning bubble of gas blasted ...