Webquest-Sun

**Sun and Other Stars Webquest**  Adapted from []

__ **Objectives:** __ 1) We will explore the stages stars progress through from birth to death and how the death of a star depends on its initial mass. 2) We will interpret Hertzsprung Russell diagrams and learn how they can be used to classify the life cycle stage of a star by its luminosity, temperature, magnitude, and spectral class.

You will begin your webquest by learning how to identify stars by their magnitude, color, and temperature, and spectral class. Write out the following questions on a sheet of white construction paper to be turned in.
 * __Task #1__: **

Click Stars: Lights in The Sky Read the webpage and answer the following 10 questions.

1) Name the brightest star in the known universe. 2) What is the magnitude of the brightest star (that you've just identified in Q1)? 3) Are the brightest stars low magnitude or high? 4) How much does the brightness of a star change with each change in magnitude of one? 5) What color is the brightest star? 6) What color is the coolest star? 7) What color is our sun? 8) What spectral class of stars is the hottest? 9) What spectral class of stars is the coolest? 10) What spectral class is our sun?

Go to this website that shows the 10 brightest stars and __**make a top 10 list**__ on your construction paper of the names of the 10 brightest stars in the known universe **and their magnitude**. You can find the magnitude (apparent magnitude) if you click on the learn more link for each star.

Design a **colored diagram** on your construction paper that displays the colors of the hottest stars on the left to the coolest stars on the right. Stars are grouped into spectral classes based on a range of temperatures they fall into. Label the spectral classes (//O, B, A, F, G, K, M//) appropriately under each star color in your diagram.

Come up with a clever sentence or phrase (the first letter of each word in your phrase is one spectral class letter) to help you remember the order of the spectral classes and __**write it under your diagram**__ on your construction paper.

**__Task #2:__** Go to The Life and Death of Stars.

Read the short section on "**Where are stars born**" and see pictures of the protostars of M16: The Eagle Nebula and other nebulae (stars in formation) on this page.

Continue by reading up on **Main Sequence Stars** and find out how our sun compares in mass to other stars like Sirius, and Proxima Centauri.

Answer (write out questions before answering): 1) Based on its mass, will our sun be around for a while? 2) Approximately how long will it be before our sun consumes the inner planets of our solar system?

Realize that once our Sun starts to run out of hydrogen fuel and has exhausted its ability to fuse other elements like carbon and oxygen, it will become a red giant and expand in size to envelope the Earth. And surprisingly, the larger the mass of the star, the quicker it burns its fuel sources and the shorter its lifespan. Also see and read about Hubble Space Telescope pictures of a developing galactic nebula in our Milky Way Galaxy called NGC 3603.

**__Task #3:__** Being that stars are quite more massive than most planet sized objects, the gravitational pull on objects close to stars is astronomically large. The more gravitational pull objects have, the more pressure is put on an object, and the heavier that object becomes. Weight changes depending on the gravitational pull of objects. Find out Your Weight On Other Worlds like different types of stars and even planets.

**__Task #4:__** Now check out the All Star Line Up and profile **1** of the 34 stars on this page.

Organize the info provided about your chosen or assigned star into a Powerpoint slide. Print the Powerpoint slide and glue it to your construction paper. Be sure your slide has the star's name, where the name came from, size, brightness, and claim to fame. Give your slide a title that stands out.

__**Task #5:**__ Congratulations! You are ready to take the quiz! You will answer 10 questions based on this webquest to test your knowledge of the content covered. When you click the link you will put in your name and it will ask for your key and passcode. The key and passcode are both **northwest. __ Important __: After you have taken the quiz press Control+P to print your score screen. Glue your score report to the construction paper. **
 * Take Quiz **
 * Key: northwest **
 * Password: northwest **
 * Print your score when it is displayed by holding Control key + P **

** If time remains: **


 * Play Astronomy Games **
 * Check out astronomers currently in space **
 * Check out NASA space crafts **