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In order to find out what a star is made of, pass its light through a prism, and examine the resulting rainbow, or spectrum.
Here’s an article that includes an app that will let you play with the effect of different chemicals on a spectrum.
And here’s the history, with names and dates, on how we figured out this particular trick.
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For our universe to produce minds, we require many different chemical elements. Those elements were created by the stars. The lighter elements fuse together and provide the energy for stars to shine, and to keep from collapsing under their own gravity. Heavier elements, anything heavier than iron, require the stars to go pop—to explode into super novas which create the rest of the heavy elements.
Here’s a page on Nucleosynthesis, the process that created the chemical elements that make up our planet, and us.
Nucleosynthesis – The Physics Hypertextbook
There is some debate as to exactly when the first stars formed.
Here’s a page on an estimation of when the first stars formed based on data collected by NASA’s WMap satellite.
When did the first stars form in the universe?
Here’s a page with a different time, based on data collected by the European space agency’s Planck satellite.
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In 1923 Edwin Hubble used a variable star to prove that the Andromeda Nebula was actually the Andromeda Galaxy. Before his measurements, it was widely believed that our galaxy, the Milky Way, was the only island of stars in the universe. Boy, did we get it wrong!
Have a look at NASA’s page about when they pointed the telescope named after Edwin Hubble at the star he used to measure the distance to M31—Andromeda.
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How do we know how far away the stars are? For relatively nearby stars, other than our own sun, we can use a trick of perspective called parallax. This gives rise to a unit of distanced called the parsec, roughly equivalent to 3.26 lightyears.
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From the earth’s surface, it can be difficult to tell how big or far away objects in the solar system are. From the earth’s surface, as illustrated by yesterday’s total solar eclipse, the moon and sun are the same apparent size.
Here’s a slightly cheesy YouTube video that describes a method for measuring the actual size of our sun.
Let’s Measure the Diameter of the Sun!
And here’s an article on measuring the sun, that includes other sections describing ways and means of measuring within the solar system.
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In episode 35, I said that I don’t know how to make a big bang. Here’s the closest thing to that that I’ve found so far.
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Today we take a closer look at the sound of the big bang © John g. Cramer – 2003, which he created from the data gathered by the WMAP satellite.
Here’s his original article on the subject.
Here are a bunch of versions of the sound of different lengths, and updated versions he created from the data gathered by the Planck mission in 2013.
You can also check out his home page, his Analog articles, and his science fiction novels—”Twister,” and “Einstein’s Bridge.”
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In 2013, a 10 to 11 ton rock exploded in the skys over Russia. That came in handy when I wanted an explosion sound effect. As Long as I used it, I may as well make an episode out of it.
Here’s a video of the event, and a couple of articles about it.
Meteorite shards hit Russia after explosion in the sky
Russia’s meteor explosion was as powerful as 400,000 tonnes of TNT
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How could you make a mind—a mind at least as good as ours are. Here’s one approach that has already worked. The details are a bit hazy, and I’m rather certain it’s outside of my budget; but it’s a place to start.
The sound of the big bang (c) John G. Cramer – 2003 used by permission.