High-Level Project Summary
Variable stars were first discovered in the late 16th century. Extensive scientific work has been carried out in the field of the evolution of stars to understand various dynamics. Cepheids are a type of star with periodic variations in their brightness. One of the intrinsic reasons is pulsation, the radius of the star expands and contracts with time. With a motto of "keep it simple", we have taken this aspect to explain brightness variation as the stellar radius changes periodically. Time variation of magnitude is not possible to observe with the naked eye, this is where the simulation helps in disseminating simple concepts of physics involved in the large scale of our universe.
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Link to Project "Demo"
Detailed Project Description
A star is assumed to be a blackbody that emits radiation at all wavelengths obeying Planck's law of radiation. The stellar atmosphere models consider several aspects such as metallicity, surface gravity, local thermal equilibrium (more details), etc. We take one such model given by Castelli and Kurucz as the star spectra. The spectral is rescaled as per their prescription, which depends on the star radius and its distance from the observer. The current version (v1.0) uses an effective temperature of 6000K with solar metallicity, and log(g)=2.5 where g is surface gravity. We then determine the V magnitude by comparing the spectra to that of Vega. The radius is changed periodically, using a sinusoidal wave function and the variation in magnitude is measured.
Some of the aspects of the simulation are kept interactive: users can vary the star radius, variability, star distance, time period, and simulation time. This also enables users to play with simulation as well as understand the basics of stellar physics such as effect of star radius and distance on observed brightness. More features are to be implemented such as controlling simulation temperature of the star, different kinds of variability, bringing up real data for comparison, etc. in version 2.0
Space Agency Data
Hackathon Journey
Very good opportunity to interact and grow exponentially in knowledge, and give and get inputs and outputs. Good co-teammate. Would like to attend more such interactive programs. Good faculty and good arrangements, and the team is very encouraging. Opportunity for youngsters to bring out the extraordinary in them and present their skills and to achieve. - Kavitha D V
Interesting journey through out the Space Apps challenges. It was exciting to look at unique and innovative solutions proposed for various projects. I look forward to attend more hackathons that tries to disseminate science knowledge to the general public. - Abhishek Prabhakar
References
Tags
#variable_stars #python #simulation