Detailed Star descriptions

hamster

Hi,

I have been searching around for sites that contain detailed descriptions and background infromation on stars such as Rigel, Aldebaran or Sirius. Has anyone come across any good ones? Thanks.

LegacyUser

http://www.sirianrevelations.net/star_a_b.shtml

hamster

bubby wrote:

http://www.sirianrevelations.net/star_a_b.shtml

Thanks for the link. I think I finally found a nicely generally detailed site on stars. The kind of background "story" and description of stars at http://starryskies.com under the constellation section. Big impressive site!

albertw

http://www.stellar-database.com/

Only has stars(but thats what you were asking about so thats ok!), and only relativly near ones.

hamster

albertw wrote:

http://www.stellar-database.com/

Only has stars(but thats what you were asking about so thats ok!), and only relativly near ones.

Thanks Albert! This is what I was looking for... a background on the more familar stars (eg sirius).

"Points of interest:
While Sirius A is known for being the brightest star in the sky, Sirius B was the first White Dwarf to be discovered by humankind (that it took almost a century from the discovery of Sirius B to the acceptance of its White Dwarfness notwithstanding). Sirius B's calculated average density is 92 000 times that of the sun; one cubic inch of material at that density would weigh over two tons at the surface of the Earth. Electron-degeneracy theory predicts that below the surface layers, Sirius B has a uniform density and temperature throughout; however, the outer gaseous layers are probably not electron-degenerate, and thus would not be nearly as dense as the two-tons-to-the-cubic-inch figure previously quoted. (For more information about white dwarfs, see the Lightweight Stars.)
Sirius A is a young star. It has to be; class A main sequence stars exhaust the nuclear fuel in their cores within 1000 million years and turn into red giants or Cepheid variables thereafter. Thus, if there are any life-bearing planets orbiting Sirius A, any life on them will be primitive (it took about 1500 million years for the first oxygen-producing life to develop on Earth, and over twice that long for multicellular organisms to arise)"

Or that of Betelgeuse...
"Points of interest:
The diameter listed below is only the average diameter for this star. Its actual diameter varies from 550 to 920 times Sol. This may be indicative of instabilities within the star which could turn it into a supernova at any time. "

Ooh supernova! A hellish red glow:) Like a tourist guide book.