Title: Week 5 Writing Assignment
Course: ASTRON103: The Evolving Universe: Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology (001) DHH SU18 > Section: Week 5

Fleeing From Earth

Earth and our Sun have treated us well, but imagine a time far from now where we had to evacuate Earth and settle on an exoplanet around another star (similar to your 4 Week Project: Escape to an Exoplanet). For this assignment, you will consider different types of star and determine which you may find most appealing to support life and a new colony of humans.

Tasks

1. Research different types of stars, considering the following questions:
  1. How is the light emitted around different types of stars different and similar to on Earth?
    1. At what wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum are they brightest?
    2. Is their radiation harmful?
  2. How plentiful are different types of stars in the Galaxy?
    1. Will it be easy to find a potential new host star or are they very rare?
    2. How common are exoplanets around different types of stars from the methods we can use to detect them?
2. Choose an ideal star type to start a colony around.
  1. Why is this type of star the best option?
  2. Is it safe to live around this type of star?
  3. Is this type of star easy to find and relatively close by?
  4. How evolved should / can the star be? Would we want to live by a luminosity class I, III, or V star?

Write-Up

Your final write-up should be 1–2 pages in length (around 800 words), uploaded as a Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx) or Portable Document Format (.pdf) file.  You must incorporate all of the points mentioned above in your written piece for full credit. You may (and are encouraged to) expand your piece to cover any other topics or issues you find interesting, but please limit the length to 2 pages.