We have seen how a star’s color or peak wavelength indicates its characteristic temperature near the stellar surface. But what about the temperature in the star’s deep interior? Intuitively, we expect this to be much higher than at the surface, but under what conditions does it become hot enough to allow for nuclear fusion to power the star’s luminosity? And how does it scale quantitatively with the overall stellar properties, like mass, radius, and luminosity? To answer these questions, we identify two distinct considerations.

The post-main-sequence evolution of stars with higher initial mass (>8 solar masses) has some distinct differences from those of solar and intermediate-mass stars. We show how multiple-shell burning can lead to core-collapse supernovae, which are important in generating elements heavier than iron. Some supernovae can lead to the curious stellar end points of neutron stars and black holes.

Exoplanets are planets orbiting stars other than our sun. While some have now been detected (or confirmed) by direct imaging, most exoplanet detections have been made via two other more indirect techniques, known as the radial velocity and transit methods. These methods have analogs in the study of stellar binary systems, as outlined in Chapter 10. We explore the population of known exoplanets and how we must compensate for observational biases inherent in each of these techniques.

We start with some of the historical work on measuring distances to galaxies, leading to the Hubble (or Hubble-Lemaitre) law, a linear proportionality between recession velocity and and a galaxy’s distance, with a proportionality constant known as the Hubble constant. For more distant galaxies, it becomes increasingly difficult to detect and resolve even giant stars like Cepheid variables as individual objects, limiting their utility in testing the Hubble law to larger distances and redshifts. For much larger distances, an important alternative method is the Tully–Fisher relation.

To test which of these models applies to our universe, one needs to extend redshift measurements to large distances, out to several Giga-light years. The most successful approach has been to use white dwarf supernovae (SN type Ia) as very luminous standard candles. One of the greatest surprises of modern astronomy is that the expansion of the universe must be accelerating! This implies there must be a positive, repulsive force that pushes galaxies apart, in opposition to gravity. We dub this force "dark energy."

Earth’s moon is quite distinct from other moons in the solar system, in being a comparable size to Earth. We explore the theory that a giant impact in the chaotic early solar system led to the Moon’s formation, and bombardment by ice-laden asteroids provided the abundant water we find on our planet. Further we find that Earth’s magnetic field shields us from solar wind protons, that protect our atmosphere from being stripped away. The icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn are the best targets for exploring if life exists elsewhere in the solar system.

The close proximity of the Sun, and its extreme apparent brightness, makes it by far the most important star for lives here on Earth. In modern times we have access to powerful telescopes, both on the ground and in space, that observe and monitor the Sun over a wide range of wavelength bands. These vividly demonstrate that the Sun is in fact highly structured and variable over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales.

As a basis for interpreting observations of binary systems in terms of the orbital velocity of the component stars, we review the astrometric and spectrometric techniques used to measure the motion of stars through space. Nearby stars generally exhibit some systematic motion relative to the Sun, generally with components both transverse (i.e., perpendicular) to and along (parallel to) the observed line of sight.

Our initial introduction of surface brightness characterized it as a flux confined within an observed solid angle. But actually the surface brightness is directly related to a more general and fundamental quantity known as the "specific intensity." The light we see from a star is the result of competition between thermal emission and absorption by material within the star.

We now consider why stars shine with such extreme brightness. Over the long-term (i.e., millions of years), the enormous energy emitted comes from the energy generated (by nuclear fusion) in the stellar core, as discussed further in Chapter 18. But the more immediate reason stars shine is more direct, namely because their surfaces are so very hot. We explore the key physical laws governing such thermal radiation and how it depends on temperature.

As a star ages, more and more of the hydrogen in its core becomes consumed by fusion into helium. Once this core hydrogen is used up, how does the star react and adjust? Stars at this post-main-sequence stage of life actually start to expand, eventually becoming much brighter giant or supergiant stars, shining with a luminosity that can be thousands or even tens of thousands that of their core-H-burning main sequence. We discuss how such stars reach their stellar end points as planetary nebulae or white dwarfs.