NASA - Light Curves and What They Can Tell Us

Here we are going to analyze the NASA article about light curves and what they can give us.

According to the article, light curves are graphs that show the brightness of an object over a period of time. In the study of objects which change their brightness over time, such as novae, supernovae, and variable stars, the light curve is a simple but valuable tool to a scientist.

A nova is a fusion reaction of a white dwarf star, usually a small explosion. The word nova was derived from the Latin word, meaning “all-new stars”.

A supernova is brighter than a nova. Supernova, in a simple sentence, is the last stage of the life of a star.

The record of changes in brightness that a light curve provides can help astronomers understand processes at work within the object they are studying and identify specific categories (or classes) of stellar events. We know generally what light curves look like for a set of objects, so when we plot a new light curve, we can compare it to those standard light curves to possibly identify the type of object we're observing.