Yes with the New Year passing I realize that I'm just a little bit older. One year in my life is a significant amount of time; a lot can happen for a person. A star, on the other hand, views a single year as but a tiny blip in its life.
Stellar life cycles have some well-developed theories and certainly the prevailing scientific theories seem to be supported by observational evidence. In basic terms, stars live a very, very long time. One of the exciting aspects of astronomy is that we can observe stars at so many stages of their lives, in effect providing us with a time machine to watch how stars evolve over time.
Here is a spectrum of a star, 60 Leonis, that is well into it's life cycle. Click here to see a larger version and additional information. This star is a Type A star and shows a noticeable increase in metals over Type O and B stars.
Today a friend, Victor, told me about a website with archived high-resolution spectra. I'm really excited to have this resource as it will be quite useful in assisting me in identifying spectral features in my own spectra. For exampe, I used the site to help me confirm the Fe I and Ti I lines in the spectrum of 60 Leo above. I am learning that line identification is a difficult and lengthy process, but it's really quite fun to realize that my little amateur equipment is resolving features created by specific elements in far-away objects!
Non-astro note: I've been battling fever and stomach flu for the past couple of days, along with several other members of my immediate family. Not a lot of fun and I've felt too bad to get out with the scope. It's full moon anyway but still would have liked to get out.
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