In the next few lectures, we will consider oscillating stars. We begin with the simplest but perhaps most important case: radial pulsators. These stars remain spherically symmetric, though not …

We have discussed stellar pulsations in a few contexts so far. These pulsations give rise to luminosity, and therefore magnitude, fluctuations. Pulsating stars are important for astronomy. …

These pulsations are a diagnostic of the internal properties of the stars. A common pulsation is an acoustic standing wave in the star, driven by convection. The period scales as the 1/(density)0.5.

From the stability of the periods of these pulsating stars, it is clear that the oscillations are resonant oscillations, and their periods will tell us much about the stars involved. We have …

Those pulsations allow us literally to see inside the stars to know their interiors. Oscillations in 1-D and 2-D are introduced here, leading to 3-D de-scriptions of the changing shapes of pulsating …

A profound characteristic of the late stages of evolution of stars more massive than the sun is the phenomenon of stellar pulsation. It is the marker of the epoch just prior to the death throes of …

Cepheid pulsation, illustrating expansion+cooling and contraction+heating phases. From ESA. All stars pulsate. Even the Sun, for which the strongest modes comprise the famous 5-minute …