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Stars...They're All Around Us!

Stars are every where! There are billions of stars just right here in our own milkyway galaxy. Furthermore, there are even billions of more galaxies that contain billions and even trillions of stars! All right here in our known universe. But what do stars do? What do they go through? Do they have a lifespan?

Let's start with the most famous star we know today which is our sun. Before our sun became what it is today, it went through a sequence of events before becoming bright and yellow.

1. 1^st, our sun was a cloud of gas and interstellar dust that came from the novae and/or supernovae debris of other stars that collapsed and died out.



2. The 2^nd stage that our sun endured through was when the nebula begins to condense and heat up into what is called a protostar. This is where the star begins to heat up and develop luminosity.



3. The 3^rd stage of a star's development is the beginning of nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion is when two atoms collide together and become a new element, hence the word fusion. During this time, hydrogen atoms collide with each other and create helium.



4. Because our sun is an average star, the 4^th stage that our sun develops into is becoming bright and entering the Main Sequence category of stars. During this stage, the sun continues to burn for another 10 billion years.



5. Towards the end of the sun's lifespan, all of the hydrogen is used up and now becomes helium. The helium then contracts and fuses into carbon which causes the outer layers of the star to expand and cool. The star will then be called a "Red Giant."
6. When the sun becomes a "Red Giant," the outer part of the expanded star becomes the planetary nebula, spreading more gas and dust around the universe. What is left of the sun's core is a white dwarf that eventually cools down and to become a white dwarf.

For the life of the massive stars, they go through similar beginning phases as the Main Sequence stars. However, the end of their lifespan becomes more chaotic and destructive.

• After the beginning of the star's development, there is another category that massive stars belong to. Once the massive star has reached its main sequence stage, it will continue to burn through the hydrogen that it contains.




• The reason why most massive stars are blue/white is because they burn a lot brighter. With more hydrogen available, more nuclear fusion is happening within the star which causes the star to burn a lot brighter in which gives the massive star its blue and/or white color.
• Towards the end of the life of these massive stars, the core becomes so dense and within less than a second, the core collapses in on itself and a supernova is generated. A supernova is a massive, chaotice explosion that quickly spreads heavy elements and gamma rays throughout the universe. For more information on supernovas, click on More Information About Supernovas



• After the massive star has completely exploded, all that is left could either be a neutron star, or a black hole. Furthermore, if the core of the exploded mass is between anywhere from about 1.5 to 3 solar masses (a solar mass is the total mass of the sun that is used as a unit of measurement to measure the mass of other stars), then the exploded star will become a very small neutron star (about 15 - 20 kilometers in radius). However, if the core of the exploded mass was much more than 3 solar mass, then the core would collapse in itself and merge into a black hole. Black holes have a gravitational pull that is so massive, that not even light can escape.

      

• For more information about neutron stars, click here!
• For more information about black holes, click here!

The Geocentric Model
The Heliocentric Model
Different Types of Stars
The Big Bang Theory
Life Cylce of a Star
Black Holes!
Neutron Stars!