Life Cycle of a Star 2010

STAR NURSERY The star nursery is called the Nebula. Spaces acts as a nursery full of the gases and dust that stars need to be born. These gases and dust consist mostly of carbon and/or silicon and are provided by the clouds in the atmosphere of space.

PROTOSTAR A Protostar is the beginning stages of star formation when gravity pulls in the gas and dusts from the star nursery and begins to shine! When the gas and dust are combined, the protostar reaches a temperature of 1,800,000 degrees F! (That’s hot!)

Main Sequence A Yellow star, like our sun, can live up to 10 billion years!

Red(or other color depending on temperature) Giant When the star has run out of hydrogen fuel to fuse into helium within its core the core will begin to collapse and heat some more. To counter the core's collapse the outer envelope expands causing the temperature to drop at the surface but also increasing surface area and thereby the luminosity of the star. Within the core temperatures will rise to begin fusion of helium into carbon. A shell around the core will rise to such a temperature as to ignite further hydrogen fusion in that region of the star. The helium produced falls onto the core where it can be used as fuel. This time in the life of a Red Giant is very short compared to the main sequence lifetime, only a few million years.

NEUTRON STAR The Neutron star is also known as a Pulsar star because of its ‘pulsating’ effect that can be seen when viewed at a specific angle. The Pulsar Star is a result of the gravitational collapse of a Giant Blue Star.

BLACK HOLE A Black hole is one type of death for Massive Blue Stars. A Black hole has a gravitational pull that is so superior that nothing can escape its pull and its one- way surface!

Red or other color giant can also become

White dwarf Very little H or He energy available for the Red Giant or Super giant star so it changes into a WHIT E DWARF STAR Gra v ity causes the core to collapse inwards Leaves a hot really dense core of matter Really hot in temperature but the star is dim in brightness due to its decrease in size

Brown (black ) dwarf White dwarf either dies out into a dead star Black Dwarf which would be the end of stars life

What happens to a star after it leaves the main sequence depends on it’s size Sunlike stars-- become red giants, then white dwarfs, then black dwarfs Huge stars(1.5 to 3 times the sun)-- become red super giants, then supernovas, then neutron stars Giant stars(more than 3 times size of sun)--- become red super giants, then supernovas, then black holes