LIFE AND DEATH OF STARS
NEBULA Cloud of swirling gas and dust where stars are born Gravity causes matter to condense Will turn into a ….
PROTOSTAR The beginning of a star. It has not begun fusing matter yet. It then can turn into a…
Main Sequence Stars WHEN THE PROTOSTAR IS DENSE & HOT ENOUGH IT WILL BEGIN FUSION & LIGHT UP! HYDROGEN IS BEING CONVERTED TO HELIUM IT IS NOW A MAIN SEQUENCE STAR!
1 OF 3 MAIN SEQUENCE STARS RED DWARF (SMALL) A small star that lives billions of years Or a ….
MAIN SEQUENCE STAR YELLOW STAR (MEDIUM) A medium star Shorter lived than a red dwarf but still lives billions of years But sometimes a protostar turns into a…
MAIN SEQUENCE BLUE GIANT (LARGE) A large star It has the shortest life span Living only millions of years…. However…..
RED GIANTS (form from small & medium sized main sequence stars) Evolves from either a red dwarf or a yellow star Red giants begin to lose energy when most of its matter fuses into bigger elements Helium converts to carbon & oxygen Causing it to expand and engulf nearby planets Which then turns into a…
WHITE DWARF It cools and contracts Helium runs out & core contracts, outer layers leave and produces this small dense star Finally it becomes a…
BLACK DWARF It eventually cools It becomes a big “charcoal piece” in space But remember ….
BLUE GIANT (large sized main sequence star) It takes another path in its life cycle It becomes a…
RED SUPER GIANT Loses energy Matter fused into bigger elements Fusion occurs until iron core is reached It expands engulfing nearby objects Then it becomes a …
SUPER NOVA Very large stars explode when they contract Forms heavier elements like gold or lead Then it becomes either a…
BLACK HOLE or NEUTRON STAR (Pulsar) A dead star so dense even light can’t escape A very dense dead star So….
SMALLEST STARS ABOUT 70X JUPITER NO FUSION BURN HYDROGEN-2 TO LITHIUM SPECTRAL TYPE M,L,T,Y COLOR MAGENTA
The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram An H-R diagram plots stars according to their luminosity and temperature (or spectral class) 2/17/2019
REVIEW OF STARS LIFE CYCLE Nebula to proto star
Proto star to either red dwarf, yellow star or blue giant
Red dwarf or yellow star (small & medium sized) becomes a red giant
Red giant becomes a white dwarf and then a black dwarf
A blue giant (large star) becomes a red super giant
A red super giant then becomes a super nova and then either a black hole or neutron star
May 2006April 2004 Belinda Wilkes