1. Life Cycle of a Star

2. Stage 1
Protostars

4. Protostars Huge clouds of gas (hydrogen) in which stars are made.
Many thousands of times bigger than our solar system
As the clouds collapse stars are born in them

6. Stage 2
Main sequence star

9. Main Sequence Star E.g. Our sun
Sequence lasts for about 10 billion years
Our sun is about half way through it’s main sequence

11. Stage 3
Red Giant

14. Red Giant
As the sun runs out of hydrogen the outer layers of the sun will become cooler
They will also expand massively.
The Earth (along with Mercury, Venus and Mars) will be swallowed up.

15. Stage 4
White Dwarf

18. White Dwarf Gravity will cause the red giant to collapse
The sun is now much cooler and it collapses into a small white star
It still has the same mass as the original sun!

20. Stage 5
Black Dwarf

24. Black Dwarf The sun cools more and more
Eventually it will become a black mass emitting no light
It will then spend the rest of eternity drifting silently through space

25. Stars bigger than our Sun!
At least four times bigger

26. Stage 4 (for a big star)
Red Supergiant

30. Stage 5 (for a big star)
Supernova

32. Supernova! The largest and most powerful explosions in the universe.
The red supergiants literally blow themselves apart!

34. Supernova
All the atoms we are made from came originally from these giant supernova explosions.

36. Stage 6 (for a big star)
Black hole

39. Black hole After the supernova a huge mass is left behind.
There is so much mass its gravity prevents even light from leaving it
Black holes can suck in nearby stars and solar systems.

40. Luckily there are no black holes any where near our sun!