Life Cycle of a Star Birth through to Death

The life cycle of a star is an amazing scientific phenomenon that takes billions and billions of years to occur and involves several stages each with its own interesting characteristics. Before we delve deeply into the various process involved in the creation of a star, let us first try to define what a star actually is. A start is a luminous globe of gas that is capable of producing its own heat and light through nuclear fusion. It is created from a nebula, which is a cloud of hydrogen and helium gas as well as dust existing in space. The life cycle of a star begins with the nebula. It is known as the birthplace of stars, the nebula is known to have several kinds. Basically, stars are formed from the gases that are contained within the nebula. These clouds of gases hydrogen and helium and dust gravitational forces resulting to the formation of protostars. Protostars which are known as young stars eventually collapse in order to form main sequence stars or also called dwarf stars. A red dwarf star is small and faint approximately tenth of the diameter of the Sun. These burn slowly and live to about a hundred billion years. These would eventually expand as they begin to grow old; as time goes on; its core runs of hydrogen and helium gases. This results in the cooling of the star and a decrease in its brightness, this star is now known as the red giant. The red giant or can also be called the red super giant is a large bright star that has a cooler surface temperature 2,000 to 3,000oC. They are considered collapse due to

bright due to their size although the core temperature is quite low. The red giant collapses in time leading to a massive explosion known as the Supernova. The white dwarf star is part of the last stage of the life cycle of a star after the red giant. A perfect example of this would be the Sun. Depending on the stars original mass, it can have several fates: Black dwarf The black dwarf is considered as a stellar remnant that has lost its heat due to the depletion of the helium and

hydrogen gases from its core. It commonly arises from the white dwarf star. Neutron Star This type of star

occurs after a supernova. It results from of the

combination

protons

and electrons leading to the formation of the neutron star. According to studies, if the mass of a neutron star further decreases, there is a possibility that the increase in gravitational pull can result to the creation of a black hole. Black Hole These are believed to form from massive sized stars when their lifespan ends. It is believed that due to the intense gravitational pull within the black hole, not even light can escape it. The density of matter within a black hole is immeasurable since they can distort the space surrounding them and suck in the matter nearby.

Stars Celestial Objects On Sea and Sky

For as long as mankind can remember, stars have been those celestial objects on sea and sky that have stirred up a lot of theories with regards to what they are and how they came to be. Constellations are known as the chance aligning of the stars that form several various icons coming from the ancient times. These constellations are utilized by astronomers in order to provide organization to the skies at night and to properly locate the stars. Stars are considered as the most numerous visible objects in the universe. The light and energy emitted by these objects are considered as a power source for the solar system. Also

coming from the star are the heavy elements that are essential components in the formation of life forms. They are a keystone piece in the creation of life in the universe. Without them, the universe would cease to exist as is. A perfect example of a star that provides energy to life forms would be the Sun. The Sun as we know, gives life to Earth through the energy and heat it provides for all the living species on the planet. Energy and heat are essential factors for the survival of our species against the coldness of outer space. So it brings us to the question, does the brightness of a star have any relation to its core temperature? The measure of the stars brightness is termed as its magnitude and identifying the colour to determine the temperature. Astronomers have developed a scale to determine the magnitude and temperature of a star based on its characteristics.

For the magnitude, the lower the value of the number given, the brighter the star is. As for the colour and temperature, stars are divided among their colour and ranked in what is called a spectral class. This is an array of various stars beginning from Class O which is blue to the Class M that are red. The hotter and higher the temperature of the star, the more intense shade of blue it is. While stars that are red in colour, fall under the category of cooler

temperatures. Contrary to popular belief, stars in the sky do not really twinkle. The occurrence of the phenomenon that makes stars seem to twinkle is a direct effect from the interference in atmosphere. Air emitted rises, which causes images we see to wave and blur. Stars that are lower in position in the sky have more tendencies to twinkle in comparison to those that are in a higher location. The twinkling effects of celestial objects on sea and sky are more likely to occur in lower located stars since more light is required to pass through the planets atmosphere. A good analogy or comparison would be in the case of a hot summer day. Upon gazing far out into the pavement, there is a tendency for the road to blur or seem to move. It is actually the hot air escaping from the pavement and into the atmosphere.

Stars The Solar System and Outer Space

Probably among all the famous stars within the solar system and outer space, the most popular would have to be the sun. The sun actually comprises of almost all the matter within the solar system, the remaining matter would be

composed of the planets Jupiter and Saturn. Within the solar system and outer space, there are numerous astronomical objects that are bound to the orbit through the force of gravity. Stars are among the most

abundant astronomical objects that lay within the entirety of the solar system. Created from space formations termed as nebula, these stars live for billions of years as glowing structures of burning gas. As the star ages, its core temperature becomes cooler and the entire structure becomes unstable. The instability of an aging star eventually leads to its death in a massive explosion known as the supernova. The particles and elements coming from these stars explosions are the core ingredients that ultimately become new stars when they combine with other gases and dust. This occurrence is a perfect example of where energy is neither destroyed nor created. It only changes in form. Eventually the increase of the pull of gravity forces the creation of brand new stars. The increase in gravitational force is due to the spinning action created by the clouds of dust, hydrogen and helium gases. These are the initial stages of the formation of a new star. If you wonder why stars are so bright, you can compare the mechanism of a star to that of a nuclear reactor. A massive amount of energy is being produced by stars through nuclear fusion involving helium and hydrogen gas molecules. This is the source of the brightness of a star. Surprisingly, there are about two hundred billion stars within the known universe. That does not even include the sun! Since the sun is the nearest star to

our planet, we are able to observe its natural form as a glowing hot ball of gas. While we look at other stars in the sky as small little dots resembling lights on a Christmas tree. They seem tiny when in fact these stars can be as massive or even much more in comparison to our Sun. It is only due to their extreme distance which makes them difficult to see in their actual form. To give you a better idea on how massive another star can be, the Sun is actually just a medium sized star. While our planet, in terms of the diameter is only a hundredth of that of the Sun. So imagine another star that is twice or more in size of the Sun, big huh? Giant stars are about one thousand times the diameter of the Sun. These are found in several different galaxies that are billions of light years away. So the next time you look up in that night sky and you see a star twinkle, imagine how many light years it took for that light to travel. Imagine that the star youre looking at is only a minute part of an even bigger picture.

Interesting Facts about Stars

The night sky is filled with a lot of mysteries and trivial information. There are a lot of interesting facts about stars that you may not know of. Knowing about these trivial facts can actually help you to appreciate the universe more or can be an interesting topic for conversation between you and your peers. So here are some interesting facts about stars: 1. The Sun is the closest star to Earth.

For those that dont know, yes, the Sun is a star! It is the closest one to the planet - approximately 150 million kilometers away. The Sun is classified under the G2 yellow dwarf star class and is in the phase of its life cycle known as the main sequence. Our Sun, like most other stars, emits energy and light through conversion of hydrogen and helium atoms. This process nuclear fusion occurs at the Suns core where its the hottest. The Sun is estimated to be about 4.5 billion years old and is predicted to be in this phase for another seven billion years or so. Unfortunately, like most other stars, when the time comes that it runs out of fuel, it would become a red giant star while increasing in size. There is even a probability that it would engulf Mercury, Venus and probably even Earth as it expands. 2. All stars are in a perfect state of balance. Since they are billions of light years away, it would be difficult to know that stars are actually in a constant battle or conflict with themselves. All the stars have their own gravitational pull that pulls itself inward. This action, if not repelled by another force would lead to the continuous collapse of a star until it becomes minute in size. The amazing part is that the nuclear fusion occurring at the stars core actually repels the gravitational force by creating an outward push. This phenomenon actually takes about 100,000 years to complete.

When a star loses its fuel at the core, there is no longer any action to repel the pull of gravity hence a star collapses into smaller minute particles known as dwarfs. 3. Everything equal. With stars, the colour, temperature and its mass are all related. The actual color of a star can indicate its size and temperature. The hottest stars are is

surprisingly the smallest ones and are blue in colour. Their temperatures go to about 12,000 Kelvin. While the yellow coloured stars are the medium sized ones just like the Sun. Their temperatures fall to about 6,000 Kelvin. And lastly, the coolest and biggest ones are coloured red and have temperatures that are less than 3,500 Kelvin. 4. Stars are just like twins. When looking at the night sky, it would seem like stars are up there all alone. But dont fret; these heavenly bodies actually come in pairs. These are termed binary stars where in a set of two stars share a common center of gravity in an orbit. In some other systems in space, stars can even come in groups of threes or even four!