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Life cycle of stars
Stars begin as stellar nebulae. They condense, then enlarge, cool and turn red, (red giants/supergiants) then they either shrink or explode, and become white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes.
Low and medium-mass stars
Low and medium-mass stars follow a path from stellar nebulas, then becoming protostars, then normal, mid-sized stars, then growing and cooling into red giants, and then becoming planetary nebulae, and finally, contracting into white dwarves.
High-mass stars
High-mass stars follow a slightly different development than low and medium-mass stars. They begin as stellar nebulas, then developing into protostars, then becoming massive stars, then cooling and growing into red supergiants, then exploding in large supernovas, and finally, becoming either neutron stars or black holes.
The mass of a star determines which of these routes it takes. Stars form from stellar nebulas, and our sun is currently in the middle of its life cycle, as a mid-sized star. Eventually, it will cool and grow into a red giant, then a planetary nebula, and finally, a white dwarf.
H-R Diagram
The H-R Diagram is a diagram which plots stars' Luminosity (y-axis) and their temperature (x-axis) on a graph which organizes them. Stars are separated into four groups, white dwarfs, main sequence, giants, and supergiants. Our sun is a main-sequence star, the most common type. For main-sequence stars, as temperature increases, so does brightness. On the X-axis, temperature increases the further left you look. The top left corner are the brightest and hottest stars, the bottom left is the dimmest and hottest, the bottom right is the coolest and dimmest, and the top right are the brightest but coolest stars.
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