Life Cycle of Stars

This is the life cycle that the star that you've created is going through!

Each variation of a star represent a different phase that the star going through.

Stars go through many stages in their lifetime, varying from a few million to a few trillion years depending on their mass. The bigger the star, the more fuel it's burning, which shortens its life.

Down below is the changes that a star will go through on a bigger and a longer time scale, one that we are not able to observe in the period of one life time.

Stages of a Star

Gas Cloud

The first stage is the gas stage, also called the nebula, where stars are formed from clouds of dust and gas collapsing. The temperature allows molecules to synthesize and stars form when the temperature becomes hot and dense.

Protostar

A protostar is the first form of a star, comprising of a clump of molecules made form pieces of molecular cloud running into each other. There can be multiple Protostars in one molecular cloud, depending on its size.

T-Tauri Phase

The T-Tauri phase begins when huge amounts of energy is gathered. The materials from the gas cloud is not affecting the star. This phase lasts around 100 million years.

Main Sequence

The temperature of the star is hot enough for nuclear fusion to commerce. Hydrogen protons are being converted to helium atoms. The level of gravity is stable enough to hold the star together. The hydrogen atoms are constantly being burned in its core.

Average Star

Longer lifespans maintaining regular size proportions

Massive Star

Shorter lifespans because of more energy consumed

Red Giant

After some time, the star runs out of hydrogen fuel. This causes the star to expand because the star contracts inwards without a sort of reaction. The star appears red because of its cooler surfaces.

Red SuperGiant

A more bigger version of the red giant, the red supergiant are, at times, around 2000 times larger than an average red giant.

Fusion

The helium molecules begin fusing at the core as it also fuses carbon after the helium cycle is finished. The core begins shrinking and collapsing due to the energy absorption from the fusion. The results diverge from here as red supergiant stars become supernovas while smaller red giant stars become white dwarfs.

Supernova

Balance in the star's gravity becomes unstable, leading to a drop in pressure. When the pressure gets to a certain point, gravity enacts an explosion. Called a supernova, this blast blown off most of the star's material, leaving only the core. Depending on the size of the core, the star becomes a neutron star if the size is relative and a black hole if the size is large.

Planetary Nebula

During planetary nebula, the outer layers of the star sheds itself off, creating a dust cloud around the core, The core contracts smaller and smaller until the star becomes a tiny white dwarf with its materials slowly drifting away. A red dwarf forms when its mass is small enough so that it only burns with an emitting red glow.

Next ->

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse