Life Cycle of a Star PDF

Life Cycle of a Star Overview Stage 1 Protostars 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 Stage 2 Main sequence star Main Sequence Star • E.g. Our Sun • Seq...

Life Cycle of a Star Overview Stage 1 Protostars 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 Stage 2 Main sequence star Main Sequence Star • E.g. Our Sun • Sequence lasts for about 10 000 million years • Our Sun is about half way through it’s main sequence Stage 3 Red Giant 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. Stage 4 White Dwarf 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! Stage 5 Black Dwarf 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 Stars bigger than our sun! At least four times bigger Stage 4 (for a big star) Red Supergiant Stage 5 (for a big star) Supernova Supernova! • The largest and most powerful explosions in the universe. • The red supergiants literally blow themselves apart! Supernova • All the atoms we are made from came originally from these giant supernova explosions. Stage 6 (for a big star) Black hole 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.