Life Cycle of a Star

1. Life Cycle of a Star

2. Lives of a star • Begin as Nebulas: A hot clouds of gas, where stars are born

3. Lives of a star 2. Protostars are formed by gravity pulling together dust and gases until they get hot enough to fuse together

4. Lives of a star 3. Main sequence: 90% of stars that burn through their hydrogen slowly (adult life)

5. Lives of a star 4. Soon a star begins to run out of fuel: When there is no more elements to fuse together

6. Life of a Star • A stars life depends on its mass • The smaller the star, the longer it will live • The bigger the star, the shorter it will live • For example: • Smaller than the sun: live 200 billion years • Sun’s size: live 10 billion years • Larger than the sun: less than 10 billion years

7. Death of a star Small –Medium Stars: • Red Giant: As they run out of fuel, their outer layer begins to expand and they become RED GIANTS Red Giant

8. Death of a star Small –Medium Stars: 2. White Dwarf: When the outer layer drifts into space, only the hot core is left forming a WHITE DWARF White Dwarf

9. Death of a star Small –Medium Stars: 3. Black Dwarf: When the white dwarf stops glowing it becomes a BLACK DWARF

10. Death of a star Large Stars: • Super Giants: Instead of forming a red giant, large stars form SUPER GIANTS

11. Death of a star Large Stars: 2. Super Nova: Super giants can suddenly explode creating a SUPERNOVA

12. Death of a star Large Stars: 3. Three outcomes to a supernova: • Recycled material makes a new star • Neutron Star can be formed: this is a very dense star (same amount of mass as the sun, but the size of Houston) • The star can become a black hole

13. Life of a Star White Dwarf Red Giant Black Dwarf Small/Medium Size Star Nebulae/ Protostar/ Main Sequence

14. Life of a Star Nebulae/ Protostar/ Main Sequence Large Size Star Recycled Star Black Hole Super Giant Neutron Star Supernova

15. Life of a Star