How does a star life cycle begin?
All stars go trough a lifecycle and it's life cycle is determined by its MASS – The larger the star, the faster it burns out! The star’s MASS is determined by the MATTER available in the nebula of formation.
The life cycle depends on size of
a) Sun-like stars, up to 1.5X mass of the Sun
b) Massive stars, (1.5 - 3)X mass of of the Sun
c) Super Massive, larger that 3X mass of Sun
Let's use the picture as a reference:
Stage1 - Nebula -
1) All stars start as a Nebula . A nebula is effectively a stellar nursery
Stage2 - Protostar formation -
2) A region of condensing matter will begin to heat up and start to glow forming Protostars. In human terms this would be he
Stage3 - Main Sequence
3) At this temperature, nuclear reactions in which hydrogen fuses to form helium can start.
4) The star begins to release energy, stopping it from contracting even more and causes it to shine. It is now a Main Sequence Star.
The nearest main sequence star to Earth, our own Sun.
5) A star of one solar mass remains in main sequence for about 10 billion years, until all of the hydrogen has fused to form helium.
6) The helium core now starts to contract further and reactions begin to occur in a shell around the core.
Stage4 - Red Giant Formation
7) The core is hot enough for the helium to fuse to form carbon. The outer layers begin to expand, cool and shine less brightly. The expanding star is now called a
Stage5 - Planetary Nebula
8) The helium core runs out, and the outer layers drift of away from the core as a gaseous shell, this gas that surrounds the core is called a Planetary Nebula.
Stage6 - White Dwarf Formation
The remaining core (thats 80% of the original star) is now in its final stages. The core becomes a
The Stages for b) and c) are similar to the above until "Stage4"
Stage5 -
7) The massive star then becomes a Red Supergiant and starts of with a helium core surrounded by a shell of cooling, expanding gas.
8) The massive star is much bigger in its expanding stage.
9) In the next million years a series of nuclear reactions occur forming different elements in shells around the iron core.
Stage 6 - Supernova
10)The core collapses in less than a second, causing an explosion called a Supernova, in which a shock wave blows of the outer layers of the star. (The actual supernova shines brighter than the entire galaxy for a short time
Stage 7 - Death
11) Sometimes the core survives the explosion. If the surviving core is between 1.5 - 3 solar masses it contracts to become a a tiny, very dense Neutron Star. If the core is much greater than 3 solar masses, the core contracts to become a Black Hole.
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The gravitational collapse of a section within a massive molecular cloud is the first step in the life cycle of a star.
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When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.
When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.
When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.
When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.
- During the late stages of a star's life, what causes the star to expand into a red giant/supergiant, then explode into a nebula or supernova?
- What would happen if a supernova exploded in space? What would it do to us?
- What are the characteristics of a red giant star?
- What would happen if someone entered a black hole?
- Suppose we observe a Cepheid variable in a distant galaxy that brightens and dims with a regular period of about 10 days. What can we learn from this observation?

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