How long does it take most massive stars end their life?

Because betelgeuse, for instance, is six million times larger than our sun, it burns up six million times faster than it would otherwise. Other factors, such as the star's age, must also be taken into consideration, as an older star will not burn for very long.

A star is considered massive if its mass exceeds approximately 8 solar masses, with some significantly higher than that.

Massive stars have much shorter lifetimes, lasting millions of years or less; the more massive the star, the shorter its lifetime. Smaller stars, like our Sun, have lifetimes of billions of years.

Unlike smaller stars, massive stars transition smoothly from hydrogen to helium fusion. After the core's supply of helium is depleted, carbon fusion begins, a phase that lasts for only a few hundred years before moving on to oxygen and silicon fusion.

Silicon fusion lasts less than a day and produces iron, which cannot form a fusion reaction because it requires additional energy instead of releasing it.

When the core is mostly composed of iron, it experiences a gravitational collapse that lasts less than a second and results in a supernova explosion, leaving the core as either a black hole or a neutron star.

The majority of massive stars die within a few million years, which is a relatively short timescale.