Stars are phenomenal glowing spheres that everyone has noticed in the night sky. Long ago they were poorly understood. Today, with the help from astronomers, physicists, and other space scientists, we have discovered a large amount of information about stars.
These huge balls of flaming gas have many different ranges of characteristics. We can observe the many fascinating colors that may be displayed from stars. Some of them are not stars themselves, but the trillions of fragments left behind after they explode into supernova (Moreau, 2000).
There is a huge variation in sizes of stars as well. They range from super giants to small dwarfs. Most often their sizes correlate to their age or the particular cycle they are beginning to
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These two diagrams show the action of subatomic particles smashing into each other creating other elements and energy as a byproduct. Both of these pictures demonstrate the occurrence between the most common elements, hydrogen and helium, undergoing fusion.
Sometimes when dealing with mathematical descriptions of specific phenomenon concerning stars the complexity may become intense. However, we will explore common occurrences and changes of stars that can be described by simple mathematical relationships.
One primary occurrence between stars that are approaching their later stages is a reduction in their radius. This occurs when elements such as hydrogen and helium in the center of the star change into gaseous iron from electron exchanges and other processes. Eventually the star becomes very dense and the radius of the star is reduced. By the conservation of angular momentum in this case, the velocity must increase due to the decreased radius (Kippenhahn, 194-95). Lets do a calculation to show this.
By the conservation of angular momentum we get this equation: Ii wi = If wf, where "Ii" is the initial moment of inertia, "wi" is the initial angular speed, and "If" and "wf" are the final products of what I just listed. The moment of inertia of a sphere is (2/5)mR^2, where "m" is the mass and "R" is the radius. Plugging these into the equation Ii wi = If wf, we get, (2/5)mRi^2 wi = (2/5)mRf^2 wf.
After a time, the hydrogen runs out almost completely, and it collapses. New reactions begin to take place in the core and these reactions cause the star to expand rapidly. As the stars begin to deplete their new fuel, they switch to others. New elements are formed in the cores of stars but they become too heavy. The star has reached its end growth. When it reaches the end, a tremendous amount of energy is released and it begins to shed its outer layers, the gravity is too weak hold onto them anymore. Once the layers are removed, in the stars place is a fiery core called a planetary nebula. Eventually, the core runs out of fuel and it collapses. This star is now in a very dense state, and is called a white dwarf. Eventually, the white dwarf cools until it no longer shines. This dead star is called a brown dwarf.More massive stars, however, have more violent ways of dying. Some stars turn it into a supergiant. Supergiant stars are extremely bright, and are extremely large. Supergiant stars cores, can collapse violently and suddenly. This collapse causes a tremendous explosion, called a
In this paper I will explain how astronomers determine the composition, temperature, speed, and rotation rate of distant objects using various methods. I will explain the properties of stars. I will also summarize the complete lifecycle of the Sun and determine where the Sun is currently in its lifecycle.
The life cycle of a star is dependent on its mass. The larger the mass, the quicker it will die out, whereas stars which are no more than half the size of our Sun can live up to hundreds of billion years. However no matter how large the star is, they all begin their lives in a nursery known as a molecular cloud.
Just like humans, everything in the universe has a purpose. From the beginning of the moment anything is created into existence it grows and fulfills its purpose. Stars are no different. Every day, stars are created by gravity which pulls the star together, the star builds up heat and pressure, and then fusion begins. The process in which a star goes through is known as a star's life cycle. All stars start at the basic nebula phase, change to a protostar, and go on to the main sequence star phase. After the main sequence star phase, there are two different divisions that are determined by the mass of the star. If a star is known as a low-mass star it will have different life changes than a high-mass star. A low-mass star will become a
A star will begin to formate in the densest and keenest regions of space in enormous sized
Today we have new technology that allows us to do many incredible things. One of those things is the ability to calculate the stars, where they will go and where
∼ 100 times brighter than the stars of its host galaxy. Seyferts and QSOs, however, are not
This causes the ball, now a star, to shine. Depending on the mass of the star, they can reach different types of fusion. Normal stars that have a mass of up to 4 times the sun can only have hydrogen fusion, helium fusion, and carbon fission. Stars with a bigger mass is classified as a massive star, and they undergo multiple stages. They start out similar to the normal stars with hydrogen fusion, helium fusion and carbon fission, but continue over to oxygen fusion, and silicon fusion. The end product of Silicon is Iron. No star can fuse Iron, it will die. How much gas and dust is collected during the star’s formation determines the size and colour of the star. As time passes by, stars fight the inward pull of the force of gravity. The outward pressure created by the nuclear reactions pushing away from the star's core keeps the star whole. However, these nuclear reactions require hydrogen. Eventually the supply of hydrogen in the core runs out and the star begins to
Next, there are the observations of novae. Novae are stars that show a sudden increase in brightness before returning back to their original
After approximately 10 billion years after the star is considered to be a main sequence star, the hydrogen at the center of the core is depleted. This causes the nuclear fusion which had been previously fueling the star to die out. Helium replaces the hydrogen in the core, and the inner core begins to shrink due to gravity. This process speeds up once all the hydrogen is completely used up. The radius of the star has increased
Stars go through phases with each one altering the star. They start as a protostar then ignite to
One day the universe will turn dark forever as the last star fizzles out and that star will most likely be a red dwarf. When a red dwarf star forms it possesses important properties that give it the potential to host rocky planets similar to Earth. Therefore the creation and resulting properties of red dwarfs form stars that can provide energy to planets which may one day be hospitable to life forms. First the process of formation of red dwarfs will be explained. Then, the properties of these stars will be examined. Finally, the importance of red dwarf stars’ existence will be considered.
When we think of stars, we often think that they are all the same. We often think that they are all just big balls of gas burning up to billions of light years away. However, that isn't exactly true. The truth is that stars are very diverse. Just like anything else in our Universe, stars fall into many different classifications based on its defining characteristics. In this essay I will discuss several different types of stars.
There are two different life cycles for stars but they both start out as a 'Stellar Nebula'. It then splits off in to separate stars the Low Mass and The High Mass stars..
Main sequence stars like our own sun enduring in a state of nuclear fusion during which they will produce energy for billions of years by replacing hydrogen to helium. Stars change over billions of years. When their main sequence phase ends they pass through other states of existence according to their size and other characteristics. The larger a star's mass, the shorter its lifespan is. As stars move toward the end of their lives, much of their hydrogen will be converted to helium. Helium sinks to the star's core and raises the star's temperature—causing its outer shell to expand. These large, puffy stars are known as Red Giants. The red giant phase is actually a prelude to a star shedding its outer layers and becoming a small, dense body called a White Dwarf. White dwarfs cool down for billions and billions of years, until they finally go dark and produce no energy at all. Once this happens, scientists have yet to observe, such stars become known as Black Dwarfs. A few stars avoid this evolutionary path and instead go out with a bang, exploding as Supernovae. These violent explosions leave behind a small core that will then turn into something called a Neutron Star or even, if the remainder is large enough, it is then turned into something called a Black Hole.