Transcript Life Cycle of a Star

Life Cycle of a Star
NEBULA
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A huge cloud of gas
and dust within a
galaxy where new
stars are born.
A nebula can be
several light-years
across
The following are REAL
photographs of nebulas taken
with the Hubble Space
Telescope.
Cool, huh!
PROTOSTAR
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A star in the process
of forming
Gas and dust gather
together because of
gravity
Protostars are getting
hotter and more
dense
MAIN SEQUENCE STAR
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Longest stage in a star’s
life
Most stars are in the main
sequence stage
Hydrogen fusing into
helium
Stars stay in the M.S. for
about 10 billion years
Our star is almost 5 billion
years old
Expanding
Massive Star:
“Red Super Giant”
Average Star:
“Red Giant”
Hydrogen runs out
 Core collapses and heats up
 Expands hundreds of times its diameter
 In about 5 billion years the Sun will
expand past Earth’s orbit, consuming and
burning the Earth
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Massive
Average
SUPERNOVA
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Core collapses and
violently explodes
Shines very brightly
Explosion can last for
days
NOVA
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Smaller explosion
Becomes 1000’s of
time brighter
Then returns to
original brightness
Supernova
Massive
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NEUTRON STAR
Very dense
Sends out radio
waves
PULSAR is a spinning
neutron star
Pulsar transmits radio
waves like a
lighthouse emits light
Average
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WHITE DWARF
Continues to burn
Dim
shrinks
Neutron Star
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Massive
Average
BLACK HOLE
BLACK DWARF
So much mass that it
continues to collapse
Gravity so high that
light cannot escape
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When a white dwarf
runs out of fuel
Cold, dark and very
small
Black Dwarf Star
This is concept art of a black dwarf against
a background field of stars.
Cluster or group of stars
close together in space.
Each galaxy may contain
billions or trillions of stars.
There are 4 types of Galaxies
1.
2.
3.
4.
Spiral
Elliptical
Barred Spiral
Irregular
Spiral
Elliptical
Barred Spiral
Irregular