Table of Contents
What decides which main sequence a star will take?
The overall lifespan of a star is determined by its mass. Since stars spend roughly 90% of their lives burning hydrogen into helium on the main sequence (MS), their ‘main sequence lifetime’ is also determined by their mass.
What is the life cycle path of an average star?
Massive stars transform into supernovae, neutron stars and black holes while average stars like the sun, end life as a white dwarf surrounded by a disappearing planetary nebula. All stars, irrespective of their size, follow the same 7 stage cycle, they start as a gas cloud and end as a star remnant.
How are stars formed step by step?
- Star Formation Shapes the Appearance of the Universe and Provides the Sites for Planets.
- Step 1: initial collapse of an interstellar cloud.
- Step 2: the cloud fragments into clumps . The fragmentation is related to turbulence in the collapsing cloud. (
- Step 3: The clumps collapse into a stars.
How do main sequence stars generate energy?
All main-sequence stars have a core region where energy is generated by nuclear fusion. In the lower main sequence, energy is primarily generated as the result of the proton–proton chain, which directly fuses hydrogen together in a series of stages to produce helium.
What three stages will our sun undergo after the main sequence phase?
The Sun is currently a main sequence star and will remain so for another 4-5 billion years. It will then expand and cool to become a red giant, after which it will shrink and heat up again to become a white dwarf. The white dwarf star will run out of nuclear fuel and slowly cool down over many billions of years.
What are the 3 steps in the formation of stars?
Formation of Stars Like the Sun
- STAGE 1: AN INTERSTELLAR CLOUD.
- STAGE 2: A COLLAPSING CLOUD FRAGMENT.
- STAGE 3: FRAGMENTATION CEASES.
- STAGE 4: A PROTOSTAR.
- STAGE 5: PROTOSTELLAR EVOLUTION.
- STAGE 6: A NEWBORN STAR.
- STAGE 7: THE MAIN SEQUENCE AT LAST.