Table of Contents
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.
How do you determine the lifetime of a main sequence star?
To find the lifetime in years of a Main Sequence star, multiply the ratio of the star’s mass and luminosity in solar units times approximately 1010 years. or about 4.9 million years.
What determines the location of a star on the main sequence?
mass
The position of a star along the main sequence is determined by its mass. High-mass stars emit more energy and are hotter than low-mass stars on the main sequence. Main-sequence stars derive their energy from the fusion of protons to helium. About 90% of the stars lie on the main sequence.
What is a star’s main sequence lifetime?
Main-Sequence Lifespan The main sequence is the stage where a star spends most of its existence. Relative to other stages in a star’s “life” it is extremely long; our Sun took about 20 million years to form but will spend about 10 billion years (1 × 1010 years) as a main sequence star before evolving into a red giant.
How is the total life span of a star related to its initial mass?
A star’s life expectancy depends on its mass. Generally, the more massive the star, the faster it burns up its fuel supply, and the shorter its life. The most massive stars can burn out and explode in a supernova after only a few million years of fusion.
What determines the location of a star on the main sequence quizlet?
Mass determines where on the main sequence a star lives, and what the main sequence lifetime is for the star.
Where is the main sequence located?
The main sequence is visible as a prominent diagonal band that runs from the upper left to the lower right.
What determines the lifetime of a star?
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.
How is the location of the main sequence determined?
The Main Sequence is a Mass Sequence The location of a star along the M-S is determined by its Mass. Low-Mass Stars: Cooler and Fainter High-Mass Stars: Hotter and Brighter As we saw in Lecture 11, M-S stars obey a strong Mass-Luminosity Relation:
What are the characteristics of a main sequence star?
Table 2. Characteristics of Main-Sequence Stars Spectral Type Mass (Sun = 1) Luminosity (Sun = 1) Temperature Radius (Sun = 1) O5 40 7 × 10 5 40,000 K 18 B0 16 2.7 × 10 5 28,000 K 7 A0 3.3 55 10,000 K 2.5 F0 1.7 5 7500 K 1.4
How does the life cycle of a massive star differ from a low mass star?
On the right of the illustration is the life cycle of a massive star (10 times or more the size of our Sun). Like low-mass stars, high-mass stars are born in nebulae and evolve and live in the Main Sequence. However, their life cycles start to differ after the red giant phase. A massive star will undergo a supernova explosion.