What is a star after it has used all of its nuclear fuel?
Once a star like the Sun has exhausted its nuclear fuel, its core collapses into a dense white dwarf and the outer layers are expelled as a planetary nebula.
What kind of stars become dwarfs?
Stars that have a lot of mass may end their lives as black holes or neutron stars. A low or medium mass star (with mass less than about 8 times the mass of our Sun) will become a white dwarf. A typical white dwarf is about as massive as the Sun, yet only slightly bigger than the Earth.
Which stars eventually run out of fuel?
The blue-white hot core of the star that is left behind cools and becomes a white dwarf. The white dwarf eventually runs out of fuel and dies as a black dwarf. THE DEATH OF A HIGH MASS STAR A dying red super giant star can suddenly explode.
Why do stars run out of fuel?
When stars run out of fuel they begin to collapse rapidly under their own weight. Some stars that are large enough naturally end their lives by exploding in a supernova. Eventually the star will run out of its essential fuel entirely, resulting in its explosive end.
How do stars run out of fuel?
What happens to a star when it runs out of fuel?
When the star runs out of nuclear fuel, it comes to the end of its time on the main sequence. If the star is large enough, it can go through a series of less-efficient nuclear reactions to produce internal heat.
What happens to the core of a white dwarf star?
Once the helium in the core is gone, the star will shed most of its mass, forming a cloud of material called a planetary nebula. The core of the star will cool and shrink, leaving behind a small, hot ball called a white dwarf. A white dwarf doesn’t collapse against gravity because of the pressure of electrons repelling each other in its core.
How much of a star is ejected into space in a supernova?
In one of the most spectacular events in the Universe, the shock propels the material away from the star in a tremendous explosion called a supernova. The material spews off into interstellar space. About 75% of the mass of the star is ejected into space in the supernova.
Why are clouds of material called stellar nuseries?
That hot core is called a protostar and will eventually become a star. The cloud doesn’t collapse into just one large star, but different knots of material will each become it’s own protostar. This is why these clouds of material are often called stellar nuseries – they are places where many stars form.