What is the life cycle of a star in order?
Heavy stars turn into supernovae, neutron stars and black holes whereas average stars like the sun end life as a white dwarf surrounded by a disappearing planetary nebula. All stars, however, follow roughly the same basic seven-stage life cycle, starting as a gas cloud and ending as a star remnant.
What happens to a giant star over its lifetime?
Stars spend approximately a few thousand to 1 billion years as a red giant. The star shrinks again until a new helium shell reaches the core. When the helium ignites, the outer layers of the star are blown off in huge clouds of gas and dust known as planetary nebulae.
How long does a supernova last for?
The explosion of a supernova occurs in a star in a very short timespan of about 100 seconds. When a star undergoes a supernova explosion, it dies leaving behind a remnant: either a neutron star or a black hole.
Why do massive stars have shorter life spans than average stars?
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. A star with a mass like the Sun, on the other hand, can continue fusing hydrogen for about 10 billion years.
What are the four stages of a stars life cycle?
The formation and life cycle of stars
- A nebula. A star forms from massive clouds of dust and gas in space, also known as a nebula.
- Protostar. As the mass falls together it gets hot.
- Main sequence star.
- Red giant star.
- White dwarf.
- Supernova.
- Neutron star or black hole.
What comes from giant or massive stars?
Super-giant come from giant or massive stars. They grow to as much as three times the mass of our sun as they lose the nuclear fuel at their core.
Can a supernova destroy the earth?
A supernova is a star explosion – destructive on a scale almost beyond human imagining. If our sun exploded as a supernova, the resulting shock wave probably wouldn’t destroy the whole Earth, but the side of Earth facing the sun would boil away.