stars: birth, life and death
DESCRIPTION
Stars: Birth, Life and Death. There are 3 types of stars that you need to be familiar with... Low Mass stars Intermediate Mass stars High Mass stars . Also known as Red Dwarf Stars Characteristics... Start and stay relatively small Exist as dim, cool red dwarfs - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
STARS: BIRTH, LIFE AND DEATH
There are 3 types of stars that you need to be familiar with...
Low Mass stars Intermediate Mass
stars High Mass stars
1. LOW MASS STARS Also known as Red Dwarf
Stars
Characteristics... Start and stay relatively
small
Exist as dim, cool red dwarfs
Burn hydrogen fuel very slowly, lasting up to 100 billion years
Method of Death/Burn Out Eventually become very hot (but small)
dim, white dwarfs and quietly burn out
Sirius B
2. INTERMEDIATE MASS STARS Example: our Sun
Characteristics... Burns hydrogen fuel faster
than low mass stars, lasting about 10 billion years
Expands into a red giant after a long period of stability
Method of Death/Burn Out Red giant sheds most of its material into space
Collapses in on itself, becoming a small, dim, white dwarf
Keeps cooling until it becomes a black dwarf a dense, dark body made up of mostly carbon and oxygen
3. HIGH MASS STARS Characteristics... 12+ times the mass of our Sun
Burn fuel faster than the other 2, lasting about 7 billion years
Become supergiants when they’ve used all their fuel
Method of Death/Burn Out Supergiants collapse on
themselves, forming supernovas
There are 2 possible endings from there: Neutron Star Black Hole
Cassiopeia A
1. Neutron Stars Remaining core of supernova will
eventually collapse on itself, forming a neutron star
Neutron Star: (average)
starts out more than 1million km across but collapses into a sphere only 10km wide
2. Black Holes Happens to stars 25+ times the size
of the Sun Called black because nothing (not even light) can escape it
so dense that it creates a massive gravitational pull
Evidence: materials pulled towards black holes emit electromagnetic radiation, which can be measured Gravity from black holes effects passing stars/galaxies Computer models show howit can distort light from distantstars
STAR SIZES Stars can vary greatly in size Although our Sun is an average size,
many of the stars we see in the night sky are up to 3000 times as large as the Sun.