7 Main Stages of a Star

By Bryan Roberts; Updated April 16, 2018

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Stars such as the sun are large balls of plasma that inevitably fill the space around them with
light and heat. Stars come in a variety of masses, and mass determines how hot the star will burn
and how it will die. 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.

TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read)

Gravity turns clouds of gas and dust into protostars. A protostar turns into a main sequence star
which eventually runs out of fuel and collapses more or less violently, depending on its mass.

A Giant Gas Cloud

A star begins life as a large cloud of gas. The temperature inside the cloud is low enough for
molecules to form. Some of the molecules, such as hydrogen, light up and allow astronomers to
see them in space. The Orion Cloud Complex in the Orion system serves as a nearby example of
a star in this stage of life.

A Protostar Is a Baby Star

As the gas particles in the molecular cloud run into each other, heat energy is created, which
allows a warm clump of molecules to form in the gas cloud. This clump is referred to as a
Protostar. Since Protostars are warmer than other material in the molecule cloud, these
formations can be seen with infrared vision. Depending on the size of the molecule cloud,
several Protostars can form into one cloud.

The T-Tauri Phase

In the T-Tauri stage, a young star begins to produce strong winds, which push away the
surrounding gas and molecules. This allows the forming star to become visible for the first time.
Scientists can spot a star in the T-Tauri stage without the help infra.