Average Star Red Giant
Despite this phase having the word planet on its name,
Average stars are also known as
intermediate stars, are medium stars with
mass three times less than the sun. They
are mainly composed of 87% hydrogen, 10%
helium, with all other elements making
only up to 3%. These stars are powered by
nuclear fusion happening in their cores,
which converts mostly hydrogen to helium.
This explains why they liberate a
tremendous amount of energy.
Stellar Nebula
Life Cycle of a Star
Named after the Latin word for cloud, A
Stellar nebula is known to be a massive
cloud from space composed of dust, hydrogen,
helium, and plasma. They are often referred
to as “stellar nurseries” because this is
where stars are born due to the condensation
of gas and dust triggered by gravity.
Massive Star
Just like any other stars, high mass
stars are also born in the stellar
nebula. They are mostly composed of an
iron core surrounded by shells of
silicon, sulfur, oxygen, neon, carbon,
helium, and hydrogen. And because of
their massiveness, these stars burn their
fuel much faster which makes their life
span shorter than smaller stars.
Planetary Nebula
A Red Giant is a star defined by its red color and
large size. When the main-sequence star exhausts the
hydrogen in its core, it contracts making it hotter
and denser. This leads to faster and hotter fusion
which causes it to pushes back to gravity and expands
its outer layer. In short, the gigantic appearance of
this type of star is due to the contraction of the
core and expansion of the outer layer caused by
hydrogen fusion. The star gets larger, redder, and
more luminous as it expands and cools down.
Red Supergiant
Red Supergiants are stars similar to Red
Giants but larger. They form when a star
runs out of hydrogen fuel in its core
and transitions to fusing helium within
its center. As this process occurs, the
outer layer of the star expands causing
its temperature to decrease. This sudden
drop in temperature causes the star to
appear red.
White Dwarf
A star will become a white dwarf after it
the two objects are not totally related to each other. exhausted all its nuclear fuel. They are
This stage forms when a star can no longer support itself usually composed of carbon and oxygen and
by fusion reactions in its core. Gravity from the outer is characterized by being quite dense,
layer takes control of the structure of the star and its mass can be compared to the sun while
forces the inner parts to condense and heat up. These its size is almost similar to that of the
objects are relatively short-lived, and last just a few Earth. White dwarfs emit low amount of
tens of thousands of years. When this process is energy and has low luminosity due to its
complete, the remaining core remnant is uncovered and small size.
heats the now distant gases which cause them to glow.
Neutron Star
Neutron star is the collapsed core of a Red Supergiant. These
stars are formed as the gigantic explosion crushes every proton
and electron forming a neutron. Their composition as of this day
is still unknown, but they are said to be mainly composed of
neutron atoms, most of them are also undetectable because they
simply don't emit radiation. And since neutron stars began their
existence as stars, they are found scattered throughout the
galaxy, in the same places where we find stars.
Supernova
As the core of the star collapse due to the abrupt
change in the composition of the core of the star,
supernova forms. They are often seen in galaxies but
are very difficult to see in the milky way because of
Black Hole
dust blocking its way. This phase has two types, the
first one happens in binary star systems in which too
A black hole can be formed after a supernova wherein the mass of
much matter causes the star to explode resulting in a
the core is greater than 3 solar masses. Here, gravity is so
supernova. The second one on the other hand occurs at
strong that no particles can escape from it. It comes in a range
the end of a single star’s lifetime. This is because
of sizes and can not be seen because of the strong gravity that
of the collapse of the star's core which is due to
is pulling all of the light into the black hole's center.
its massiveness.