The Birth and

Death of Stars
 The Birth and Death of Stars

What are Stars?

 Stars are large balls of hot gas.
 They look small because they are a long way
away, but in fact many are bigger and brighter
than the Sun.
 The heat of the star is made in the center by
nuclear fusion reactions.
 There are lots of different colors and sizes of
stars.
 The Birth and Death of Stars
How are stars made?
 Stars are made (or “born”) in
giant clouds of dust and gas.
 Sometimes part of the cloud
shrinks because of gravity.
 As it shrinks it becomes
hotter and when it is hot
enough, nuclear reactions
can start in the centre…..
 … and A Star is Born!
 The Birth and Death of Stars

Watching stars being born

The Bubble Nebula

Here you can see the
old dust and gas
being blown away by
the heat of the new
star.
Image from the Liverpool Telescope
 The Birth and Death of Stars

What happens next?

 Once nuclear fusion is producing heat in the
center of the new star, this heats stops the rest
of the star from collapsing.
 The star then stays almost exactly the same for
a long time (about 10 billion years for a star like
the Sun).
 The balance between gravity trying to make the
star shrink and heat holding it up is called
Thermodynamic Equilibrium.
 The Birth and Death of Stars

The life of a star

 During its “life” a star will not change very much.
 However, different stars are different colors, size
and brightness.
 The bigger a star, the hotter and brighter it is.
Hot stars are Blue. Smaller stars are less bright,
cooler and Red.
 Because they are so hot, the bigger stars
actually have shorter lives than the small, cool
ones.
 The Birth and Death of Stars
How does a star “die”?
 Eventually, the hydrogen (the“fuel” for the nuclear
fusion) in the center of the star will run
out.
 No new heat is made and
gravity will take over and the
center of the star will shrink.
 This makes the very outside
of the star “float up” and cool
down, making the star look
much bigger and
redder-a Red Giant star. Antares – a Red Giant
 The Birth and Death of Stars

The second Red Giant stage

 As the center collapses, it becomes very hot
again, eventually getting hot enough to start a
new kind of nuclear fusion with Helium as the
fuel.
 Then the Red Giant shrinks and the star looks
“normal” again.
 This does not last very long, though, as the
Helium runs out very quickly and again the star
forms a Red Giant.
 The Birth and Death of Stars
The end of a Sun-like star

 For a star like the Sun, no more

nuclear fusion can take place, so
the center of the star will then keep
collapsing. Simulation of the Death
of the Sun
• Eventually it can become almost as small as the
Earth, but with the same mass as a whole star!
This very dense object is called a White Dwarf.
• A piece of White Dwarf the size of a mobile phone
would weigh as much as an elephant on the
Earth!
 The Birth and Death of Stars
The end of a Sun-like star
 The outer parts of the star (that
formed the Red Giant) then drift
off into space and cool down
making a Planetary Nebula.
 Planetary nebulae have nothing
to do with planets, of course,
they just look a bit like them in
small telescopes!
 Here you can see a planetary
nebula called M57 with its White
Dwarf in the middle.

Image from the Liverpool Telescope

 The Birth and Death of Stars
The end of a massive star
 For more massive (bigger) stars
than the Sun, many more types
of nuclear fusion can take place.
 This means several more Red
Giant stages. Simulation of the Death
of the massive Star
• However, eventually even the biggest stars run
out of fuel and finally collapse.
• For the biggest stars, this collapse causes a
huge explosion called a Supernova! A
Supernova can be brighter than an entire galaxy
of 100,000,000,000 stars!
 The Birth and Death of Stars
What is left after a Supernova?
 Because the star was so big, the collapse does
not stop even with a White Dwarf, but an even
more dense object called a Neutron Star is
made.
 The density of a Neutron star is about 1x10 18
kg/m3 (that is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000!)
 Sometimes the collapse cannot stop at all and a
Black Hole is made, from which not even light
can escape!
 The debris of the explosion is blown away and
forms a glowing cloud called a Supernova
Remnant.
The Crab Supernova Remnant
Image from the European Southern
Observatory Very Large Telescope
The Birth and Death of Stars
 The Birth and Death of Stars
Birth and Death of Stars - Summary
• Stars form in clouds of gas.
• Heat from nuclear fusion and gravity balance.
• When the hydrogen fuel runs out, a Red Giant
is formed.
• For Sun-like stars, a White Dwarf and Planetary
Nebula are left.
• For massive stars, a Supernova explosion
leaves behind a Supernova Remnant and a
Neutron Star or perhaps even a Black Hole.
 The Birth and Death of Stars
White Dwarf and
Collapsing Planetary Nebula
cloud

Sun-like
stars
A new star
Supernova
Remnant and
Neutron Star
Red
Giant Massive
stars

Birth and Death of Stars - Summary

 Characteristics of Stars
Stars…
 Are hot balls of plasma that shine because
nuclear fusion is happening at their
cores… they create their own light
 Have different characteristics which allow
many different ‘varieties’ of stars to exist
Characteristics of Stars
Colour

Vary in colour
Blue
Yellow
Red
Characteristics of Stars
Luminosity

Luminosity – how bright a star is

Apparent magnitude – how bright a star appears to an
observer on Earth
Stars can appear to be the same brightness to us on
Earth even though they may not be (one may be farther
away from us than the other)
Absolute magnitude – the actual brightness of a star
Stars that are as bright as our Sun have a luminosity of 1
If a star has a luminosity of 50, it is 50 times brighter
than our Sun
Characteristics of Stars

Temperature
Hot stars are around 15 000oC and greater
Cool stars are around 3 000oC
Relationships Between Characteristics of
Stars
Temperature and Colour

Blue stars are hotter

Red stars are cooler

Luminosity and Colour

Brighter stars are blue
Dimmer stars are red

Sizeand Luminosity
Bigger stars are brighter
Relationships Between Characteristics of
Stars