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Representative lifetimes of stars as a function of their masses The change in size with time of a Sun-like star Artist's depiction of the life cycle of a Sun-like star, starting as a main-sequence star at lower left then expanding through the subgiant and giant phases, until its outer envelope is expelled to form a planetary nebula at upper right Chart of stellar evolution
A star's life begins with the gravitational collapse of a gaseous nebula of material largely comprising hydrogen, helium, and trace heavier elements. Its total mass mainly determines its evolution and eventual fate. A star shines for most of its active life due to the thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium in its core.
The W51 nebula in Aquila - one of the largest star factories in the Milky Way (August 25, 2020). Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in interstellar space, sometimes referred to as "stellar nurseries" or "star-forming regions", collapse and form stars. [1]
“This gives us a rare opportunity to witness a star‘s life in real time, in particular the last stages of a heavyweight star before its death in a supernova explosion,” Ohnaka added.
Artist's image of a firestorm of star birth deep inside the core of a young, growing elliptical galaxy NGC 4676 (Mice Galaxies) is an example of a present merger. The Antennae Galaxies are a pair of colliding galaxies – the bright, blue knots are young stars that have recently ignited as a result of the merger.
Later in its life, a low-mass star will slowly eject its atmosphere via stellar wind, forming a planetary nebula, while a higher–mass star will eject mass via a sudden catastrophic event called a supernova. The term supernova nucleosynthesis is used to describe the creation of elements during the explosion of a massive star or white dwarf.
This is Mimas, the smallest of Saturn's major moons. Other than its giant impact crater, scientists thought Mimas was a rather boring piece of cold rock. Now, a new study says Mimas is much more ...
[33] [34] [35] The smaller stars, if they remained in the birth cluster, would accumulate more gas and could not survive to the present day, but a 2017 study concluded that if a star of 0.8 solar masses (M ☉) or less was ejected from its birth cluster before it accumulated more mass, it could survive to the present day, possibly even in our ...