250 likes | 380 Vues
Life Cycle of a Star. 1 st Stage of Life Ball of gas and dust that is pulled together by gravity Nuclear fusion starts as gas cloud becomes denser and hotter Nuclear Fusion hydrogen atoms fuse into helium Creates the intense energy found in stars.
E N D
1st Stage of Life • Ball of gas and dust that is pulled together by gravity • Nuclear fusion starts as gas cloud becomes denser and hotter • Nuclear Fusion hydrogen atoms fuse into helium • Creates the intense energy found in stars
Four types of stars make up the life of a star • Main Sequence • Giants • Super Giants • White Dwarfs
Main Sequence (the Sun) • 2nd stage • Longest stage • Hydrogen changes into helium which creates enormous amounts of energy • The size of the star does not change much
Giants and Supergiants • 3rd stage • Main Sequence star becomes a red giant • Red giant star that expands and cools once it loses all its hydrogen • Center shrinks and atmosphere grows large and cools
White Dwarf small hot star that is the leftover center of an older star • Final stage • Can shine for billions of years before they extinguish
Hertzprung-Russell Diagram • Shows the relationship between a star’s surface temperature and absolute magnitude • Used to study the lives of stars • Most stars lie along the main sequence portion of the diagram
Age of stars • Average stars become red giants then white dwarfs • More massive stars explode into a variety of objects
Supernova gigantic explosion in which a massive star collapses • Occurs after a massive star uses up its fuel source • Neutron Star a star that has collapsed to a point at which all particles are neutrons • A neutron star that spins and sends out beams of radiation is called a pulsar
Black Hole an object that is so massive that light cannot escape its gravity • Remnants of a supernova • Astronomers can detect black holes by using X-ray telescopes
Question 1 • What kind of a star is the sun?
Answer • Main Sequence
Question 2 • What is the H-R diagram?
Answer • A graph that shows the relationship between a star’s temperature and absolute magnitude
Question 3 • What are the four main types of stars?
Answer • Main-Sequence • Giants and Supergiants • White Dwarfs