: Stellar Evolution

Title: Stellar Evolution

Stellar evolution; the stages and forces

Stellar evolution is the process that a star undergoes in its existence. It is a process characterized by radical changes which are determined by the mass of the star. The process can last only a few million years to trillion of years, with the most massive stars living the shorter period (Spolyar, Freese and Gondolo, 2008).

There are three major stages of development covered by a tsar as it develops namely

1. Birth
2. Maturity
3. Death

Birth

Astronomers believe that the stars are born when the dense clouds of gas collapse to form the ‘protostars’ which are comparatively large masses of gas that can be comparatively classified as cool. The mass of gas continuously contracts raising the temperature of the mass. When the temperature reaches about 1,000,000⁰C which is about 1,800,000⁰F the nucleus of hydrogen atoms reacts with the deuterons of the heavy hydrogen, a process that ignites a lot of heat and Helium, an inert gas. At this point further contraction of the star is halted (Livio, 2004).

Maturity

After the discussed sequence has occurred the star enters its maturity stage also referred to as Main Sequence Stars. At this stage the stars continuously burn hydrogen to helium producing a lot of nuclear energy illuminating the star. The amount of energy emitted depends with the mass of the star with massive stars emitting more energy than the less massive (Rood and Renzini, 1997). Massive stars are therefore brighter and bluer. The period a star can continue emitting light depends on the amount of hydrogen it contains. Once all the hydrogen is fully consumed the star starts its final journey, the death (Livio, 2004).

Death

A star dies once it exhausts its fixed supply of hydrogen. With absence of hydrogen there is no longer a source of heat which supports the star against gravitational pull. The core is then attracted to gravity until that time when it starts converting helium to carbon. The outer envelope of the star evolves plumbing the star into a red giant, a state that continues until all the helium stock is exhaustively turned into carbon leaving what is known as white dwarfs (Spolyar, Freese and Gondolo, 2008).

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