The Star

Formation
And
Evolution
Complete the sequence of the star’s life
cycle.
Main Sequence
Star

Massive Star
oWHERE DO YOU THINK
STARS COME FROM?
• Fourteen billion years ago, in the vast universe,
clouds of dust particles turbulently reacted to
gravity and underwent a lot of changes.
• These scattered gas and dust particles
clumped together in a complex process that
resulted to gigantic forms known as NEBULA.
• These
giant and
massive
clumps of
clouds or
nebulae
are where
stars
originate.
• They underwent
chemical and
nuclear
reactions that
further led to
the formation of
heavenly
bodies,
especially
STARS.
 These towers of
cosmic dust and
gas make up part
of the Eagle
Nebula. These so-
called PILLARS
OF CREATION
are part of an
active star-forming
*The Pillars of Creation is a small region within the
region within the vast Eagle Nebula,
which lies 6,500 light-years away. nebula.
Captured by Hubble Space Captured by James Webb
Telescope in 1995 Space Telescope in 2022
oWHAT IS THE CORE OF IT
ALL?
PROTOSTAR
is the primal
stage of a star’s
life. It is where
gravity had
caused dense
regions within a
nebula more
compact.
• These regions
spin and shrink
and started to
form a
flattened disk.
• This hot dense
at the center of
the cloud
becomes the
core of the
star.
• It may develop into either low to a medium mass star or
a high mass star. A protostar is a developing young star.
oWHEN DO PROTOSTAR
BECOME A REAL STAR?
• Protostar
undergoes a
process of
increasing
temperature
and pressure
until a
NUCLEAR
FUSION
takes place.
• Once this process of
THERMONUCLEAR
FUSION of
Hydrogen to Helium
stabilizes, a star is
born.
• This star will start to
produce a
tremendous amount
of energy.
• Most stars
in the
universe are
MAIN
SEQUENCE
STARS
constituting
about 90%
of all the
stars in the
universe.
MAIN SEQUENCE STARS - any star that has a hot,
dense core which fuses hydrogen into helium to produce
energy.
It includes
our sun
together
with our
nearest
neighboring
stars,
SIRIUS and
ALPHA
CENTAURI.
•Latin Name:
Alpha Canis Majoris
•Constellation:
Canis Major
•Nickname:
The Dog Star
•Type:
Binary Star System
•Distance to Earth:
8.611 light-years
•Radius:
1.19 million km
•Surface temperature:
9,940 K
• The closest star to
Earth is a triple-
star system called
Alpha Centauri.
• The two main stars are
Alpha Centauri A and
Alpha Centauri B, which
form a binary pair. They
are about 4.35 light-
years from
Earth, according to NASA.
• The third star is called
Proxima Centauri or
Alpha Centauri C, and it
is about 4.25 light-years
from Earth, making it the
closest star other than
the sun.
• Our SUN
will remain
in this
mature
phase for
about 10
billion
years.
oARE THE STARS THE
SAME? HOW DO THEY
DIFFER FROM EACH
OTHER?
• Stars may all look the same, but they are as diverse as living
creatures on earth. They have characteristics unique to each kind.
• Stars could either be massive stars or low-mass stars.
• These main
sequence
stars are of
various types
and the most
common is
the so-called
RED
DWARFS.
• They are the cool, fainter
and smaller star,
approximately one-tenth the
mass and diameter of the
Sun.
• Having a small mass, it
burns very slowly and
has an estimated
lifetime of 100 billion
years.
Proxima Centauri and Barnard’s stars are
both red dwarfs.
• From the main sequence phase,
stars continue to evolve and
mature. Massive stars lead a path
different from the low-mass stars.
oDOES THE STAR’S MASS
CORRELATE TO ITS
ACTIVITY AND LIFE?
• Stars spend most
of their lives as
main-sequence
stars whether
massive or low-
mass star, they
keep on fusing
hydrogen as its
major fuel to
helium at their
center or cores.
• They are all like
big ball of burning
gases and could
remain as such
for millions or
billions of years.
However, the rate
at which they
burn their natural
fuel and release
energy are not all
the same.
• In the entirety of
star’s nuclear
activity, gravitational
pressure upon them
is greater when there
is a greater star
mass. Greater
pressure and
temperature inside
speed up the rate of
fusion too.
• In effect, a
massive star
utilizes its
hydrogen
reserves faster
than lower-mass
stars which use
its fuel more
slowly.
• That said, the
main sequence
star’s existence
depends on how
it consumes its
massive
resources.
Proxima
Centauri will Stars like our
remain on the Sun burn for
main sequence about nine or
for about four 10 billion
trillion years. years.
“More massive stars tend
to go onto the next stages
of their lives more quickly
than lower mass stars.
Lower mass stars could
exist far longer because of
slower and little fuel
consumption due to
smaller mass, lower
pressure, and
temperature than the
massive ones”.
“Which means that,
the massive the star
is, the faster it
evolves.”
oWHAT DOES STAR’S
COLOR TELL US ABOUT
ITS ENERGY?
 Energy
/Temperature
of the Star
oWHY DO YOU THINK RED
GIANT STARS ARE
CALLED RED GIANTS?
• As the hydrogen in the
middle of the star is
depleted, the core of the
star shrinks and heats.
• While the outer portion
atmosphere, which is
mainly hydrogen begins
to expand. The star grows
larger and brighter, and
the surface temperature
cools so that it shines red.
Betelgeuse
and
Antares are
examples of
red giant
stars.
• Finally, the core
of the star
becomes hot
enough to
initiate the next
nuclear reaction:
helium atoms
combine and
merge into
heavy
elements such
as carbon and
oxygen.
• Eventually, however, hydrogen in
the core would also be absorbed.
At this point on, the star’s
existence is really dictated by its
mass.
• For medium-sized
yellow stars, such as
the Sun, the
temperature in their
cores will never be high
enough to combine the
newly produced carbon
and oxygen into heavier
elements, so that they will
not evolve any further.
After the giant red process,
the star will become
unstable and face its final
fate.
oWHAT HAPPENS WHEN
RED GIANT STARS ARE
NEARING EXHAUSTION?
• When a star reaches the final stages of its existence,
after becoming a red giant, the star becomes unstable
and stretches and contracts over again.
• This allows the outer layers of the stars to be
separated from the main portion of the star and
softly puffed out into space.
• As the last gas in the outer layers of a star is swept
out, it forms an expanding shell around the center of
the star name PLANETARY NEBULA.
• Planetary nebulae shine brilliantly as they capture
the radiation released from the bright core star.
• Sometime after blowing off its outer layers, the central
star will run out of fuel. When this happens, the central
star starts to die.
• Gravity causes the star to fall internally, and the body to
become extremely thick and small, about the size of the
planet then the star became a WHITE DWARF STAR.
• Eventually,
once all their
energy is
gone, they
will no longer
emit light. The
star is now a
dead black
dwarf star,
and it will
remain like
this forever.
• Giant stars that are greater than eight
times the mass of the sun swell and burst.
They too expire when the hydrogen in their
core is exhausted.
• They evolve into red super giants that are
far larger than the red giants.
oDO STARS EXPLODE
WHEN THEY DIE?
• When the core
can no longer • Gravity enfolds the
produce energy nucleus until the star
to resist gravity, explodes and
the star is releases an
doomed. enormous amount of
energy. Then, the
red super giant
becomes a
supernova.
• SUPERNOVA can overshadow all other stars in its
galaxy. But they fade quickly over time.
• The central star left
behind is either made
of neutrons and is
called a neutron star,
• or if the initial star is
massive, a black hole
is formed.
 Fun Facts about the Blackhole
• Black holes are some of
the strangest and most
fascinating objects in
space. They're extremely
dense, with such strong
gravitational attraction
that not even light can
escape their grasp.
Gravitational wave detectors have already spotted mysterious black
holes. But something even stranger might be next: wormholes.
 Fun Facts about the Blackhole
• The Milky Way could contain
over 100 million black holes,
though detecting these
gluttonous beasts is very
difficult. At the heart of the
Milky Way lies a supermassive
black hole — Sagittarius A*. The
colossal structure is about 4
million times the mass of the
sun and lies approximately
26,000 light-years away
from Earth, according to
a statement from NASA.
 Fun Facts about the Blackhole
• The first image of a black
hole was captured in 2019
by the Event Horizon
Telescope (EHT)
collaboration. The striking
photo of the black hole at
the center of the M87
galaxy 55 million light-
years from Earth thrilled
scientists around the
world.
• The remaining neutron star or black hole is surrounded
by an expanding cloud of very hot gas and a new
nebula is formed for the birth of another young star.