Table of Contents
- 1 How does mass affect the fate of the star?
- 2 Why is mass so important to a star’s life?
- 3 Do stars lose mass over time?
- 4 What is the most important property of a star?
- 5 Why do stars lose mass?
- 6 How is the size of a StAR related to its life cycle?
- 7 What are the life stages of a high mass star?
- 8 What happens to a star at the end of its life?
How does mass affect the fate of the star?
Mass loss affects a star’s luminosity, burning lifetime, and apparent temperature; the hardness of its emitted radiation field; and its He core mass; it will also profoundly impact the end fate of a star.
Why is mass so important to a star’s life?
Mass is the most important stellar property. This is because a star’s life is a continuous fight against gravity, and gravity is directly related to mass. The more massive a star is, the stronger its gravity. Mass therefore determines how strong the gravitational force is at every point within the star.
What is the life cycle of a high mass star?
High-mass stars have lives of 10 million years, versus 10 to 50 billion years or more for low-mass stars. At the end of a high-mass star’s fusion process, iron composes the star’s core. No nuclear fusion of iron is possible out of a high-mass star core, which has the same mass as our entire Sun.
Do stars lose mass over time?
All stars lose some mass over their lives at widely varying rates. Triggering events can cause the sudden ejection of a large portion of the star’s mass. Stellar mass loss can also occur when a star gradually loses material to a binary companion or into interstellar space.
What is the most important property of a star?
Chapter 11 Stars. Mass – The single most important property that determines other properties of the star. Luminosity – The total amount of energy (light) that a star emits into space. Temperature – surface temperature, closely related to the luminosity and color of the star.
What comes after a high mass star?
A massive star will undergo a supernova explosion. If the remnant of the explosion is 1.4 to about 3 times as massive as our Sun, it will become a neutron star. The core of a massive star that has more than roughly 3 times the mass of our Sun after the explosion will do something quite different.
Why do stars lose mass?
The larger its mass, the shorter its life cycle. A star’s mass is determined by the amount of matter that is available in its nebula, the giant cloud of gas and dust from which it was born.
What happens when the mass of a star increases?
Since higher mass means a larger gravitational force, higher mass must also mean that higher pressure is required to maintain equilibrium. If you increase the pressure inside a star, the temperature will also increase.
What are the life stages of a high mass star?
Life Stages of High-Mass Star 1. Main sequence: H fuses to He in core. 2. Red supergiant: H fuses to He in shell around He core. 3. Helium core burning: 4. He fuses to C in core while H fuses to He in shell. 5. Multiple shell burning: 6. Many elements fuse in shells. 7. Supernova leaves neutron star behind.
What happens to a star at the end of its life?
The core is stabilized and the end is near. The star will now begin to shed its outer layers as a diffuse cloud called a planetary nebula. Eventually, only about 20% of the star�s initial mass remains and the star spends the rest of its days cooling and shrinking until it is only a few thousand miles in diameter.