A star’s life expectancy depends on its mass. Generally, the more massive the star , the faster it burns up its fuel supply, and the shorter its life. The most massive stars can burn out and explode in a supernova after only a few million years of fusion.
Why are very low mass stars longer lived than very high mass stars?
All elements heavier than hydrogen and helium are produced within stars at different stages in their life cycles. ... Low mass stars use up their hydrogen fuel very slowly and consequently have long lives .
Do high mass or low mass stars live longer?
The more fuel, the more supply of material for fusion the star has and so the longer the star can live. The fuel is hydrogen atoms and the number of hydrogen atoms is greater in high mass stars than it is in lower mass stars. Thus, the higher the mass of the star, the longer its lifetime can be.
Why do lower mass stars remain alive for longer?
If a star has a large mass, it has more atoms to keep at equilibrium. ... A smaller star has less fuel, but its rate of fusion is not as fast. Therefore, smaller stars live longer than larger stars because their rate of fuel consumption is not as rapid .
Which mass stars live the longest?
Red dwarf stars make up the largest population of stars in the galaxy, but they hide in the shadows, too dim to be seen with the naked eye from Earth. Their limited radiance helps to extend their lifetimes, which are far greater than that of the sun.
Which is the final stage of a high mass star whose mass is between 1.4 and 3 solar masses?
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.
What happens when a medium mass star dies?
THE DEATH OF A LOW OR MEDIUM MASS STAR After a low or medium mass or star has become a red giant the outer parts grow bigger and drift into space, forming a cloud of gas called a planetary nebula . The blue-white hot core of the star that is left behind cools and becomes a white dwarf.
How long do high mass stars live?
The incredibly rapid fusion rates mean that high-mass stars cannot live very long. – A 25 solar mass star only spends a few million years on the main-sequence (Remember the sun spends 10 billion years on the main sequence). When the core hydrogen is exhausted a high-mass star behaves like a low- mass star, only faster.
How big are low mass stars?
Today we will look at the life of low-mass stars, which are those with mass less than about 2 times the mass of the Sun (less than 2 solar masses) . So the Sun is a low-mass star. All such stars follow the same basic pattern. The next higher category, intermediate-mass stars, have masses from 2 to 8 solar masses.
What happens when a star bigger than the sun’s core collapses?
If the core is larger, it will collapse into a black hole . To turn into a neutron star, a star must start with about 7 to 20 times the mass of the Sun before the supernova. Only stars with more than 20 times the mass of the Sun will become black holes.
Why do the lowest mass stars last for so long how long can they live?
Because it has less mass, it has a core, and a convective zone, but no radiative zone . ... This convection brings fresh hydrogen into the core of the star where it can continue the fusion process. By perfectly using all its hydrogen, the lowest mass red dwarf could sip away at its hydrogen fuel for 10 trillion years.
How long can a very large star 20 times the Sun’s mass live?
A star like our sun lives for about 10 billion years, while a star which weighs 20 times as much lives only 10 million years , about a thousandth as long.
What happens in the first stage of a star much bigger than the sun’s death?
Stars More Massive Than the Sun
The star collapses by its own gravity and the iron core heats up . The core becomes so tightly packed that protons and electrons merge to form neutrons.
Which star has the shortest life expectancy?
Life span:
The most massive stars have the shortest lives. Stars that are 25 to 50 times that of the Sun live for only a few million years. They die so quickly because they burn massive amounts of nuclear fuel.
What type of mass star has the shortest life?
When a star is more than ten times as massive as the sun, it becomes a Supergiant star. Supergiants have the shortest lifespans of any star, as the temperatures in a supergiant’s core get so high that it is able to fuse the helium that is left over after hydrogen burning has stopped.
Does a supernova occur every time a star dies?
On average, a supernova will occur about once every 50 years in a galaxy the size of the Milky Way. Put another way, a star explodes every second or so somewhere in the universe, and some of those aren’t too far from Earth. But with the right amount of mass, a star can burn out in a fiery explosion.
