Section: STEM · AstronomyDifficulty: Medium
Stellar Evolution
USUK
The process by which a star changes over its lifetime from birth to death.
Definition
Stellar evolution describes the sequence of changes a star undergoes throughout its life, from the gravitational collapse of a gas cloud (nebula) to its eventual death. A star's life cycle depends primarily on its initial mass. Low-mass stars like the Sun become red giants then white dwarfs; high-mass stars explode as supernovae, leaving behind neutron stars or black holes. Nuclear fusion in stellar cores drives these life stages.
Example
“In about 5 billion years, the Sun will exhaust its core hydrogen fuel, swell into a red giant large enough to engulf Earth's orbit, then shed its outer layers as a planetary nebula, leaving behind a slowly cooling white dwarf.”
Synonyms
- star life cycle
- stellar lifecycle
- star aging
Images
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Related Terms
- Black Hole
- Supernova
- Nuclear Fusion
- Main Sequence