Why do stars die

While most stars quietly fade away, the supergiants destroy themselves in a huge explosion, called a supernova. The death of massive stars can trigger the birth of other stars. Neutron stars are the fastest-spinnng objects in the universe. They can rotate times in just one second.

The core of the red giant collapses into a tiny, very dense object called a white dwarf. The outer layers shed by the star form an expanding shell of gas and dust, called a planetary nebula, around the remains of the star.

By: Richard S. Wright Jr. November 9, October 19, By: Monica Young September 28, Imaging Foundations with Richard Wright. September 16, August 16, July 15, The core becomes so tightly packed that protons and electrons merge to form neutrons.

In less than a second, the iron core, which is about the size of Earth, shrinks to a neutron core with a radius of about 6 miles 10 kilometers. The outer layers of the star fall inward on the neutron core, thereby crushing it further. The core heats to billions of degrees and explodes supernova , thereby releasing large amounts of energy and material into space.

The shock wave from the supernova can initiate star formation in other interstellar clouds. The remains of the core can form a neutron star or a black hole depending upon the mass of the original star. Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. Thereafter the situation was very much as we find it today, with the clouds of gas and dust collapsing to form stars with a range of masses. The heavy stars and some of the double stars become supernovae, while the lighter stars become planetary nebulae.

Each steadily increases the proportion of heavy elements in the clouds, out of which new stars will be born. This process had been running for about million years before our Sun and solar system were born million years ago. If our Sun had been born much earlier then there might not have been enough heavy elements around to form our planet and ourselves.

Into this go the neutron stars and black holes from the heart of Type II supernovae. Also included are the brown dwarfs, stars so small that they are destined to glow faintly and then slowly fade away.