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                              A Stars Lifecycle

                                      What happens to a Star?

The Lifecycle of different sized Stars and their descendants

Early stars that formed in the Universe were huge (larger than 100 solar masses).

These huge early stars were mainly formed from Hydrogen, Helium and Lithium gas.

After only a few million years these stars exhaust their fuel and end with a huge explosion (Supernova).

The stars material is ejected and its core collapses under gravity to form a Black Hole.

A Star the size of our Sun will burn converting its Hydrogen to Helium for around 10 billion years.

The star will then expand around 100 times its initial size and its outer layer will cool down.

It then evolves into a Red Giant and its Helium will fuse into much heavier elements.

The Red Giant will burn brighter and brighter for tens of millions of years.

It will then shed its outer cool layers evolving into a Planetary Nebula.

Finally it will end its life as a dense White Dwarf.