Life Cycle of a

Star
 1st Stage of Life
 Ball of gas and dust that is
pulled together by gravity 
Nebula.
 Nuclear fusion starts as gas
cloud becomes denser and
hotter  Protostar.
 Nuclear Fusion hydrogen
atoms fuse into helium
 Fourtypes of stars make
up the life of a star
Main Sequence

Giants

Super Giants

White Dwarfs
 Main Sequence (the Sun)
 2nd stage

 Longest stage

 Hydrogen changes into

helium which creates
enormous amounts of
energy
 The size of the star does not
 Giants and Supergiants
 3rd stage

 Main Sequence star becomes

a red giant
 Red giant star that expands
and cools once is loses all its
hydrogen
 Center shrinks and
A star loses ____________
mass during fusion
as energy is released. This decreases the
star’s gravity. A star will expand,
becoming a ___________
RED GIANT____________,
when the outward force of
________________
fusion is greater than the
gravity
inward force of ______________.
As the fuel runs out in a star, fusion slows down.
When the outward force of fusion is less than the
inward force of gravity, the star will shrink in size,
becoming a White Dwarf.

White Dwarf

A Pulsar is a rotating white

dwarf emitting radio waves.
 White Dwarf small hot
star that is the leftover
center of an older star
Final stage
Can shine for billions of
years before they
extinguish
 Hertzprung-Russell
Diagram
Shows the relationship
between a star’s surface
temperature and
absolute magnitude
Used to study the lives of
 Ageof stars
Average stars become
red giants then white
dwarfs
More massive stars
explode into a variety
 Supernova gigantic explosion
in which a massive star collapses
 Occurs after a massive star
uses up its fuel source
 Neutron Star a star that has
collapsed to a point at which all
particles are neutrons
 A neutron star that spins and
sends out beams of radiation is
 Black Hole an object
that is so massive that
light cannot escape its
gravity
Remnants of a
supernova
Astronomers can detect
 Question 1

What kind of a star is

the sun?
 Answer

Main Sequence
 Question 2

What is the H-R

diagram?
 Answer

Agraph that shows

the relationship
between a star’s
temperature and
absolute magnitude
 Question 3

Whatare the four

main types of stars?
 Answer

Main-Sequence

Giantsand
Supergiants
White Dwarfs