What is the average lifespan of a star?

The more concise response is contingent upon the star's magnitude.

In the midst of stormy clouds, stars are born, and it may be just as dramatic when they die. However, how long do stars live? The simple answer is that it is contingent upon the star's magnitude.

A star spends most of its existence in a condition known as hydrostatic equilibrium, a finely balanced state in which it experiences the gravitational pull balanced by the outward push caused by nuclear processes occurring in the star's core. This outward push occurs when a star fuses hydrogen nuclei to generate helium nuclei, resulting in a burst of energy that maintains the shape and brightness of the star. After all of the hydrogen has been used, the star will go down a course that cannot be reversed, eventually leading to its extinction. The star will burn helium for some time. The most massive stars will continue to burn chemical elements up to iron, but this is only a temporary stay of execution. A wide variety of masses may be found in stars, from 7 per cent of the sun's mass to 250 solar masses. So which ones have the shortest lifespans?

According to Ryan French, a solar physicist at University College London in the United Kingdom, who was interviewed by Live Science, "Bigger stars have more fuel to burn." However, according to the French, they burn far more intensely and brilliantly. Because of their enormous size, the material falling into their cores is being compressed by gravity to a greater extent than it is in stars of lower mass, which results in an increased rate of nuclear reactions.

According to French, "bigger stars actually exhaust the fuel accessible to them considerably more quickly than smaller ones." The most massive stars have a lifespan that is only a few hundred million years in the grand scheme of things. They have short lives and end them at a young age. Even though the minor stars, with masses less than 10% of the sun's mass, start with a significantly lower amount of fuel, they can still make a living off of their fuel supply for hundreds of billions of years.

Wallpaper of space, including the Methuselah Star

Methuselah, also known as HD140283, is the star that holds the record for being the oldest star in the cosmos. The Methuselah star is seen in the Digitized Sky Survey image. It is approximately 190.1 light-years away. The Digitized Sky Survey (DSS), STScI/AURA, Palomar/Caltech, and UKSTU/AAO are all credited with their respective images.

However, because the universe is just 13.8 billion years old, there has not been enough time for a young star to mature into an old one.

According to French, the Methuselah Star (which opens in a new tab) is one of the oldest stars ever found. The man in the Bible said to have lived for nearly one thousand years is honoured with the naming of a star located 190 light-years away from our planet. According to French, the age of this star is estimated to be 13.7 billion years. [citation needed] This indicates that it would have existed not too long after the Big Bang.

On the other hand, astronomers have found certain stars that are still in the process of forming. These stars are referred to as protostars. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile was used to make these observations. The Max Planck Society estimates that these stars have fewer than half a million years (opens in new tab). According to the French, when these stars began to shine, humans had already begun to use tools made of stone.

So, how exactly do astronomers determine the age of a star? French stated that it was not an easy task. To determine the star's age, astrophysicists use a combination of measurements of the star's mass, brightness, and speed in space to compare it with other stars and computer simulations.

The sun's age is roughly 4.6 billion years old, which places it between protostars and the Methuselah Star terms of its age. According to astronomers, it has probably already lived nearly half its lifespan. According to French, "after around 5 billion years, the sun will no longer be capable of fusing hydrogen into helium within its core."

When the sun's core runs out of fuel to fight gravity, it will start to compress, and the sun will begin to cool. Meanwhile, the sun's outer shell will expand since some hydrogen is still left to fuse. The French predicted that the sun would grow to such a size that it would consume the orbits of Mercury and Venus as it continued to expand. After approximately one billion years, the outer core will wholly burn through its hydrogen supply. It will transition to the fusion of helium. When the sun finally runs out of fuel, its core will contract and become a ball of carbon and oxygen known as a white dwarf. Meanwhile, the sun's outer layers will disperse and form a nebula, an envelope of hot plasma left over.

This serves as a reminder that nothing is permanent, not even the most significant stars, whose lifespans are orders of magnitude greater than humans.

 

 

Article source :  https://www.livescience.com/32319-how-long-do-stars-live.html

Image source : https://pixabay.com/id/vectors/tiga-orang-majus-majus-mags-160632/

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