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What will average size stars turn into?
An average star, like our sun, will just swell into a regular old red giant, growing anywhere from 10 to 50 times the diameter of the sun. An average star enters the red giant phase because the forces of gravity are no longer countered by the forces of hydrogen fusion.
What is most of a stars life spent as?
Main Sequence
Stars live out the majority of their lives in a phase termed as the Main Sequence. Once achieving nuclear fusion, stars radiate (shine) energy into space. The star slowly contracts over billions of years to compensate for the heat and light energy lost.
How long do average sized stars live?
Stars live different lengths of time, depending on how big they are. A star like our sun lives for about 10 billion years, while a star which weighs 20 times as much lives only 10 million years, about a thousandth as long.
What happens to the size of stars when they age?
Stars with higher mass have shorter lifespans. When the sun becomes a red giant, its atmosphere will engulf the Earth. During the red giant phase, a main sequence star’s core collapses and burns helium into carbon. After about 100 million years, the helium runs out, and the star turns into a red supergiant.
What happens during the life of an average star?
The exact lifetime of a star depends very much on its size. Very large, massive stars burn their fuel much faster than smaller stars and may only last a few hundred thousand years. Smaller stars, however, will last for several billion years, because they burn their fuel much more slowly.
What is a average star life cycle?
Small or average stars usually last for several billion years as they burn their fuel slowly. A star the size of our Sun will spend around 10 billion years in this phase. After the main sequence phase, a star will turn into a red giant. It happens when helium builds up and the hydrogen fuel runs out.
How old are average stars?
Most stars are between 1 billion and 10 billion years old. Some stars may even be close to 13.8 billion years old—the observed age of the universe.
Why do average stars have longer lifespan?
A star’s life expectancy depends on its mass. Generally, the more massive the star, the faster it burns up its fuel supply, and the shorter its life. The most massive stars can burn out and explode in a supernova after only a few million years of fusion.
Do stars get bigger as they age?
They start out BIG and get smaller as they grow older! That is because the baby stars are formed out of those clouds, and gravity pulls them together to make a star. The baby star starts out big and cool, surrounded by clouds, so you can’t see it. But as it gets older, it gets hotter and brighter.
Why do stars expand as they age?
Nuclear fusion powers a star for most of its existence. Initially the energy is generated by the fusion of hydrogen atoms at the core of the main-sequence star. This process causes the star to gradually grow in size, passing through the subgiant stage until it reaches the red-giant phase.