THE LIFE CYCLE OF A STAR!

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MAIN – SEQUENCE STAGE

 A star spends 90 % of its life in the Main – sequence stage

 During this phase the protons of hydrogen are converted into atoms of helium. This reaction is exothermic; it gives
off more heat than it requires and so the core of a main-sequence star releases a tremendous amount of energy.
 A star remains in main sequence until a significant amount of hydrogen in the core has been consumed
 The Sun is expected to live 10 billion years

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THE GIANT PHASE

 When a star exhausts the hydrogen in its core, they start to fuse hydrogen in a shell surrounding the helium core.
The outer layers of the star expand and cool greatly as they transition into a red giant.
 Red giants have cooler surfaces than the main-sequence star, and because of this, they appear red than yellow.
 In about 5 billion years, when the Sun enters the helium burning phase, it will expand to a maximum radius of
roughly 1 astronomical unit (250 times its present size)
 Gobbling up the inner planets, and maybe even the Earth (don't worry; we'll have died out a few billion years
earlier. If we do manage to survive for another billion years, the temperature of the Earth's surface will become far
too hot for us humans.)

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EXAMPLE OF A RED GIANT STAR

 Betelguese

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 WHAT HAPPENS AFTER GIANT STAR PHASE

THE CARBON BURNING PROCESS:

When helium is exhausted at the core of a massive star, the core contracts and the temperature and pressure
rises enough to fuse carbon (Carbon-burning process)

THE NEON, OXYGEN AND SILICON BURNING PROCESSES:

This process continues, with the successive stages being fueled by neon, oxygen and silicon

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FROM HERE ONWARDS A STAR MAY ADOPT ANY OF THE TWO PATHS DEPENDING ON ITS
SIZE

 PATH 1: A Supernova or Blackhole formation  PATH 11:The White Dwarf formation

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CONTINUED…
 If a star is massive, it will either burst and explode
as a supernova
 After the supernova explosion, the star's core is left
behind
 The gravitational collapse of heavy stars’ nuclei is
assumed to be responsible for the formation of stellar
mass black holes
 Once a black hole has formed, it can continue to
grow by absorbing additional matter. Any black
hole will continually absorb gas and interstellar dust
from its surroundings
 When a star whose mass is not high enough to explode
as a supernova and form a black hole
 A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to
the Sun's, while its volume comparable to the Earth's
 A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes from the
emission of residual thermal energy;
 This includes over 97% of the other stars in the Milky
Way
 The nearest known white dwarf is Sirius B, at 8.6 light
years, the smaller component of the Sirius binary star.
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STRUCTURE OF A SUN

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ATMOSPHERE OF SUN

 The photosphere, chromosphere, and corona are all part of the Sun's atmosphere
 The corona is sometimes casually referred to as “the Sun's atmosphere,” but it is actually the Sun's upper
atmosphere
 The Sun's atmosphere is where we see features such as sunspots, coronal holes, and solar flares

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SUN’S ATMOSPHERE

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SOLAR WINDS

 The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona
 This plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles. It also includes a mixture of materials found
in the solar plasma: trace amounts of heavy ions and atomic nuclei of elements such as C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, and
Fe
 Its kinetic energy is between 0.5 and 10 keV
 Its particles can escape the Sun's gravity because of their high energy
 Impacts: Solar winds can strip a planet off its atmosphere e.g Mercury

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IMPACTS OF SOLAR WINDS

 Solar winds can strip a planet off its atmosphere e.g Mercury
 Geo - Magnetic storms
 Solar storms interrupting radio communications
 Auroras (Polar lights)

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AURORAS

 An aurora are also commonly known as polar lights

 Northern lights are called Aurora Borealis and Southern Lights are called Aurora Australis
 The Earth has a magnetosphere. When the highly charged particles of the solar winds cuts through the Earth’s
magnetospshere, it produces electricity that travels along the lines of Earth’s magnetic field. And as this electricity
travels, it knocks and causes ionization of mainly oxygen and nitrogen. During this process, light is emitted which
can be seen as polar light or an aurora

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NEBULAE

 A nebula is a distinct body of interstellar clouds (which can consist of cosmic dust, hydrogen, helium, molecular
clouds; possibly as ionized gases)
 All this gas, dust, and other materials "clump" together to form denser regions, which attract further matter, and
eventually will become dense enough to form stars
 Most nebulae are of vast size; some are hundreds of light-years in diameter
 Example: Cat’s Eye Nebula, The Omega Nebula, The Horsehead Nebula

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THANK YOU!

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