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What happens if stars run out of fuel?
It is now known as a main sequence star. When a main sequence star begins to run out of hydrogen fuel, the star becomes a red giant or a red supergiant. After a low- or medium-mass star has become a red giant, the outer parts grow bigger and drift into space, forming a cloud of gas called a planetary nebula.
What fuel has the star run out of?
hydrogen gas fuel
All stars eventually run out of their hydrogen gas fuel and die. The way a star dies depends on how much matter it contains—its mass. As the hydrogen runs out, a star with a similar mass to our sun will expand and become a red giant.
How long will the Sun burn for?
If our Sun is four and a half billion years old, how much longer will it shine? Stars like our Sun burn for about nine or 10 billion years. So our Sun is about halfway through its life. But don’t worry.
What will happen to our Sun when it dies?
But for the sun, death is not the end. While about half its mass will flood out, the rest will crush together at the very center of the planetary nebula. This will turn into a tiny, bright, ultra-dense ember of the sun’s core, no larger than the Earth. This kind of smoldering remnant is called a white dwarf star.
What happens to stars when they run out of fuel?
Asked by Tim Baldwin. When stars run out of fuel they begin to collapse rapidly under their own weight. Some stars that are large enough naturally end their lives by exploding in a supernova. Throughout their lives, stars are fighting against the crushing force of their own gravity.
What happens when a star runs out of helium?
If a really huge star dies, it has so much mass that after the helium is used up, it still has enough carbon to fuse it into heavy elements like iron. When the core turns to iron, it no longer burns.The star’s gravity causes it to collapse, and then it explodes into a supernova.
What happens to the core of a star when it dies?
The core finally cools into a white dwarf, then a black dwarf. This is what happens when a normal-sized star dies. If a really huge star dies, it has so much mass that after the helium is used up, it still has enough carbon to fuse it into heavy elements like iron.
How does a star end its life in a supernova?
Some stars that are large enough naturally end their lives by exploding in a supernova. Throughout their lives, stars are fighting against the crushing force of their own gravity. Inside, nuclear reactions fuse together smaller elements, like hydrogen, to create bigger ones and release energy.