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Representative lifetimes of stars as a function of their masses The change in size with time of a Sun-like star Artist's depiction of the life cycle of a Sun-like star, starting as a main-sequence star at lower left then expanding through the subgiant and giant phases, until its outer envelope is expelled to form a planetary nebula at upper right Chart of stellar evolution
The W51 nebula in Aquila - one of the largest star factories in the Milky Way (August 25, 2020). Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in interstellar space, sometimes referred to as "stellar nurseries" or "star-forming regions", collapse and form stars. [1]
This core convection occurs in stars where the CNO cycle contributes more than 20% of the total energy. As the star ages and the core temperature increases, the region occupied by the convection zone slowly shrinks from 20% of the mass down to the inner 8% of the mass. [25] The Sun produces on the order of 1% of its energy from the CNO cycle.
These are all regions of star formation that contain many hot young stars including several bright stars of spectral type O. [10] When a protostar is formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud of gas and dust in the local interstellar medium , the initial composition is homogeneous throughout, consisting of about 70% hydrogen, 28% ...
In astronomy, the initial mass function (IMF) is an empirical function that describes the initial distribution of masses for a population of stars during star formation. [1] IMF not only describes the formation and evolution of individual stars, it also serves as an important link that describes the formation and evolution of galaxies. [1]
A Herbig Ae/Be star (HAeBe) is a pre-main-sequence star – a young (<10 Myr) star of spectral types A or B. These stars are still embedded in gas-dust envelopes and are sometimes accompanied by circumstellar disks. [1] Hydrogen and calcium emission lines are observed in their spectra.
The third dredge-up occurs after a star enters the asymptotic giant branch, after a flash occurs in a helium-burning shell. The third dredge-up brings helium, carbon, and the s-process products to the surface, increasing the abundance of carbon relative to oxygen; in some larger stars this is the process that turns the star into a carbon star. [3]
The first direct proof that nucleosynthesis occurs in stars was the astronomical observation that interstellar gas has become enriched with heavy elements as time passed. As a result, stars that were born from it late in the galaxy, formed with much higher initial heavy element abundances than those that had formed earlier.