Astronomy: Stars Life Story

In a recent study, scientists may have identified the most massive neutron star yet — by leveraging observations of its highly irradiated companion. Two new studies — one by a group of high school students — are investigating the strange environment around Tabby's Star. New observations have helped astronomers identify the source of a 2,year-old supernova explosion.

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But this blast, and the neutron star that created it, seem to have a curious history that defies explanation. This week in astronomy news: Researchers discover the first completely cloud-free exoplanet and a star-forming cloud reveals its structure through vibrations. Astronomers have found the gamma-ray-emitting remains of three exploded stars, and the remnants might reveal the origin of cosmic rays.

Revised data changed expectations for a star pair that was supposed to merge in In some cases, the cloud may not collapse at a steady pace. In January , an amateur astronomer, James McNeil, discovered a small nebula that appeared unexpectedly near the nebula Messier 78, in the constellation of Orion. When observers around the world pointed their instruments at McNeil's Nebula , they found something interesting — its brightness appears to vary.

A star the size of our Sun requires about 50 million years to mature from the beginning of the collapse to adulthood. Our Sun will stay in this mature phase on the main sequence as shown in the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram for approximately 10 billion years.

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Stars are fueled by the nuclear fusion of hydrogen to form helium deep in their interiors. The outflow of energy from the central regions of the star provides the pressure necessary to keep the star from collapsing under its own weight, and the energy by which it shines. As shown in the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram, Main Sequence stars span a wide range of luminosities and colors, and can be classified according to those characteristics.

Despite their diminutive nature, red dwarfs are by far the most numerous stars in the Universe and have lifespans of tens of billions of years. On the other hand, the most massive stars, known as hypergiants, may be or more times more massive than the Sun, and have surface temperatures of more than 30, K.

Hypergiants emit hundreds of thousands of times more energy than the Sun, but have lifetimes of only a few million years. Although extreme stars such as these are believed to have been common in the early Universe, today they are extremely rare - the entire Milky Way galaxy contains only a handful of hypergiants. In general, the larger a star, the shorter its life, although all but the most massive stars live for billions of years. When a star has fused all the hydrogen in its core, nuclear reactions cease. Deprived of the energy production needed to support it, the core begins to collapse into itself and becomes much hotter.

Hydrogen is still available outside the core, so hydrogen fusion continues in a shell surrounding the core. The increasingly hot core also pushes the outer layers of the star outward, causing them to expand and cool, transforming the star into a red giant. If the star is sufficiently massive, the collapsing core may become hot enough to support more exotic nuclear reactions that consume helium and produce a variety of heavier elements up to iron.

However, such reactions offer only a temporary reprieve.

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Gradually, the star's internal nuclear fires become increasingly unstable - sometimes burning furiously, other times dying down. These variations cause the star to pulsate and throw off its outer layers, enshrouding itself in a cocoon of gas and dust. What happens next depends on the size of the core.

The Life Cycle of Stars

Stars Stars are the most widely recognized astronomical objects, and represent the most fundamental building blocks of galaxies. Star Formation Stars are born within the clouds of dust and scattered throughout most galaxies. Helpful Links Organization and Staff. Astrophysics Fleet Mission Chart. Related Content Mysteries of the Sun. Death of Stars video.

Life Cycles of Stars. Remembering Riccardo Giacconi, X-Ray Two Sides of the Same Star. In fact, the X-class flare was the largest one in over four years, scientists said. Solar activity waxes and wanes on a roughly year cycle. The current cycle began in and is expected to last until After a period of more subdued behavior, the sun is now ramping up toward a solar maximum in Scientists are particularly interested in studying the sun and how space weather affects our planet.

Solar flares and coronal mass ejections can trigger stunning auroras on Earth, but violent sun storms can also carry negative effects. Solar plasma that is ejected by powerful X-class eruptions has the potential to damage satellites in space and wreak havoc on power systems and other infrastructure on Earth.

Worst Solar Storms in History ]. When the icy comet Elenin swung through the inner solar system in September, it set off a firestorm among conspiracy theorists and doomsayers.



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NASA scientists repeatedly assured the public that the comet flyby posed no threat, but some people latched onto the idea that Elenin was a harbinger of doom. The infamous object made waves on the Internet, when doomsayers claimed that comet Elenin's pass through the inner solar system would spell disaster for our planet. Some insisted the comet would disrupt Earth's gravity and trigger catastrophic earthquakes.

Others proclaimed that Elenin was not a comet but a rogue planet called Nibiru that would destroy Earth. In the end, comet Elenin broke apart when it flew near the sun in September, and NASA scientists officially pronounced it dead mid-October. Still, the sensation among die-hard doomsayers was enough to vault this relatively weak comet into infamy. So, depending on which army you were on, I suppose it could have been a purveyor of success or a purveyor of defeat.

The Lives of Stars by Andrew Fraknoi

On June 15, the moon was tinted red during the longest total eclipse in 11 years. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the sun and the moon, casting the moon completely in shadow. The second and final lunar eclipse of the year took place Dec.



Skywatchers in western Canada and the United States, as well as Alaska, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and central and eastern Asia caught glimpses of a stunning celestial show as the moon appeared inflated and bright red. The next total lunar eclipse will not occur until Several weeks before, a partial solar eclipse darkened the sun over parts of the southern hemisphere, as the moon slid between Earth and the sun for the fourth and final time of the year. The next solar eclipse, May 20, , is expected to be a stunning event, and will be visible from China, Japan and parts of the United States.

During this so-called annular solar eclipse, the moon will cover a large portion but not all of the sun. Asteroids have always been major astronomical players, but several found themselves sharing the spotlight this year. After launching in , NASA's Dawn spacecraft arrived at the asteroid Vesta in July to kick off a yearlong study of the giant space rock. Since its arrival, Dawn has already beamed back some of the clearest views yet of the huge, battered asteroid , including images of massive depressions and a huge mountain inside an expansive crater.

Vesta is the second-most-massive object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. After spending a year at Vesta, Dawn will travel to the asteroid Ceres, which is the largest body in the main asteroid belt. An asteroid the size of a city block, called YU55 , zipped past Earth in a rare flyby that marked the closest such a large asteroid has come to our planet in 35 years.

The space rock passed within the orbit of the moon Nov. The asteroid was never in danger of hitting Earth, but it did provide researchers with an unprecedented opportunity to learn more about YU55 and its orbit. In September, a NASA study was released that found fewer potentially dangerous asteroids orbiting Earth than was previously thought.

The discovery significantly lowered the number of medium-size asteroids near Earth to 19,, which represented nearly a percent drop from initial estimates.