Lesson: 2 STELLAR EVOLUTION

LIFE CYCLE OF STARS

No star shines forever. Stellar evolution refers to the changes that take place in stars as they age
–the life cycle of stars. These changes cannot be observed directly they take place over millions or
billions of years. Astronomers construct a theory of stellar evolution that is consistent with the laws of
physics. Then they check their theory by observing real stars shining in the sky.

In checking theory against observations, astronomers make of H-R diagrams. Theoretical

BIRTHPLACES

Stars form out of matter that exist in space. The gigantic interstellar (between stars) clouds of
gas and dust must be the birthplaces of stars.

You can see the nearest cloud in space where new stars are forming now. The famous Orion
Nebula, located about 1500 light-years away in the constellation Orion, is a region of intense star
formation.

BIRTH

A protostar is a star in its earliest phase of evolution. You can think of a protostar as a star that
is being born.

Protostar form by chance at high-density clumps inside huge turbulent gas (mostly hydrogen)
and dust clouds that exist in space. Perhaps a shock wave from an exploding star (supernova) triggers
the process.

A protostar is held together by the force of gravity. Initially, the force of gravity pulls matter in
toward the center of the dense clump, causing it to contract and become even denser. Matter continues
to accrete onto the protostar as it contracts. Gravitational contraction of cloud and protostar causes the
temperature and pressure inside to rise greatly.

Heat flow from the protostar’s hot center to its cooler surface. The protostar radiates this
energy into space. It shines at infrared wavelengths.
 In rotating cloud, a disk of dust and gas may surround a protostar. This disk also reradiates the
energy in infrared. Possibly particles in the disk accrete to form planets.

When the temperature in the protostar’s center reaches 10 million K, nuclear fusion reactions
start. These nuclear reactions release tremendous amounts of energy. Energy is generated in the center
as fast as it is being radiated out into space. The very high internal temperatures and pressures are thus
maintained.

The outward pressure of the very hot gases balances the inward pull of gravity. This balance is
called hydrostatic equilibrium. The protostar stops contracting. It shines its own light steadily into
space. The protostar becomes a newborn star. Most likely our Sun was born in this way about 5 billion
years ago.

Recent observations support this theory of star birth. Protostars in dense cores of gaseous
clouds are imaged at infrared wavelengths. Jets of gas are seen streaming away from young stars. They
may be aligned by a planet-forming circumstellar disk.

LIFETIMES

The clouds in which protostars from do not have identical masses or distributions of the
chemical elements. The life cycle of a star—the time it takes for a star to evolve—depends upon its
initial mass and chemical composition.

Stars that begin life with about the same mass and chemistry go through the same stages of
evolution in about the same amount of time.

Stars of similar chemistry with very high mass evolve fastest, while those of very low mass take
the longest time to evolve.

WHY STARS SHINE

You can think of a main sequence star as an adult star. In comparison changes in protostars,
evolution of main sequence stars is very slow. A star spends most of its lifetime shining steadily, with
luminosity and temperature values found along the main sequence of H-R diagrams.

A main sequence star gets its energy from nuclear fusion reactions in which hydrogen at the
center of the star is converted into helium. Four hydrogen nuclei are fused into one lighter, helium
nucleus. The disappearing mass is changed into energy and released.

The energy from the nuclear fusion reactions eventually reaches the star’s surface. Then the star
shines energy into space.

The amount of energy released in a nuclear fusion reaction can be calculated from the famous
equation of (German-born) U.S physicist Albert Einstein:

E=mc2

where E=energy, m=mass difference, and c=speed of light.

According to Einstein’s equation, when many nuclear fusion reactions occur together, enormous
amounts of energy are released. The Sun is a huge, hot gaseous sphere that shines steadily without
appreciated change of size or temperature. Although practically 5 million tons of hydrogen must be
converted into helium each second to produce the Sun’s luminosity, less than 0.01 percent of the Sun’s
total mass changes to sunshine in a billion years.

Q. What is the source of energy that lets main sequence star shine?

A. Nuclear fusion reactions in which hydrogen is converted into helium.

OLD AGE

A star will shine steadily as a main sequence star until all the available hydrogen in its core has
been converted into helium. Then the star will begin to die.

Our Sun is an average medium-sized star. It has been shinning as a stable main sequence star for
about 5 billion years, and it should continue to shine steadily for another 5 billion years.

Very massive, hot, bright stars die fastest because they use up their hydrogen most rapidly. The
very massive blue giant stars, such as Rigel in Orion, spend only a few million years shining as main
sequence stars.

The least massive, cool, dim stars live the longest because they consume their hydrogen fuel
least rapidly. The small-mass red dwarfs are the oldest and most numerous main sequence starts. They
have lifetimes billions of years long.

RED GIANTS

After the hydrogen fuel in the star’s core is used up, the star no longer has an energy source
there. The core, which then consists primarily of helium, begins to contract gravitationally. Hydrogen
fusion continues in a shell around the helium core, under the outside envelope of hydrogen.

Gravitational contraction causes the temperature of the helium core to rise. The high
temperature makes the shell hydrogen fuse faster, and the star’s luminosity increases.

The tremendous energy released by this hydrogen fusion and gravitational contraction heats up
surrounding layers. The star expands to gigantic proportions. The star’s density is then very low
everywhere expect in the core.

As the star expands, its surface temperature drops and its surface color turns to red. The star
has changed into a huge, bright, red, aging star—a red giant or supergiant. It is cool but bright because
of its gigantic surface area. It has the luminosity and temperature values of the upper-right region of the
H-R diagram.

You can see some red supergiant stars shining in the sky. Good examples are Betelgeuse in
Orion and Antares in Scorpius, both over 400 times the Sun’s diameter.

Our Sun, like all stars is expected to change into a huge red giant when it dies. That red giant Sun
will shine so brightly that rocks will melt, oceans will evaporate, and life as we know it on Earth will end.

DEATH
 All stars evolve in about the same way, although over different periods of time, until their cores
become mostly accumulated carbon. The last stage in star’s evolution, or the way it finally dies, depends
greatly on its mass.

Small stars, up to about 1.4 times the Sun’s mass, finally die without a fuss, quietly fading away
into the blackness of space. Very massive stars’ end with a violent explosion, flaring up brilliantly before
giving up life.

Q. What characteristics of a star determines the way it finally dies?

A. Its mass.

MASS LOSS

When a star of mass like our Sun has depleted all of its available helium fuel, it becomes a
bloated red giant star for the last time. (At this stage of its life our Sun will become so big that it will
swallow up Mercury, Venus, and Earth.)

The star then throws off some of its mass. The star’s outermost hydrogen envelope, enriched by
heavier elements, flies off into space. Electrically charged particles stream away in a flow called a stellar
wind. Deeper layers are thrown off in a wispy, expanding shell of gas typically about 0.5 to 1 light-year
across, called a planetary nebula, which continues to spread out at speeds of about 20 to 30 km/sec
(45,000 to 67,000 miles/hour). The star’s core is left behind.

About 1600 planetary nebulas have been recorded. They are probably less than 50,000 years
old, because the gas atoms in the nebula separate rapidly. After about 100,000 years, the shell is too
spread out to be visible.

WHITE DWARFS

After it has thrown off its gas envelop, the star remains as a core of carbon surrounded by a shell
of burning helium.

A star that has exhausted all of its nuclear fuel can no longer withstand the pull of gravity. It
contracts again as gravity pulls matter in toward the center. Gravitational contraction makes
temperature and pressure go up very high, and electrons are stripped off atoms. The star becomes a
small, hot, white dwarf. It is made mostly of electrons and nuclei. These subatomic particles can be
squeezed much closer together than whole atoms can.

Eventually, when the white dwarf star reaches about Earth’s size, it cannot contract any further.
White dwarf stars of mass like the Sun are very dense because gravity packs all that mass into a star the
size of Earth. The force of gravity on such a white dwarf star would be about 350,000 times greater than
that on Earth. If you could stand on a while dwarf star, you would weigh 350,00 times more than you do
on Earth.

If a white dwarf in a binary system accretes matter from its companion star, it may briefly blaze,
called a nova. Or, it may explode brilliantly when a wave of nuclear fusion rips through a bigger buildup,
called a Type Ia supernova.

Usually a white dwarf star cools, turns to dull red, and shines its last energy into space. Then the
white dwarf becomes a dead black dwarf in the graveyard of space.

Q. What is a white dwarf star?

A. A small dense (dying) star of low luminosity and high surface temperature, typically about the size
of Earth but with mass equal to the Sun’s

EXPLODING STARS

A supernova is a gigantic stellar explosion. It may outshine its whole galaxy for short time.

Most stars of eight or more times the Sun’s mass die in a spectacular explosion called a Type II
supernova. Their carbon cores contract gravitationally in the same way that a smaller star’s does. But in
a massive star the core temperature continues to 600 million K. Then the carbon begins to fuse into
magnesium. The collapse stops when the carbon in the core is used up. A new cycle begins—
gravitational contraction, rise in temperature, onset of new nuclear reactions, production of new
elements, and a halt in the collapse. Elements heavier than carbon, such as nitrogen and silicon, are
produced inside the star until the core in mainly iron.

Iron ends these cycles of nuclear fires and collapse because it does not release but instead
requires energy in nuclear reactions. The doomed star collapse for the last time, until it cannot be
compressed any further. Then it explodes violently. The light from the supernova can reach 100 billion
times the Sun’s luminosity.

Astronomers figure that most of the energy released in the explosion is invisible. A great
amount is carried away at the speed of light by high-energy radiation and neutrinos ejected from the
collapsing core. This energy holds clues to the causes of stellar explosions and the kinds and amounts of
chemical elements manufactured and sprayed into space by supernovas.

Supernova 1987A, the first bright supernova in the sky since the telescope was invented,
appeared in the large MagellanicCloud in 1987. It was visible from the southern hemisphere for months
and is the best-observed supernova to date. Neutrinos were detected exactly as theory predicted. The
core temperature at explosion must have been 200 billion K! Now astronomers are using Supernova
1987A data to refine and tell theories of star death.
 Supernova

Q. What kind stars die as Type II supernova?

A. Very massive stars (about 8 or more times the Sun’s mass).

SUPERDENSE STARS

When a very massive star explodes, it may leave behind a star of more mass than the Sun
squeezed tightly into a ball only about 16km (10miles) across. This extremely dense star is made mostly
of neutrons, uncharged atomic particles. It was named a neutrons star when it was first hypothesized.

Pulsars, pulsating radio stars, were first observed in 1967 by Jocelyn Bell, a graduate student at
Cambridge University, England. Pulsars send sharp, strong bursts of radio waves to Earth with clocklike
regularity, at intervals between milliseconds and 4 seconds. X-ray burstersblast X-rays randomly.

Theory predicated that a neutron star should exist at the center of the Crab Nebula. A pulsar
was found there in 1968. The Crab Pulsar since been observed over all electromagnetic wavelengths
from radio to gamma.

A pulsar is a rapidly rotating, highly magnetic neutron star. Its characteristics short, regular
pulses come from radiation beams, emitted by very energetic accelerated charged particles, sweeping
past Earth as the neutron star periodically spins. The rotation and pulse rates gradually slow down as
energy is radiated away.

X-ray burst come from an accreting neutron star in a binary system when its big, hot helium
buildup explodes.

Crab Nebula
 A pulsar or neutron star. Astronomers observe
regular pulses of radiation emerging from the rotating star’s magnetic poles as they sweep past Earth.

BLACK HOLES

A really massive star may continue to collapse after the pulsar stage to become a bizarre object
called a black hole.

If black holes do exist, they are not holes at all. On the contrary, a black hole is a large mass
contracted top extremely small size and enormous density. The force of gravity in such an object would
be so great that, according to Einstein’s theory of relatively, it would such in all nearby matter and light.

A black hole can never be seen, because no light, matter, or signal of any kind can ever escape
from its gravitational pull—hence its name. the surface of a black hole, or the boundary through which
no light can get out, is called the event horizon.

The Schwarzschild radius (Rs)is the critical radius at which a spherically symmetric massive body
becomes a black hole. The equation is:

Rs=2GM/c2
where G is the gravitation constant, M is the mass of the body, and c is the speed of light. The
Schwarzschild radius for the Sun is about 3 km (2 miles) while for Earth it is about 1 com (0.4inch)

Theory predicts that a star of over three solar masses at its final collapse must cross its event
horizon and disappear from view. No known force could stop further collapse, so that star may continue
to shrink to a spot at the center called a singularity.

Cygnus X-1 is an intense X-ray source over 2500 pc (8000 light-years) distant in Cygnus.
Discovered in 1996, it is an eclipsing binary star (period 5.6 days) whose unseen component was the first
black hole reported. The visible primary star is a blue supergiant that shows variations in spectral
features from one night to the next. Presumably, when the black hole sucks in material gravitationally
from its visible companion, the observed X-rays are emitted.

You will surely hear more about these intriguing black holes in the feature as scientist
investigate them further.