not_exactly_rocketscience

Although stars are inanimate objects, we tend to describe their stages of evolution as if they were alive. Just like us, they are born, live, and then die. Of course, their lifetimes are much longer than ours and they can ‘live’ for billions of years. And during their lives, stars produce monumental amounts of energy through nuclear processes in their interior, giving them their characteristic shine. So let’s start at the beginning. Where do stars come from? A Giant Gas Cloud A star begins life as a giant cloud of gas which is generally an accumulation of dust, gas, and plasma. Stars form inside relatively dense concentrations of interstellar gas and dust known as molecular clouds. At these temperatures, gases become molecular meaning that atoms bind together. CO and H2 are the most common molecules in interstellar gas clouds. Pillars of Creation. An interstellar cloud of gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula,  known for its complexity and beauty. A Protostar Is a Baby Star A protostar ...

Space is big! Science is cool! Let’s talk about it. WHAT IS A SUPERNOVA? Stars are kind of like people. They are born, live their entire lives, and then die. Except, that’s an oversimplification. Stars are giants. But they’re also giant chemical reactions. Just like a fire, though, stars will eventually burn through their fuel supply. The difference is that when a fire exhausts its fuel, it doesn’t blow up into something multiple of its original size, nor does it collapse back on itself to form super-dense matter. When a star “burns out,” many things can happen. But the main one is that the forces that balance out this giant object fall into an imbalance. Here’s how NASA explains it: “Massive stars burn huge amounts of nuclear fuel at their cores or centers. This produces tons of energy, so the center gets very hot. Heat generates pressure, and the pressure created by a star’s nuclear burning also keeps that star from collapsing. A star is in the balance between two opposite forces. Th...