The Life and Formation of Stars

The Life and Formation of Stars

            Stars are a very essential part of the galaxy.  The age, distribution, and creation of the star can show you its galaxy’s movement, history, and evolution.  These building blocks of the galaxy create and distribute heavy elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen.  Without stars, the life of our galaxy would be lost.

            The formation of stars has very few steps, but it takes a few million years to form.  Stars can be formed by the collision of molecular clouds or the collision of galaxies.  Some basic facts about stars are that they form inside molecular clouds called nebulae. Nebulae are cool clouds with molecular gas.  Parts of these dense clouds will break off and collapse.  Then, angular momentum (force or speed of movement) will force the clumps to transform into a rotating disk.  As the cloud collapses, the hot and dense core will collect dust and gas.  Not all the materials will become part of the star; remaining dust will become asteroids, comets, planets, or just stay as dust. Now, the process of creating a newborn star is complete.

Then, the core will become a newborn star, called protostars.  If the protostar has enough matter, it can be roughly 25 million degrees Fahrenheit.  At that that temperature, nuclear reactions will begin.  Then, it will release energy and become a main sequence star which lasts around 10 billion years; it will then become hot enough for the helium to create carbon.  The outer layer will expand, cool, and shine less vibrantly.  In this stage, they convert hydrogen into helium while releasing great amounts of energy.  Afterwards, the core will start to tighten and reactions will occur around the core.  Next, the core becomes a red giant.  Red giants are the ending product of the star formation.

In addition, stars are not all the same size.  Stars can be bigger or smaller than the sun; the bigger the star is, the shorter its life will be.  The smallest stars are called red dwarfs; red dwarfs are common throughout the universe.  They have usually less than half the mass of the sun, generate 1/10,000th of the sun’s energy, and are 10% the brightness of the sun.  Do not judge red dwarfs by their size; even though they are smaller than the sun, they are said to last about 10 trillion years whereas the sun is supposed to last only 12 billion years.  When stars are the size of the sun, it will take approximately five million years to mature.  If the star is too small they cannot become a real star.  Instead, they will become brown dwarfs.  Brown dwarfs are cold, dark stars that are not large enough to produce nuclear effects that create heat and light. 

Even the life of a star doesn’t last forever.  Once the helium runs out and the outer layer drifts away from the core, the core will become a white dwarf.  White dwarfs have come towards the end of the process of its life.  The only reason white dwarfs shine is because they have heat.  The dead star is called a black dwarf.  Black dwarfs are invisible white dwarfs that have cooled down.

Stars are basically the most important part of the galaxy.  Stars are not just beautifully brilliant dots that illuminate our universe.  They keep track of its galaxy’s history.  To add to that, they create light, heat, and distribute heavy elements.  The life and formation of stars helps our galaxy in many ways.  Where would we be without stars?