How Does A Star Die?

How does a star die?

All stars are sustained fusion reactions hanging in space, converting millions of tons of hydrogen into helium through nuclear fusion. This is because there is so much matter in a star that the core of it is undergoing such intense pressure that hydrogen atoms fuse together and release massive amounts of energy. 

Stars are massive objects, sometimes it boggles the mind how large. It’s sometimes hard to conceptualize that the planet we live on is a speck of sand compared to our sun. The sun itself makes up 99% of the mass of our solar system. 

And our sun isn’t even the biggest star out there. 

There’s a debate about which star is the biggest in the universe, but the best candidates are Stephenson 2-18 and UY Scuti; both are red hypergiants with radii thousands of times larger than our sun. If Stephenson 2-18 replaced our sun, it would instantly evaporate Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and possibly Saturn. 

As the star continues its life cycle, converting tons of hydron into helium every moment of every day, the core of the star starts to produce more and more new elements as the atoms are compressed into each other. Eventually, at the core of the star, develops a ball of iron. Iron is the densest element and cannot be fused further. 

At the heart of the star is this sphere of super-heated iron and it grows bigger and bigger as more and more hydrogen fuel is burned up. 

As the star gets older and the iron core is getting bigger, there now exists a delicate balance. The mass of the star wants to collapse upon itself by the force of gravity, but its being suspended by the immense energy that the nuclear fusion produces. 

So long as there is fuel, the balance is maintained. 

When the fuel runs out, depending on the size of the star, the mass of the star collapses upon itself due to gravity. Some stars experience this collapse close to the speed of light. The trillions and trillions of tons of mass rebounds off the iron core in a glorious display we call a supernova. 

And incredibly dangerous and deadly explosion as the star dies. Ironically, in the moments of a star’s death, they put out more light and energy than a galaxy. 

After the supernova, some stars become white dwarves, some become red dwarves, others become black holes. 

Either way, they are fundamentally changed and become strange objects. Neutron stars for instance are so dense that a teaspoon of matter has the same mass as mount everest. Some scientists speculate that the pressure from this density is so intense that the core of a Neutron star may contain matter that has never been observed before. 

Black Holes. 

Do I even need to explain why Black Holes are weird and terrifying? 

That is how a star dies. 

Now here’s the real question. 

Why am I talking about this on my blog that is mostly devoted to mental health?