• The life history of a star depends primarily on its mass• A little bit on its metallicity (Z)• Sometimes influenced by nearby stars

• Low mass stars (M < 8MSun) live a long life and die slowly• High mass stars (M > 8MSun) live fast and die violently• The more massive a star is, the faster it does everything

Stars form from cool clouds of gas called molecular clouds• Gravity overcomes pressure, and several stars begin to form• Usually get multiple stars in the same region, about the same age• Called clusters

• Initially, the stars are all moving together at the same speed• Lots of stars with low mass, few with large mass• Lowest mass: about 0.08 Msun

• Highest mass: about 100 Msun

Molecular Clouds:

Stellar EvolutionMolecular Clouds

ProtostarMain Sequence Star

Red Giant starHorizontal Branch

Asymptotic Giant BranchPlanetary Nebula

White Dwarf

ProtostarMain Sequence StarSupergiant StagesType II Supernova

Neutron Star or Black Hole

Low

Mass Stars

M < 8M

SunH

igh

Mas

s Sta

rsM

> 8M

Sun

Stars are powered by nuclear fusion• The combining of simple nuclei to make more complex ones• Stages are defined by what is going on at the center

Main Sequence Stars: IntroductionA Main Sequence Star is a star that is burning hydrogen to helium at its center• This is nuclear burning, not combustion• No oxygen• We don’t care about the details

• This process is extremely efficient• It can go for a long time

• During this stage, the structureof the star hardly changes• Small increase in

luminosity• Spectral class

stays almost thesame

• Small motionupwards in theH-R diagram

4 1H 4He

Main Sequence Stars: Mass DependanceEverything about the star depends on mass• Higher mass stars have:• Larger radius

• Somewhat higher temperature

• Much higher luminosity

R M

0.4T M

2 4L R T 3.5M

Type MassO5 60B0 18B5 5.9A0 2.9A5 2.0F0 1.6F5 1.3G0 1.05G5 .92K0 .85K5 .74M0 .51M5 .21M8 .06

60 MSun

1 MSun

0.08 MSun

The main sequence is a band because• Stars have variable metallicity• Stars are different ages

Main Sequence Stars: Lifetime

A star stays as a main sequence star until it runs out of hydrogen• The amount of fuel is proportional to its mass:• The rate it consumes fuel depends on its mass:• How long it lasts depends on mass:

F M3.5L M

FTL

3.5

MM

2.5M

Big Stars Die Fast

The Sun lasts about 10 Gyr on main sequence

2.5

10 GyrMSMTM

Giant StarsMolecular Clouds

ProtostarMain Sequence Star

Red Giant starHorizontal Branch

Asymptotic Giant BranchPlanetary Nebula

White Dwarf

ProtostarMain Sequence StarSupergiant StagesType II Supernova

Neutron Star or Black Hole

Low

Mass Stars

M < 8M

SunH

igh

Mas

s Sta

rsM

> 8M

Sun

The stars run out of hydrogen to burn to helium• Low mass stars burn helium to produce carbon and oxygen (Z = 6,

8)• High mass stars also produce elements through iron (Z = 26)• These produce much less energy than hydrogen• The fuel is used faster and runs out faster

• All giant stages together last about 10% of the previous stages

Giant Stages: Movement on HR diagram• Low mass stars get cooler and more luminous• Up and right on the HR diagram

• High mass stars get cooler• Right on the HR diagram

• The high mass stars move off from the main sequence first• You can estimate the age of a cluster by which stars

have left the main sequence• The turn off point• More about this later

Cepheid Variable Stars• Not all stars are constant luminosity• There is a region of the HR diagram where

stars pulsate, called the instability strip• Not Main Sequence stars

• The temperature, size, and luminosity all vary periodically• Many Cepheids are extremely bright -

much more luminous than typical main sequence stars• We can see them far away, even in nearby

galaxies• One of the biggest motivations for the

Hubble telescope was to study Cepheids in galaxies a few Mpc away

Cepheid Variable Stars

Cepheid Variable Stars• Bigger stars pulsate more slowly• Bigger stars are more luminous• There is a simple relationship

between the period and the luminosity• If you know the period, you know

the luminosity• If you measure the brightness,

you can then get the distance

2.81log 1.43M P

1510 pc

m M

d

P is period in days

• Complication – modified by metallicity• Must be compensated for

Planetary NebulaMolecular Clouds

ProtostarMain Sequence Star

Red Giant starHorizontal Branch

Asymptotic Giant BranchPlanetary Nebula

White Dwarf

ProtostarMain Sequence StarSupergiant StagesType II Supernova

Neutron Star or Black Hole

Low

Mass Stars

M < 8M

SunH

igh

Mas

s Sta

rsM

> 8M

Sun

Low Mass stars end their lives as planetary nebulas• Outer layer is expelled from the star• This mixes carbon/oxygen/helium back into interstellar space

• Inner super-hot layer gradually revealed• This star is now radiating in the ultraviolet – visible luminosity is low• But the ultraviolet light excites the atoms in the gas that has been expelled

HydrogenHelium

Carbon/Oxygen

Asymptotic Giant

Ultraviolet

Planetary NebulaWhite Dwarf

Ring Dumbbell

Cat’s Eye

Helix

M2-9

Hourglass

NGC 6751Eskimo

EggNGC 2440

Spirograph Abell 39

Planetary Nebula (2)• The planetary nebula glows brightly in visible light• An emission-line spectrum

• How bright any given planetary nebula is is difficult to predict• Statistically, there are more dim ones than bright ones• However, there is an approximate maximum luminosity:

* 4.47 0.05M • Almost independent of metallicity• Can be used to measure distance to objects containing many planetary nebulae• Such as a galaxy

White DwarfMolecular Clouds

ProtostarMain Sequence Star

Red Giant starHorizontal Branch

Asymptotic Giant BranchPlanetary Nebula

White Dwarf

ProtostarMain Sequence StarSupergiant StagesType II Supernova

Neutron Star or Black Hole

Low

Mass Stars

M < 8M

SunH

igh

Mas

s Sta

rsM

> 8M

Sun

A white dwarf is a burned out star consisting of carbon and oxygen• Dead – dim and getting dimmer• Mass of Sun, size of Earth• Gravity is opposed by degeneracy pressure• Quantum mechanical effect due to Pauli Exclusion principle

• There is a maximum mass – called the Chandrasekhar mass: about 1.42 MSun

Type Ia SupernovaA white dwarf with a giant companion can gain mass from its companion• As it gains mass, gravity increases – it shrinks• When it reaches Chandrasekhar mass it collapses, catastrophically• Temperature increases drastically• Fusion begins again in the core• The entire star explodes, all at once• Star is super bright – as bright as an entire galaxy• We can see them most of the way across the universe

• All type Ia supernovae have nearly identical precursors• They should blow up almost exactly the same way• They should have almost uniform luminosity• For reasons that aren’t well understood, they are not• Some are more efficient than others• Amount of time they take to get bright seems to predict luminosity

Supernovae in GeneralMolecular Clouds

ProtostarMain Sequence Star

Red Giant starHorizontal Branch

Asymptotic Giant BranchPlanetary Nebula

White Dwarf

ProtostarMain Sequence StarSupergiant StagesType II Supernova

Neutron Star or Black Hole

Low

Mass Stars

M < 8M

SunH

igh

Mas

s Sta

rsM

> 8M

Sun

• High mass stars end their life as Type II supernovae• Or occasionally, type Ib or Ic

• These stars are very complex, containing numerous elements• All supernovae mix “metals” back into inter-stellar medium• They already contain many elements• More are made during the explosions

Type II Supernova Hydrogen

HeliumCarbon/Oxygen

Red Supergiant

NeonSilicon

Iron

Supernovae

SN1987A

SN1994 D

Supernova Remnants

The Crab Nebula

Tycho’s Supernova Remnant

Puppis AVeil Nebula

Vela Nebula

Kepler SNR

CygnusLoop

W49B

N49

Black HolesMolecular Clouds

ProtostarMain Sequence Star

Red Giant starHorizontal Branch

Asymptotic Giant BranchPlanetary Nebula

White Dwarf

ProtostarMain Sequence StarSupergiant StagesType II Supernova

Neutron Star or Black Hole

Low

Mass Stars

M < 8M

SunH

igh

Mas

s Sta

rsM

> 8M

Sun

A black hole is an object where gravity overcomes all other forces• Mostly come from very heavy stars (> 25 MSun)• Gravity becomes so strong nothing can escape• Relativity says nothing can go faster than light:• If you get too close, the escape velocity equals speed of light• Called the Schwarzschild radius

2esc

2GMvR

2 2

S

GMcR

2

2S

GMRc