Stars life span

Stars life span

How Long Do Stars Live?

A star’s life expectancy depends on its mass. Generally, the more massive the star, the faster it burns up its fuel supply, and the shorter its life. The most massive stars can burn out and explode in a supernova after only a few million years of fusion. A star with a mass like the Sun, on the other hand, can continue fusing hydrogen for about 10 billion years. And if the star is very small, with a mass only a tenth that of the Sun, it can keep fusing hydrogen for up to a trillion years, longer than the current age of the universe. Now onto the question: how do stars die?

How the stars die?

Answering the question, "How do stars die?" also depends on its mass. The most massive stars quickly exhaust their fuel supply and explode in core-collapse supernovae, some of the most energetic explosions in the universe. A supernova’s radiation can easily (if only briefly) outshine the rest of its host galaxy. The remnant stellar core will form aneutron star or a black hole, depending on how much mass remains. If the core contains between 1.44 and 3 solar masses, that mass will crush into a volume just 10 to 15 miles wide before a quantum mechanical effect known asneutron degeneracy pressure prevents total collapse. The exact upper limit on a neutron star mass isn’t known, but around 3 solar masses, not even neutron degeneracy pressure can combat gravity’s inward crush, and the core collapses to form a black hole