Illustration showing the life of a Sun-like-star starting from the main sequence (the hydrogen-burning phase). This is the longest-lived part of the l
Illustration showing the life of a Sun-like-star starting from the main sequence (the hydrogen-burning phase). This is the longest-lived part of the life-cycle, around 10 billion years (1). Once the core hydrogen is depleted, the star begins to swells into a subgiant about two or three times its original size - cooler and more orange, yet brighter because of its greater surface area (2). For a few hundred million years, the star burns hydrogen in a narrow shell on the outskirts of the inert helium core. Once the shell hydrogen runs out, the star expands into a red giant, up to 200 times its main-sequence radius (not shown to scale, 3). It then begins to shed its outermost layers in a series of pulsations (4), leading to the creation of a planetary nebula (not shown to scale, 5). Finally, once this has dispersed after around 10, 000 years, only the inert core remains - a white dwarf (6).
Size: 4004px × 5388px
Photo credit: © MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: art, artwork, astronomy, astrophysics, core, death, dwarf, evolution, expansion, giant, illustration, loss, main, mass, nebula, nucleosynthesis, planetary, pulsations, red, sequence, stars, subgiant, sun, sun-, white
