Mystery
Black Hole
a region of space having a gravitational field so intense that no matter or radiation can escape.
Giant Molecular Clouds
Giant molecular clouds are vast cosmic objects, composed primarily of hydrogen molecules and helium atoms
Nebulae
a cloud of gas and dust in outer space, visible in the night sky either as an indistinct bright patch or as a dark silhouette against other luminous matter.
AGB Stars
a low or intermediate mass star
How does nuclear fusion begin in a newborn star?
Nuclear fusion begins when contraction causes the star's core to grow hot enough for fusion
Supernovae
a star that suddenly increases greatly in brightness because of a catastrophic explosion that ejects most of its mass.
Solar Mass
The mass of the sun used as a unit of mass
Protostars
a very young star that is still gathering mass from its parent molecular cloud
Red Dwarfs
A red dwarf is the smallest and coolest kind of star on the main sequence
How does a star’s mass affect nuclear fusion?
When the hydrogen supply in the core begins to run out, and the star is no longer generating heat by nuclear fusion, the core becomes unstable and contracts.
PP Chain
one of two known sets of nuclear fusion reactions by which stars convert hydrogen to helium
Main Sequence
a continuous and distinctive band of stars that appears on plots of stellar color versus brightness
Red Giant
a dying star in the last stages of stellar evolution
White Nebula
A nebula that appears white in colouration through a high-powered telescope
What are the life stages of a low-mass star?
Main Sequence
Red Giant.
Planetary Nebula
White Dwarf
CNO Cycle
a process of stellar nucleosynthesis in which stars on the Main Sequence fuse hydrogen into helium via a six-stage sequence of reactions
Chandrasekhar Limit
the theoretical maximum mass a white dwarf star can have and still remain a white dwarf
Supergiant
any star of very great luminosity and relatively enormous size
Black Dwarf
a very small cooled remnant of white dwarf that emits no detectable light.
How does a low mass star die?
Low mass stars simply die by burning up their fuel to leave behind white dwarfs
How do high-mass stars due?
All stars eventually run out of their hydrogen gas fuel and die.
Supermassive
Having a mass much larger than the sun
Planetary Nebula
when a star blows off its outer layers after it has run out of fuel to burn
Neutron Star
a celestial object of very small radius and very high density, composed predominantly of closely packed neutrons
What are the life stages of a high-mass star?
Subgiant Branch
Red Giant Branch
First Dredge Up