• Question: how long do stars live for and how do they die

    Asked by anon-225880 to Sameed, Jose, joannabarstow, Heidi, Freya, Chris on 19 Nov 2019. This question was also asked by anon-225910, anon-226531.
    • Photo: Jose Brandao-Neto

      Jose Brandao-Neto answered on 19 Nov 2019:

      Hi cake 362,
      .
      Yes, they do. Be mindful of the ants.
      .
      They are of you, they will only eat you if you’re a roadkill. (Don’t sleep on a jungle floor, tho).
      .
      A more puzzling one is: why don’t ants die in a microwave oven?
      .
      José

    • Photo: Heidi

      Heidi answered on 19 Nov 2019:

      The answer varies a lot! The general trend is the bigger the star, the shorter its life. So a star similar to our Sun will live for about 10 billion years, whereas a star 20 times more massive than our Sun will maybe live for only 10 million years.
      More massive stars tend to have a dramatic life and end up dying as either a black hole or a neutron star, but smaller stars tend to be quieter, and expand to become a red giant, then collapse and form a small white dwarf.

Comments

  • Photo: Jose

    Jose commented on :

    Sorry, cake 362, wrong answer as you mighht have guessed.
    .
    The only sun I trust is said to be around for at least 4 billion years and will be around for a while still 😉
    .
    José