Our Universe is still poorly understood. With this in mind, interest in space exploration never fades. People are interested in what stars, planets, asteroids, and space in general are. To better understand the stars, Star Map Constructor have even been invented that allow anyone to get an image of the starry sky. So, today we will get acquainted with such an important element of our Universe as stars. The stars are all the same, everyone thinks so. The only difference is in color, right? A star is just a huge ball of gas billions of light-years from Earth. But not everything is as simple as it seems at first glance. The stars are very different, like everything that exists in this universe. According to similar characteristics, stars are divided into classes.
The types of stars are very different, both in shape and color. Starting from dwarfs and ending with supergiants. Colors are also very diverse: brown, red, blue – only a small part of the variety of colors of stars. There are also special stars that few have heard of, such as Wolf-Rayet stars and neural stars. With the development of technology, a person will delve into the knowledge of space, which contributes to the expansion of the boundaries of our consciousness and, in general, the idea of space as a whole. Check out celestron telescopes
Let’s consider several types of stars:
Protostar
A protostar is a substance that turns into a star. It is a gas cloud that shrinks and glows. The evolution of a protostar lasts 100,000 years. Over time, under the influence of pressure and gravity, the destruction of protostars occurs. The protostar emits energy caused by gravitational energy.
T Tauri Star
And T Tauri star is one of the stages of star formation, after which the gas cloud can be called a young star. This stage follows the protostar phase. The source of energy in this case is the gravitational pressure holding the star. At the same time, T Tauri stars do not have sufficient temperature and pressure for nuclear fusion. It resembles main sequence stars, temperatures are about the same, but due to its larger size, the brightness is much higher. Stars of this type have X-ray flares and strong winds, and their surface is also covered with spots. About 100 million years should pass before the next stage of the star’s development.
Main Sequence Star
Most of the stars in our universe are main sequence stars. These include both the Sun and Sirius and Alpha Centauri A. Main sequence stars are different, they have different sizes, different masses and different brightness, but there is something in common, namely, the main sequence stars emit a large amount of energy. currently converting hydrogen to helium.
The state of the main sequence stars can be described as a state of hydrostatic equilibrium. The star is pulled inward by gravity, and the light pressure created during fusion reactions pushes outward. Due to this, the star has a spherical shape, since the forces are balanced. The size of main sequence stars depends on their mass, which, in turn, determines the force of gravity.
The lower mass limit for such stars is 0.08 solar masses and 80 Jupiter masses. In theory, such stars can reach a mass of 100 times the mass of the Sun.
Red Giant Star
In a star that has used up the reserves of hydrogen in its core, the process of thermonuclear fusion is completed, which leads to the fact that the star ceases to create external pressure opposite to the internal one. The hydrogen shell ignites, the life of the planet continues, but this causes a process of a sharp increase in size. The old star, enlarged more than 100 times, turns into a red giant star. After the dissolution of all the hydrogen reserves, other shells begin to be consumed, for example, from helium, and then even from heavier elements. The star is in the red giant phase for only a few hundred million years, after which it runs out of fuel and turns into a white dwarf.
White Dwart Star
The transformation of a star into a white dwarf occurs at the moment when the hydrogen fuel is zero and there is no mass, for this reason there is no possibility of a thermonuclear fusion reaction. Its own gravity causes the star to collapse inward due to the cessation of external light pressure. The fusion reaction ends, and the white dwarf continues to glow. Over time, the white dwarf cools down to the temperature of the universe. This process takes hundreds of billions of years.
Red Dwarf Star
This type of star is the most common in the universe. They are also main sequence stars, but due to their very low mass, stars of this type are much colder than stars like the Sun. However, these stars have an advantage: red dwarfs have the ability to retain hydrogen in their cores, which contributes to a longer retention of fuel compared to other stars. Many astronomers claim that stars of this type can burn for up to 10 trillion years. It is worth noting that even the smallest red dwarfs have a mass of 0.075 times the mass of the Sun.
Neutron Stars
When the mass of a star is 1.35-2.1 times that of the Sun, a white dwarf does not form after death, and the star dies as a result of the explosion. After the explosion, only the nucleus remains, which will later become a neural star. A neutron star is a star composed of neurons. Under the influence of strong gravity, protons and electrons contract and form neutrons. And if the star is even larger, then after the explosion it will turn into a black hole.
Supergiant Stars
Supergiant stars are the largest stars in the Universe, their mass is tens of times greater than the mass of the Sun. Stars very quickly absorb hydrogen into supergiants; in a few million years, they can completely use up all their fuel. The life of such stars is very short. Based on all that has been written, we can conclude that stars are very diverse in size, mass and varieties. Studying the stars provides a correct understanding of our universe.
