what is the evolution of a solar mass star?

Question

Ok, I just want an example of any star how it evolves from it being created until it dies. Just describe it.

Thanks

Describe the evolution of a one solar mass star from birth to death. I'm guessing there's a diagram somewhere that shows this.

That website has way more information than what I'm looking for.

Answer 1

A cloud of gas and dust condenses under its own gravity, perhaps triggered by some outside event such as a supernova shock wave. Once the temperature and pressure at the center of the cloud are high enough to allow hydrogen fusion to begin, radiation from the star begins to clear out the cloud. The young star will continue to generate some energy from gravitational collapse for a while, making young stars relatively hot for their mass. Soon the star stabilizes and becomes what is called a "main sequence" star.

A sun-sized star will stay on the main sequence for about ten billion years, becoming gradually slightly hotter over time. When all the available hydrogen in the core is used up, the star begins to collapse. This compresses and heats the core enough that hydrogen fusion begins again in a shell around the core. The star now produces much more energy than it did before. The additional energy makes the outer layers swell up, and somewhat paradoxically, the star cools off (the outer, visible layer, that is), though it is brighter than before. It has become a red giant.

As the core becomes hotter, it once again lights up, this time fusing helium into carbon and oxygen. The star pauses in its evolution and burns fairly constant for a few million years. When the helium core fusion can't proceed any further, the star goes through a few million years of burning helium and hydrogen in shells around the core. The star becomes redder and brighter through this period.

As it nears the end of its life, the intensity of its fusion reaction, combined with the low pressure in the outer layers, causes the outer shell to be blown off. What is left is a very hot stellar core. The brightness doesn't change, but the star becomes much bluer as the core is exposed. It now puts out enough ultraviolet to make its discarded envelope glow, and a planetary nebula is born.

The fusion in the remaining core soon goes out, and a sun-sized star is not massive enough for another level of fusion reactions. It contracts into a hot, dense white dwarf, and gradually cools down. It will remain visible as a planetary nebula for a while, but over time it will fade as the gas cloud continues to expand and the white dwarf cools and emits less ultraviolet.

Answer 2

The debris from a super nova ,a cigar shaped mass of Rocky material,crashes into a hydrogen field it forms a giant smoke ring which initiates the formation of the sun and flings the rocky matter out to form the planets.
The star formation takes about 20 million years,the mature planet formation takes about 4 billion years.

Answer 3

Bruce gave you a great website, but you might want to also look at an animated applet of 1 solar mass evolution on an H-R Diagram at this website ==>http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/astro101/java/evolve/evolve.htm

Answer 4

purple dwarf,hydrogen fusion producing helium and radiation. very sluggish launch of potential with the aid of small volume of inner tension mandatory to sidestep gravitational give way with the aid of being only 0.4 photograph voltaic hundreds, for this reason can stay to approximately 15 billion-20 billion years. particularly risky, primary photograph voltaic flares and exerts monstrous quantities of radiation with the aid of small length of floor and exposure of the photonic zone close to the floor. will at last cool to become a black dwarf and could expell its outer layers forming planetary nebula.

Answer 5

Here is a good description of the life cycle of the Sun from the astronomy dept of Ohio State (diagrams and everything!)--->
http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Lectures/vistas97.html