Mass is the single most important property of a star. It determines the evolution of a star as well as its lifetime (e.g. lower mass stars live longer). In all the above discussed cases this means the initial mass, which decreases by less than 1% from birth to onset of a planetary nebula or a supernova.
The primary factor determining how a star evolves is its mass as it reaches the main sequence.
massThe fundamental property of stars, which determines where a star will fall along the main sequence, its lifetime, rate of evolution, and ultimate fate -- whether explosive or quiet, is a star's mass.
Why Are Some Stars Brighter than Others?Two Main Factors. There are actually two factors that influence how bright a star appears to our eyes:1) The Star's Actual Brightness. ... 2) The Star's Distance from Us.
A star's mass is the most important factor in determining its life cycle.
The higher temperatures mean that the nuclear reactions occur at a much greater rate in massive stars. They thus use up their fuel much quicker than lower mass stars. This is analogous to the situation with many chemical reactions, the higher the temperature the faster the reaction rate.
A star can be defined by five basic characteristics: brightness, color, surface temperature, size and mass.
How does this determine the luminosity of high-mass stars vs. low-mass stars? The defining process of a main-sequence star, all stars along aspecific line on the H-R diagram, are fusing hydrogen into helium in their cores, and so it follows a particular relationship between luminosity and surface temperature.
massThe amount of mass a star has determines which of the following life cycle paths it will take from there. The life cycle of a low mass star (left oval) and a high mass star (right oval).
Three factors control the brightness of a star as seen from Earth: how big it is, how hot it is, and how far away it is.
The characteristics that are used to classify stars include the color and temperature, size, and chemical composition.
Because the chemical composition of all stars are almost the same, what does the evolution of an individual star that makes it distinct depend on? Its mass. What is the lifetime of a star with a solar mass of .
Dying stars The elements formed in these stages range from oxygen through to iron. During a supernova, the star releases very large amounts of energy as well as neutrons, which allows elements heavier than iron, such as uranium and gold, to be produced.
Luminosity, L, is a measure of the total amount of energy radiated by a star or other celestial object per second. This is therefore the power output of a star. A star's power output across all wavelengths is called its bolometric luminosity.
Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the course of time. Depending on the mass of the star, its lifetime can range from a few million years for the most massive to trillions of years for the least massive, which is considerably longer than the age of the universe.
A smaller star, like the Sun, will gradually cool down and stop glowing. During these changes it will go through the planetary nebula phase, and white dwarf phase. After many thousands of millions of years it will stop glowing and become a black dwarf. A massive star experiences a much more energetic and violent end.