The Life Cycles of Stars: The History of the Lives and Deaths of Stars

by Charles River Editors

*Includes pictures *Includes a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents When people look up into the night sky, the stars seem fixed and immutable, as unchanging as the darkness of space itself, but the truth is that stars are born, live and die in a never-ending cycle of creation and annihilation. These cycles stretch over such vast spans of time that, to short-lived humans, they seem to last forever. No one knows just how many stars there are, but their number is almost beyond comprehension. When people look up into the night sky, they can see further than they might up to 19 quadrillion miles, the distance to Deneb in Cygnus, a star that is visible from most inhabited parts of Earth. In total, around five thousand stars are visible to the naked eye, though only around two thousand are visible at any one time from a particular place on Earth. All the visible stars are bigger and brighter than the Sun. Of course, there are many more known stars than those that can be seen with the naked eye. Astronomers estimate that in the Milky Way, there may be more than three hundred billion stars, and every other galaxy may have a similar number of stars. How many galaxies are there in the Universe? Again, no one is certain, but most astronomers agree that there must be many billions. Stars begin as vast clouds of dust and gas within galaxies and are known as nebulae. Due to Newton’s Law of Global Attraction, the densest areas in these nebulae pull-in matter from the surrounding space. The more mass they gain, the more mass they attract. Over time, this accumulation can lead to the creation of a star. From that moment on, an eternal battle gravity tends to contract the star while its growing inner pressure tends to expand it. Nebulae are stellar nurseries, the places where stars are created and an essential part of the life cycle of the Universe. Stars do not last forever. Over time they gradually lose energy and finally die. This process of the creation of new stars and the gradual death of existing stars is part of a vast, cosmic process of recycling that continues all the time. However, that raises the question of how the very first stars were formed and that in turn leads to questions about the origin of the Universe itself. However, the life cycle of stars also has a direct relationship to life here on Earth. Singer Joni Mitchell famously included the line “we are stardust” in her hit song “Woodstock.” Surprisingly, it seems that she was absolutely right. In the beginning, the Universe comprised hydrogen, small quantities of helium, minuscule amounts of lithium and almost nothing else. Stars are the engines that provide the raw material from which life itself as well as stellar bodies are created. Each star is like a factory that uses nuclear fusion to convert hydrogen into helium and that in turn is used to create carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and many other elements. When a star dies, it ejects its outer layers, throwing these elements off as cosmic dust. The gravity of planets attracts and captures this dust which settles on the surface, introducing new elements. It is estimated that more than forty thousand tons of cosmic dust arrives on Earth every year and this process has continued as long as there has been a planet Earth. Some of the tiny pieces of dust (most are smaller than one-hundredth the width of a human hair) are very old indeed. Scientists have found what they call “original stardust” on meteorites and asteroids. Many of these have been drifting in space since before the Sun was created. The elements in this dust are the fundamental building-blocks of life and every living organism on Earth is created from elements that were originally produced in long-dead stars.

51 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 10, 2021

About the author

Charles River Editors is an independent publisher of thousands of ebooks on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple iBookstore & provider of original content for third parties.

Reviews

[Jerry Jares · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stars are born, live, and die in a never-ending cycle of creation and death.  Stars begin as vast clouds of dust and gasses called nebulae.  The densest areas pull in the matter to themselves and can create a star.  Then, new forces act upon the star -- inner pressure tends to expand the star but gravity tends to contract it.  Eventually, they die; they lose their energy and die.  This is all part of a cosmic process that goes on and on.

It is estimated that 40,000 tons of cosmic dust settle on the earth every year (and has yearly, since the beginning of time). The billions of stars are vast cosmic recycling centers that "convert common hydrogen into the much less common elements needed to create life and the stars and planets themselves."  After time and countless nuclear reactions, the star's core ends up as iron.  This is the beginning of the end of the star's life cycle.

Since it has been 40 years since I sat in a college science class, I was impressed by how clearly this book explained complicated theories and the latest observations that are being studied in astronomy.  I didn't understand just how fascinating astronomy is until I read this very interesting (and clear) explanation.

One of the things I love about Charles Rivers Editors is that they sometimes offer an off-beat story to their readers.  And those off-the-beaten-track books are often gems.  At the end, I'm going to share some of my favorites from the House of Charles Rivers.  Of the 6 mentioned below, the story of the Dodo Bird and the La Brea Tar Pits are absolute favorites of mine.  

Off-Beat Gems from the House of Charles Rivers
The Galápagos: The History of the Famous Pacific Islands and Their Unique Ecosystem
The Roma: The History of the Romani People and the Controversial Persecutions across Europe
The Dodo: The History and Legacy of the Extinct Flightless Bird  
Beavers and Plumes: The History of the Trade and Conflicts Over Beaver Hats and Feathered Hats The United States Camel Corps: The History of the U.S. Army’s Use of Camels in the Southwest during the 19th Century
The La Brea Tar Pits: The History and Legacy of One of the World’s Most Famous Fossil Sites

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book goes into quite a bit of detail about how stars are born, what kinds of stars there are and how they use their 'fuel,' what happens to them as they age and what the aftermath is of when they actually die.

It's also interesting when they list star types as O B A F G K M. I remember a long time ago when I was teaching I told the students there was an easy way to remember the star types in order. It was Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me. Mnemonics can be quite useful.

The book also discusses black holes, multiple star systems gamma ray bursts and related topics. There's also online resources and further reading.

A good primer on stars.

[Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Certainly educational - I'd never given much thought to stars. And the best part of all is that it my "been retired since 2009" age in perspective and makes me seem pretty young.
Thanks for adding to my perspective of the world in which we live.

[Anil Swarup · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charles River Editors have this art of presenting complex subjects in a simple manner so that they become intelligible to the uninitiated as well. This book belongs to that genre wherein an extremely complex story of Life Cycle of Stars has been narrated in a simple manner.

[Jose · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Life of Cycles of Stars

Excellent book, even without great technicalities, allow you to learn about the wonderful world and cycles of the stars, pleasant reading that invites to investigate more about the subject.

[Brian Asalone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basic review of current science of stars

This is a very basic run through of the current understanding of stars. It briefly touches on the history of the classification and then into the various types. It finishes with some of the continuing research questions.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are always good. Great overview of the topic. Sparks interest in further reading.