EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -However, their life cycles start to differ after the red giant phase. A massive star will undergo a supernova explosion. If the remnant of the explosion is 1.4 to about 3 times as massive as our Sun, it will become a neutron star.

Detailed explanation-2: -Once at the red giant stage, a star might stay that way for up to a billion years. Then the star will slowly contract and cool to become a white dwarf: Earth-sized, ultra-dense star corpses radiating a tiny fraction of their original energy.

Detailed explanation-3: -A red giant will usually produce a planetary nebula and become a white dwarf at the end of its life.

Detailed explanation-4: -Stars heavier than eight times the mass of the Sun end their lives very suddenly. When they run out of fuel, they swell into red supergiants. They try to keep alive by burning different fuels, but this only works for a few million years. Then they blow themselves apart in a huge supernova explosion.

Detailed explanation-5: -Their cores get hot enough to burn carbon, which our sun never will, and they eventually die in powerful supernova explosions. When it’s all said and done, these massive stars leave behind either a neutron star or a black hole.