SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -A star’s life cycle is determined by its mass. The larger its mass, the shorter its life cycle. A star’s mass is determined by the amount of matter that is available in its nebula, the giant cloud of gas and dust from which it was born.

Detailed explanation-2: -Generally, the more massive the star, the faster it burns up its fuel supply, and the shorter its life. The most massive stars can burn out and explode in a supernova after only a few million years of fusion. A star with a mass like the Sun, on the other hand, can continue fusing hydrogen for about 10 billion years.

Detailed explanation-3: -More massive stars have a stronger gravitational force acting inwards so their core gets hotter. 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.

Detailed explanation-4: -A higher-mass star may have more material, but it burns through it faster due to higher core temperatures caused by greater gravitational forces.

Detailed explanation-5: -This means that bigger is not better with respect to how long a star will live. A smaller star has less fuel, but its rate of fusion is not as fast. Therefore, smaller stars live longer than larger stars because their rate of fuel consumption is not as rapid.

Detailed explanation-6: -Supergiants have the shortest lifespans of any star, as the temperatures in a supergiant’s core get so high that it is able to fuse the helium that is left over after hydrogen burning has stopped. This helium burning process fuses helium atoms into carbon atoms, which then begin to build up at the center of the core.

Detailed explanation-7: -Stars can range in sizes from a small star like our sun to stars tens of times the Sun’s mass. Larger stars burn through their fuel faster than smaller stars and die sooner, though they create more new elements in their lifetime.