Graeme Gengras

Griffin OʼRourke
Summary Paper

Stars
Stars are very
complex things, and it
takes a lot to understand
them. They are mainly
made up of gas and
plasma, but that’s another
story all together. Stars
produce tons of light and
other energy. They’re
like the batteries of the
universe. Our closest star,
the Sun, provides us with
light and heat. Stars,
when clustered together,
are called galaxies. These
huge groupings are
spread all across the
universe. The star-
grouping we live in is http://geology.com/nasa/universe-pictures/spiral-galaxy.jpg

called the Milky-way Galaxy. Our sun is 4.6

billion years old, and the oldest stars are almost twice that. Stars have several phases to their
lives, just like humans. They are born, grow, hit their peak, and shrink again. At a stars peak
size, when it is a red supergiant, it is extremely large. When our sun becomes a supergiant, it’s
outer layer will reach Jupiter. At the end of a star’s life, some will turn into white and black
dwarfs, and end their life by turning into cold chunks of carbon. Others will detonate in
spectacular explosions at the end of their life called supernovae. After a supernova, less massive
stars will turn into neutron stars, completely made up on neutrons. The biggest stars will collapse
and collapse until they turn into black holes. When a star is formed, it happens in a region of
incredible density. These regions are called molecular clouds. The process begins with
gravitational instability inside the cloud. The area then collapses under its own gravitational
force, and a star is born. Bigger stars have shorter lives, because the fusion happens faster and
they run out of energy.

Fusion
Fusion is the combination of two hydrogen to make one helium. Since the
helium is less dense than the hydrogen, the extra mass of the hydrogen is converted
to energy. This process is what fuels stars for the majority of their lives.