Life Cycle of Stars

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For about 14 billion years, stars have been born, lived out their lives of billions of years, and died. Each star that is born uses matter that comes from stars that have died.

The fate of a star depends on its size. Large stars typically have shorter life spans than smaller stars because they burn through their nuclear fuel at a higher rate. The sun is about 4.5 billion years old and is about halfway through its predicted life span. Five billion years from now, the sun will first expand into a red giant. After it burns itself out, it will shrink into a white dwarf.

Other stars may become supernovae or neutron stars. How a star begins life, and how much mass it has, ultimately determines its fate.