A GIANT Star is Born
Giant stars can be more than three times the size of our Sun, even though they do not live as long. When they die they cause huge explosions that can destroy whole worlds! Stellar Nurseries Nurseries are not just play areas for toddlers they are also be places where stars are formed. Stellar Nurseries are bright, colourful swirly clouds where a ginormous number of hydrogen atoms clump together. The huge force causes a tremendous amount of gravity – which pulls objects in to the centre of it. This gravity is so intense that our Sun would even be sucked in with it. That is really strong! Birth As more and more of these atoms are forced together the gravity gets stronger and stronger and pulls them into a really tight ball. This makes the ball super hot, more than 75 thousand times hotter than a volcano! This causes a massive explosion to happen blasting loads of gases into space. A star is born. Red Supergiant This huge fiery ball is now three times the size of our Sun. The star will burn bright until it has run out of fuel. For giant stars this takes a few million years – the bigger they are the shorter they live! When the starʼs fuel begins to burn out the star expands and forms a Red Supergiant. Supernova When it becomes too big, it starts to shrink again until the pressure bursts in a huge and bright explosion called a Supernova. This explosion causes more energy than the Sun will in its entire lifetime. That is super hot! Death A Supernova causes... A NEUTRON STAR to be formed. Neutron Stars are SO heavy that a teaspoon full weighs more than Mount Everest. Or if itʼs really really big… A BLACK HOLE is created. Black Holes are huge holes in space that suck everything in, including light. If you were to enter a black hole you would be
1
travelling so fast that your feet and body would be stretched really thin like spaghetti. For Launchpad Magazine
Â
2 Â