stellar evloution

Running Head: Stages and Opposing Forces in the Life of a Star Stages and Opposing Forces in the Life of a Star Student’s Name: Institution: Course Details: Instructor’s Name: Date: Stages in the Life of a Star Generally, stars have transition stages in their lifetime, thus the whole concept being referred to as Stellar Evolution. Stars transit over a period of time through distinct stages in their lives. According to Tate (2009), the transition stage is defined by the initial mass of a star. Stage 1: Protostar Here, the initial collapse of a star occurs rapidly within a short spun of years. With the star heating up at extreme temperatures, it is characterized by the build up of pressure; hence, the outward pressure balances the inward gravitational pull closely through a condition referred as Hydrostatic Equilibrium. At this point, the star is cool, red in color, and very large with high luminosity. Stage 2: Main Sequence In this stage, the star undergoes a myriad of activities, thus the inward falling of material on to the star persists. However, the star continues to ptyalize material in an outward direction in form of jets University of California (1999). Stage 3: Red Giant In this stage, gravitational energy triggers the reaction of helium core and the surrounding hydrogen-burnish shell. This in turn increases temperature, which augments nuclear reaction rates in the shell. This leads to the production of sufficient energy by the nuclear reactions, which satisfies the luminous energy output. At this point, the star is cool and full of lum...