Do stars dissipate?

By 1014 (100 trillion) years from now, star formation will end, leaving all stellar objects in the form of degenerate remnants. If protons do not decay, stellar-mass objects will disappear more slowly, making this era last longer.

Will all the stars eventually burn out?

Of course, no matter what happens, the birth of new stars must eventually cease, since there’s a limited amount of hydrogen, helium, and other stuff that can undergo fusion. This means that all the stars will eventually burn out. These will run out of hydrogen about 1013 years from now, and slowly cool.

Are the stars in the sky infinite?

But the number of stars, finite as it might be, is still large enough to light up the entire sky, i.e., the total amount of luminous matter in the Universe is too large to allow this escape. The number of stars is close enough to infinite for the purpose of lighting up the sky.

Does light degrade over distance?

The intensity or brightness of light as a function of the distance from the light source follows an inverse square relationship. Notice that as the distance increases, the light must spread out over a larger surface and the surface brightness decreases in accordance with a “one over r squared” relationship.

What happens to the mass of a star when it cools?

Eventually, only about 20\% of the star�s initial mass remains and the star spends the rest of its days cooling and shrinking until it is only a few thousand miles in diameter. It has become a white dwarf. White dwarfs are stable because the inward pull of gravity is balanced by the electrons in the core of the star repulsing each other.

What happens when a star becomes a white dwarf?

A star like our Sun will become a white dwarf when it has exhausted its nuclear fuel. Near the end of its nuclear burning stage, such a star expels most of its outer material (creating a planetary nebula) until only the hot (T > 100,000 K) core remains, which then settles down to become a young white dwarf.

What happens when the core of a star is destroyed?

Once the ready supply of hydrogen in the core is gone, nuclear processes occurring there cease. Without the outward pressure generated from these reactions to counteract the force of gravity, the outer layers of the star begin to collapse inward toward the core.

What happens when energy is released from a star?

This energy from fusion pours out from the core, setting up an outward pressure in the gas around it that balances the inward pull of gravity. When the released energy reaches the outer layers of the ball of gas and dust, it moves off into space in the form of electromagnetic radiation. The ball, now a star, begins to shine.