The Universe is a mighty, beautiful, and wonderful world far removed from ours and has many secrets left to uncover. Of all the elements in the Universe, the ones we can see with our naked eyes from Earth are the stars. There are different types of stars ranging from tiny browns to blue Super giant stars but to the layman; all stars are the same. And they look the same based on how we see them from Earth.
But they are not the same. In this article, we discuss the different types of stars that exist in the Universe.
Protostar
One of the stars in the Universe is called a protostar. This is the nymph of a star before it forms. Protostars are a collection of trapped gas that collapse into a giant molecular cloud, and their evolution can last for as long as 100,000 years. As time evolves, their gravity and pressure increase which causes the protostar to collapse. The energy release caused by the collapse emanates from gravitational energy.
T Tauri
A T Tauri star is the shape a star takes before it forms into the main sequence star. This phase occurs after the collapse of a protostar. Suffice it to say that a T Tauri star is born after a Protostar dies. When the gravitational pressure holding the star together collapses, a T Tauri comes into being. This is why Tauri stars do not have sufficient pressure to generate nuclear fusion. They have the same temperature as sequence stars but are bigger and brighter. Furthermore, T Tauris cover larger sunspot areas and have intense flares and stellar winds. A star remains in the T Tauri phase for 100 million years before transforming.
Main Sequence Star
Another type of star in the Universe is the main sequence star. Most of the stars in the sky are Sequence stars, and the Sun is actually a main sequence star and is the closest to Earth. Other close sequence stars to Earth are Alpha Centauri A and Sirius. Main Sequence stars vary in mass, size, and brightness, but they function the same way by releasing energy after converting hydrogen into helium.
Red Giant Star
A Red Giant Star is an aging star and is 100 times bigger than a Main Sequence Star. Just like humans, stars do grow old, just that they take millions of years to age. This occurs because the star has consumed l its hydrogen, and fusion have stopped, and it can no longer generate outward pressure to counter inward pressure. At some point, a hydrogen shell will ignite and cause the star to increase in size. This explosion is what transforms the Sequence Star into a Red Giant Star.
Once the last doze of hydrogen is used up, shells of helium and other elements will be consumed, and the Red Giant Star will come to life. The stet will remain in this state for a few hundred million years before it runs out of fuel.
White Dwarf Star
When a Red Giant Star runs out of fuel, it turns into a White Dwarf Star. The outward pressure from the fusion stops, and the star will collapse in its own gravity. From the rubble, a white dwarf will shine through. While dwarves cool for a moment before they begin to heat up due to the temperature of the Universe. This process may take hundreds of billions of years, so astronomers believe there is no recorded history of a cool White Dwarf star.
Red Dwarf Star
Another common type of star in the sky besides Main Sequence stars is red dwarf stars. Red dwarves are actually main sequence stars with low mass but cooler than the Sun. They can mix hydrogen in their core and conserve fuel for much longer than any other star. According to records, some red dwarf stars can burn for up to 10 trillion years before they run out of energy. The smallest of them is about 0.075 percent of the Sun’s mass, while others can be as big as half the size of the Sun.
Neutron Stars
Neutron stars are roughly 1.35-2.1 times the size of the Sun. They are birthed after a white dwarf star dies. The explodes in a supernova explosion, and the remaining core becomes a Neutron star. Neutron stars are exotic stars loaded with neutrons because of the mixture of electrons and protons to form neutrons. Bigger white dwarf stars don’t become neutron stars; they transform into massive black holes instead.
Supergiants
Supergiants are the biggest stars in the Universe. They are massive monsters much larger than the Sun, and they consume fuel at a faster rate than other stars. This is why they have a shorter lifespan. Supergiants only last a few million years before they detonate in a galactic supernova. They exemplify the love fast, die young mantra.
These are the different types of stars in the Universe, so when next you go star gazing, just know that you are looking at different stars in different evolutionary phases even though they look alike.
