Exploratour: A Peek Into the Lives of the Stars

This cartoon shows what happens to stars that are about the same size as the sun.

As they get older, the star gets bigger and redder and cooler. The outer gas layers of the star blow off in a high speed wind. We can see this gas for a long time from the Earth. It is called a planetary nebula.

The inner part of the star is left behind. We call it a white dwarf. It is very hot and very small compared to a star. Only about the size of the Earth.

But the matter that makes up the white dwarf is like nothing you've ever seen before. If you took a piece of the white dwarf about the size of a marble, it would weigh as much as the largest elephant at the zoo.

Last modified May 10, 2010 by Randy Russell.

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Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA