Stars and Black Holes Essay Example
Amazing, bright ball of gas. We have probably heard about Stars when we were young and drew them as 5 legged creatures etc. Stars come in all different sizes and lifespans, some go on to be really fascinating after they die, and others just blend into the vast universe. We need our own Star for our existence, that is literally and figuratively. The way they produce fuel, and keep shining is truly amazing. If you look up in the night sky, you will see thousands of stars with a naked eye, although there are about a septillion of them. Although some people don’t imagine the Sun (a star) to be of importance, it is literally the reason we are alive. The Sun also gives us fabulous views for us to enjoy at dawn and sunset.
Lifespan/ lifetime of Stars
Stars will easily outlive many generations, the stars you see in the night sky were most-likely seen by the early humans and beyond, most of them have probably been around for more than even the dinosaurs. Stars are born from great reservoirs of cosmic materials called nebulae. Nebulae are made of basic elements like, hydrogen, helium, dust, and other gases. The gravity within the nebula sucks in great amounts of dust and other gases where it becomes compressed and heats up until it is 10 billion degrees Celsius, at that temperature nuclear fusion occurs. The heat generated by nuclear fusion counteracts the force of gravity, this is called a main sequence star at it stays this way for 10 million – 10 billion years. The outcome after a certain time depends on the size of the star. A small star about the size of our sun, collapses on itself since the balance is not the same, the temperatures skyrocket and the star expands, that is known as a red giant. Some average stars’ outer layer can turn into a planetary nebula. Next, the fusion helium stops, and the force of gravity is much greater, after collapsing on itself it becomes a white dwarf, after a few billion years it becomes a black dwarf, as cold as the space around it. Massive stars run out of their fuel way quicker than smaller stars. They expand to become super red giants and contain all the elements up to iron. Eventually, the star collapses which creates a shock wave, this causes a big explosion called a super nova which produces a lot of energy. This can outshine all the other stars in the galaxy for weeks! This creates all the elements in the periodic table and releases them. Either a neutron star or a black hole can form after this event.
Neutron Stars and Black Holes
Types of stars such as massive stars, average stars, white dwarfs, and black dwarfs have already been mentioned. What we need better understanding of is Neutron stars and black holes. Neutron stars are one of the most extreme and violent things in the universe. Neutron stars form when a super-giant (before a massive star) collapses and the whole supernova phenomenon happens, a massive star can either become a black hole or a neutron star. The mass of a neutron star is around a million times the size of earth but is densely packed into only 25 kilometers. The gravity of a neutron star is extreme and is the strongest besides black holes. Light bends around a neutron star and it is an astonishing 1,000,000 degrees Celsius, just in comparison, our sun is 6,000 degrees. The inside of a neutron star is a solid crust over a liquid core. The outermost layers are made of iron left from the supernova. The deep inside of a neutron is said to be unknown for now, but some say it is quarks etc. Neutron stars can also be friends with other neutron stars. When those two neutron stars collide, it is called a kilo nova. They turn into a black hole after that. A black hole is an object which has more gravity than anything else in the universe (not put together). Its pull is so strong that even light can’t escape hence it’s not possible to escape a black hole at all. The gravity in a black hole is so strong because the matter has been squeezed into such a tiny space. Black holes vary in sizes, there are stellar mass black holes with around a few times the mass of the sun and the diameter of an asteroid. Then, there are massive black holes which are found at the center of every galaxy. The largest known black hole so far is the S5 0014+81, which 40 billion time the mass of our sun. It is 236.7 billion kilometers in diameter, for comparison, this is an astonishing 47 times the distance from the Sun to Pluto. Black holes are not immortal either, they will eventually (key word being eventually) evaporate through the process called Hawking
radiation. The black hole loses its particles and energy through this process, this process is ponderous at first but gets faster when the black hole starts shrinking. When it is at the mass of a large asteroid it’s radiating at room temperature, when about the size of a mountain it radiates at roughly the heat of our Sun and at the last second of its life it radiates with the energy of billions of nuclear bombs in a huge explosion. This process as mentioned is ponderous and the biggest black holes we know will take about 10*10. When the last black hole radiates away, no one will be able to witness it (obviously) but by then, the universe will become uninhabitable.
Phenomenon and Extra Information About Stars
There are lots of phenomenon involving stars and fascinating events. One of the phenomena is called binary stars. Binary star systems are stars which travel the universe with each other, there could be more the 2 stars in and binary star system and can even include 7 stars! Surprisingly, our Sun (not part of a binary star system) is kind of rare. About 60% of the stars are a part of a binary star system. The most bizarre binary star called 4u 1820-30 is made of a neutron star and a white dwarf. They’re orbit is so strong that they orbit each other in 11.4 minutes! Some of these stars literally get so close that they turn into a teardrop shape, that is called a contact binary. Now, a little closer to home as a phenomenon known as solar storms or solar flares. When the sun gives out immense amount of radiation and plasma, it can be a serious problem. There are 2 main types of solar storms, Coronal Mass Ejection (CMEs) and solar flares. A Solar Flare is an immediate eruption of electromagnetic radiation in the Sun. They might be accompanied by coronal mass ejections. On the other hand, coronal ejections are a large removal of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s corona. They can eject billions of tons of coronal material.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the universe is a vast place and is gigantic with unimaginable distances between things. Stars are a fascinating topic and a com plicated one. We have been able to farm lots of information since the start of time, but we still don’t know many things for example the deep core of neutron stars. Stars have been around since the beginning of time for humans, they were used for all sorts of things including traveling, they’re being also many myths and speculations about Stars when people didn’t have answers. Stars come in all different sizes and have different life spans.
