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Stars - Life Cycle - Supernova - Neutron Star - Black Hole.
A
large star will become highly unstable at the end of its red giant phase.
It can contract very rapidly
and undergo a violent explosion called
a supernova.
During the
explosion the star can become intensely
bright
for a very short
period of time.
A single supernova can be as bright
as all the other
stars in the galaxy
added together.
The
outer part of the star,
which may contain a large number of heavy elements,
is blown into space and can form the substance of new
solar systems.
The
central core of the star is compressed
into a super-dense material and
forms a neutron star.
The core is made of neutrons squashed
together (see Atomic
Structure)
and may be one million times as
dense as a white dwarf.
This very dense material has a
very high gravity
(if you are not sure what a neutron
is,
see the GCSE
Chemistry site).
If the
core of a neutron star is
very big
then the gravity is so great that the material becomes infinitely squashed.
It is now so small that it
hardly exists at all
but the gravity is so enormous that
not even
light can
escape it.
It is called a black hole and
anything nearby
gets attracted inside and crushed out of existence.
Black holes make up part of what is
called dark
matter.
Headings The Earth
and Beyond Stars Search Questions
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Copyright © 2008 Dr. Colin France. All Rights Reserved.