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What is fused in the core of blue giant stars?
It reveals that stars spend the vast majority of their lives in a period defined as “being on the main sequence”. In this phase, stars convert hydrogen into helium in their cores through the nuclear fusion process known as the proton-proton chain.
What is a blue star made of?
Blue stars are made of the same stuff as all the other stars in the Universe; they’re about 75% hydrogen and 24% helium with trace amounts of other elements. So what makes a blue star… blue? The color of a star comes from its temperature.
What makes a star into a blue supergiant?
When the star is smaller and more compact, its luminosity is contained over a smaller surface area and so its temperature is much hotter; this is the blue supergiant phase. These stars can then puff up expanding to a much larger size, spreading their luminosity over a much larger area.
What is the difference between a red giant and a blue giant?
A blue giant is just a high mass star (10+ solar masses). When the stars core burns its hydrogen into helium both high mass and low mass stars turn into red giants. But, a high mass stars red giant phases are much larger earning them the name “supergiants.”
Do brown dwarfs have fusion?
Brown dwarfs are substellar objects that are not massive enough to sustain nuclear fusion of ordinary hydrogen (1H) into helium in their cores, unlike main sequence stars. As brown dwarfs do not undergo stable hydrogen fusion, they cool down over time, progressively passing through later spectral types as they age.
What type of star is a blue giant?
supergiant stars
Blue supergiants are supergiant stars (class I) of spectral type O. They are extremely hot and bright, with surface temperatures of between 20,000 – 50,000 degrees Celsius. The best known example is Rigel, the brightest star in the constellation of Orion.
How many blue giant stars are there?
From cool red dwarves to hot blue supergiants, there are thought to be about 250 billion stars within our galaxy alone. On any given clear night, you might be able to see about 2,000 of them. What colors can you see? Which stars stand out?
What is the luminosity of a blue giant?
At 29 times bigger than the Sun, it is not the largest star yet found, but it is the most luminous, shining at a whopping 8.7 million solar luminosities with its incredible surface temperature of about 53,000K. It also has somewhere between 265 and 315 solar-masses, making it the most massive star yet discovered.
What is the heaviest element that a blue giant will create through fusion?
Helium and carbon Helium, carbon and oxygen. The highest mass stars can make all elements up to and including iron in their cores. But iron is the heaviest element they can make. Fusion of iron does not create energy, and without an energy supply, the star will soon die.
What is the main element that stars are made of?
Stars are made of very hot gas. This gas is mostly hydrogen and helium, which are the two lightest elements. Stars shine by burning hydrogen into helium in their cores, and later in their lives create heavier elements.
What are the 7 stages of star?
Seven Main Stages of a Star
- Giant Gas Cloud. A star originates from a large cloud of gas.
- Protostar. When the gas particles in the molecular cloud run into each other, heat energy is produced.
- T-Tauri Phase.
- Main Sequence.
- Red Giant.
- The Fusion of Heavier Elements.
- Supernovae and Planetary Nebulae.
What are the properties of a blue giant star?
Properties. Blue giant is not a strictly defined term and it is applied to a wide variety of different types of stars. What they have in common is: a moderate increase in size and luminosity compared to main-sequence stars of the same mass or temperature, and are hot enough to be called blue, meaning spectral class O, B, and sometimes early A.
Where can you find a blue supergiant star?
(MV) A blue supergiant (BSG) is a hot, luminous star, often referred to as an OB supergiant. They have luminosity class I and spectral class B9 or earlier. Blue supergiants are found towards the top left of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, above and to the right of the main sequence.
What does the term blue giant mean in astronomy?
The term applies to a variety of stars in different phases of development, all evolved stars that have moved from the main sequence but have little else in common, so blue giant simply refers to stars in a particular region of the HR diagram rather than a specific type of star.
What is the surface temperature of a blue supergiant star?
As a result, the average surface temperature is only 3,500 – 4,500 Kelvin. As the star fuses heavier and heavier elements in its core, the fusion rate can vary wildly. At this point, the star can contract in on itself during periods of slow fusion, and then become a blue supergiant.