How do you find the lifespan of a star?

The overall lifespan of a star is determined by its mass. Since stars spend roughly 90% of their lives burning hydrogen into helium on the main sequence (MS), their ‘main sequence lifetime’ is also determined by their mass.

What is the lifespan of a star?

They are, on average, a few hundred million years old and slowly coming to the end of their lives. A massive star such as the red Betelgeuse in Orion, in contrast, approaches its demise much more quickly. It has been spending its fuel so extravagantly that it cannot be older than about 10 million years.

What is the lifetime of a star 20 times the mass of the Sun?

10 million years
Stars live different lengths of time, depending on how big they are. A star like our sun lives for about 10 billion years, while a star which weighs 20 times as much lives only 10 million years, about a thousandth as long.

What is the main sequence lifetime of a 3.5 solar mass star?

1010 years M-2.5
Using the mass-luminosity relationship, L(M) = M3.5 (see Lesson 4), it’s easy to generalize this argument into an equation that gives the main-sequence lifetime, tMS, of any star in terms of its mass: tMS = tSun M/L(M) = 1010 years M/M3.5 = 1010 years M-2.5 , where masses and luminosities are measured in Solar units.

How is the total lifespan of a star related to its initial mass?

A star’s life expectancy depends on its mass. Generally, the more massive the star, the faster it burns up its fuel supply, and the shorter its life. The most massive stars can burn out and explode in a supernova after only a few million years of fusion.

What is the lifetime of a 10 solar mass star on the main sequence?

20 million years
Lifespans for main sequence stars have a vast range. Whilst our Sun will spend 10 billion years on the main sequence, a high-mass, ten solar-mass (10MSun) star will only last 20 million years (2.0× 107 years) on the main sequence. A star with a only half the mass of Sun can spend 80 billion years on the main sequence.

What is the shortest lifespan of a star?

When a star is more than ten times as massive as the sun, it becomes a Supergiant star. Supergiants have the shortest lifespans of any star, as the temperatures in a supergiant’s core get so high that it is able to fuse the helium that is left over after hydrogen burning has stopped.

What is the oldest star called?

the Methuselah star
There is no question that the Methuselah star is old – indeed it is the oldest star in the universe for which there is a fairly precise estimate of its age.

How long is the shortest lifespan of a star?

Life span: The most massive stars have the shortest lives. Stars that are 25 to 50 times that of the Sun live for only a few million years. They die so quickly because they burn massive amounts of nuclear fuel.

How long does a star 25 times the mass of the Sun live if its luminosity is 80000 times more than the Sun’s?

about 2.5 million years
A star with a mass 25 times that of the Sun will live for about 2.5 million years.

Why does a star’s life expectancy depend on mass?

Why does a star’s life expectancy depend on mass? More massive stars have shorter lifetimes because their larger masses cause them to consume their fuel faster.

What is the final fate of a 25 solar mass star?

After evolving to white dwarfs, stars with original masses less than 25 solar masses slowly cool to become black dwarfs and suffer heat death. Stars greater than 25 solar masses undergo a more violent end to their lives. Carbon core burning lasts for 600 years for a star of this size.