What is the life cycle of a star?

Star formation begins when dust and gas starts to gather to form a cloud called nebula. Gravity causes the cloud to spiral and form a Protostar, where gravity accelerates the gas particles, resulting in heat. Once the temperature is high enough, hydrogen gas atoms start to combine together in a process called hydrogen fusion. Nuclear fusion gives out light and more heat, allowing hydrogen atoms to slowly fuse to form helium atoms; this stage is called the Main Sequence. This is the longest stage, in which the star remains until its hydrogen runs out. The next stage of each star depends on its mass; stars like the Sun turn into Red Giants, while larger stars turn into Red Supergiants. In these stages, nuclear fusion continues with helium atoms instead of hydrogen atoms. Once even helium is depleted, Red Giants begin to cool down and eventually turn into White Dwarfs. Red Supergiants explode into Supernovae- after this stage, the mass of the star plays a role again; lighter stars turn into neutron stars; bodies with small size but very high density. Heavier stars collapse completely and become Black Holes; objects with gravity so strong not even light particles can escape it.

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