stjernedød

Stjernedød refers to the final stages of a star's life cycle. The specific process of stjernedød depends on the star's initial mass. Low-mass stars, like our Sun, eventually exhaust their hydrogen fuel and expand into red giants. Following this phase, they shed their outer layers, forming a planetary nebula, and the remaining core collapses into a dense white dwarf. This white dwarf will gradually cool over billions of years, becoming a black dwarf, though the universe is not yet old enough for any black dwarfs to have formed.

More massive stars undergo a more dramatic stjernedød. After burning through heavier elements in their core, they collapse catastrophically. This collapse triggers a supernova explosion, a tremendously powerful event that expels most of the star's material into space. The remnant left behind after a supernova can be either a neutron star, an incredibly dense object composed primarily of neutrons, or, if the original star was sufficiently massive, a black hole, a region of spacetime with gravity so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. These processes of stjernedød are crucial for the cosmic distribution of elements, as supernova explosions forge and disperse heavier elements throughout the galaxy.