The Lives of Stars

The fiery birth explosive death and strange afterlife of every sun. Scientists have discovered a tremendous variety of star types each with a fascinating biography and a strange fate in store. Born in a cloud of gas and dust a new star is ignited by the explosion of a dying star nearby. A star such as our Sun has a long life. Over billions of years it burns yellow then red as it uses up its nuclear fuel. It then throws much of its material into the universe in a planetary nebulaone of the most spectacular sights in space. After the nebula disperses the hot core of the dead star remains: its called a white dwarf. A bigger star lives fast and dies young burning a blue-white and finally exploding in a supernova. What remains may be a black hole a neutron star or a pulsara neutron star emitting beams of deadly radiation. Using the most beautiful photos of space objects available Harvard-trained astronomer Ken Croswell leads a tour of the starsthe young the aging and the dead but still active.