10 Stellar Formation Explains how stars form from clouds of space gas and dust one thousand times the mass of our sun. Astronomers describe how the birth of stars takes place in dark interstellar clouds that are shielded from the light of other stars and from galactic cosmic rays. The final segment includes information on the T Tauri stars and their associated variable nebulae known as Herbig-Haro objects. Computer animation show how the hydrogen of a star is transformed into helium and how neutrinos stream out of the sun instantly. The program describes existing and proposed neutrino detectors and highlights the fact that fewer than expected neutrinos have been detected.
Astrophysicist explain how a star's life is a constant battle between pressure and gravity.
This segment also looks at hypothesized brown dwarfs, which never become hot enough in their cores to initiate nuclear reactions. The program also describes how a star begins to die the moment it finishes being born, how the changing chemical composition causes it to swell into a large, bright giant just before it begins to die. The Deaths of Stars Stars can shine for billions of years, changing very little, but gravity waits to crush them as soon as they consume their fuel. These chemicals, including carbon, provide the atoms that are the basis for life on Earth. The program review the characteristics and formation of neutron stars and explains the concept of the Chandrasekhar mass limit.