Summary

During the course of their evolution, stars shed their outer layers and lose a significant fraction of their initial mass. Stars with masses of 8 M_Sun or less can lose enough mass to become white dwarfs, which have masses less than the Chandrasekhar limit (about 1.4 M_Sun). The pressure exerted by degenerate electrons keeps white dwarfs from contracting to still-smaller diameters. Eventually, white dwarfs cool off to become black dwarfs, stellar remnants made mainly of carbon, oxygen, and neon.

In a massive star, hydrogen fusion in the core is followed by several other fusion reactions involving heavier elements. Just before it exhausts all sources of energy, a massive star has an iron core surrounded by shells of silicon, sulfur, oxygen, neon, carbon, helium, and hydrogen. The fusion of iron requires energy (rather than releasing it). If the mass of a star’s iron core exceeds the Chandrasekhar limit (but is less than 3 M_Sun), the core collapses until its density exceeds that of an atomic nucleus, forming a neutron star with a typical diameter of 20 kilometers. The core rebounds and transfers energy outward, blowing off the outer layers of the star in a type II supernova explosion.

A supernova occurs on average once every 25 to 100 years in the Milky Way Galaxy. Despite the odds, no supernova in our Galaxy has been observed from Earth since the invention of the telescope. However, one nearby supernova (SN 1987A) has been observed in a neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. The star that evolved to become SN 1987A began its life as a blue supergiant, evolved to become a red supergiant, and returned to being a blue supergiant at the time it exploded. Studies of SN 1987A have detected neutrinos from the core collapse and confirmed theoretical calculations of what happens during such explosions, including the formation of elements beyond iron. Supernovae are a main source of high-energy cosmic rays and can be dangerous for any living organisms in nearby star systems.

At least some supernovae leave behind a highly magnetic, rapidly rotating neutron star, which can be observed as a pulsar if its beam of escaping particles and focused radiation is pointing toward us. Pulsars emit rapid pulses of radiation at regular intervals; their periods are in the range of 0.001 to 10 seconds. The rotating neutron star acts like a lighthouse, sweeping its beam in a circle and giving us a pulse of radiation when the beam sweeps over Earth. As pulsars age, they lose energy, their rotations slow, and their periods increase.

When a white dwarf or neutron star is a member of a close binary star system, its companion star can transfer mass to it. Material falling gradually onto a white dwarf can explode in a sudden burst of fusion and make a nova. If material falls rapidly onto a white dwarf, it can push it over the Chandrasekhar limit and cause it to explode completely as a type Ia supernova. Another possible mechanism for a type Ia supernova is the merger of two white dwarfs. Material falling onto a neutron star can cause powerful bursts of X-ray radiation. Transfer of material and angular momentum can speed up the rotation of pulsars until their periods are just a few thousandths of a second.

Gamma-ray bursts last from a fraction of a second to a few minutes. They come from all directions and are now known to be associated with very distant objects. The energy is most likely beamed, and, for the ones we can detect, Earth lies in the direction of the beam. Long-duration bursts (lasting more than a few seconds) come from massive stars with their outer hydrogen layers missing that explode as supernovae. Short-duration bursts are believed to be mergers of stellar corpses (neutron stars or black holes).