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Home » Stars: Birth and Death

Stars: Birth and Death

By Janice VanCleave

hubble-star-craddle-to-grave1The photo shown was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronomers describe it as representing the life cycle of stars. The bright blue area on the upper left is a blue supergiant, which is a dying star. Sugergiants are very bright and have a diameter over 100 times that of the Sun.

The golden region with spots of stars is an open cluster of stars, which are young stars in a group of less than a few hundred. These stars are bound to each other by their gravity.
hubble-eagle-nebula3

These monstrous pillar-like structures are actually columns of cool hydrogen gas and dust. To some they look like giant  stalagmites on a cavern floor.

Clouds of gas and dust in space are called nebulae, which are the starting materials for new stars. These clouds are part of the Eagle Nebula 7,000 light-years from Earth.

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The spoon hanging from the string vibrates when struck and these vibrations are transmitted through the string and the sound is amplified by the plastic cups. ABOUT ME: Hi, I am Janice VanCleave, author of 50 best-selling science experiment books for children ages 4 through high school. I taught science for 27 years. MORE.....

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