Jakarta –
Bintang formed in the middle of the cloud. Approximately how old is the star in the sky? The answer depends on the size of the star.
Stars spend most of their life in a state of balance called hydrostatic equilibrium. Hydrostatic equilibrium is where gravity pulls on the star which is offset by an outward push and creates a nuclear reaction in the star’s core.
The strong outward thrust occurs when a star fuses with its hydrogen nuclei to form a helium nucleus, which produces a burst of energy to maintain the star’s shape and brightness.
After all the hydrogen that the star has run out, the star will burn helium for a while, and the stars will continue to burn the chemical elements up to iron. Stars themselves range in size from 7 percent of the sun’s mass to 250 percent of the sun’s mass.
“Bintang larger ones burn more energy. But the star became stronger and brighter,” said star researcher from University College London, UK Ryan French, quoted from the Live Science page.
Their large size means that the star carries more gravity, crushing matter into a stronger core than a smaller star. This causes the nuclear reactions of the larger stars to take place at high speeds.
“Bigger stars actually spend more fuel on them than smaller stars,” French said.
Massive stars live for hundreds of millions of cosmic years. They live fast and can die quickly too.
The smallest stars that make up less than about 10% of the sun’s mass have much less fuel. However, they can find fuel and live for hundreds of billions of years.
“One of the oldest stars ever discovered is the Methuselah Star,” French said. The star is 190 light years from Earth.
The star’s name is taken from a biblical character who is thought to have lived for nearly a millennium.
“The current estimated age of this star is 13.7 billion years,” French said.
This indicates that the star formed shortly after the Big Bang.
French explains how a researcher knows the age of a star is not easy.
“Astronomers use a combination of mass measurements bintangbrightness and speed in space to compare with other stars, and computer simulations to estimate their age,” explains French.
Watch Videos “Astronomers Find Farthest Star, Formed Nearly 13 Billion Years“
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(atj/erd)
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