Stars, as physical systems, are self-gravitating, approximately hydrostatic spheres of plasma in which energy is generated predominantly by thermonuclear fusion in their cores and transported outward by radiation and/or convection. Their structure is governed by the equations of stellar structure, balancing gravity, gas and radiation pressure, and energy transport. Stellar properties such as mass, composition, and rotation determine their internal stratification, nucleosynthetic pathways, luminosity, temperature, and evolutionary tracks. Stars interact with their environments via radiation, stellar winds, and mass loss, and they serve as fundamental sites of element synthesis and key components of galactic and cosmological structure.
Understanding the origin of heavy elements on the periodic table is one of the most challenging open problems in all of physics. In the search for conditions suitable for these elements via "nucleosynthesis," a Los Alamos ...
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Apr 25, 2025
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A study led by Paolo Padoan, ICREA research professor at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB), is challenging the understanding of planetary disk formation around young stars.
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Our sun, like all stars, is made mostly of hydrogen and helium. They are by far the most abundant elements, formed in the early moments of the universe. But our star is also rich in other elements astronomers call metals: ...
Astronomy
Apr 17, 2025
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We all know that black holes can devour stars, rip them apart and consume their remnants. But that only happens if a star passes too close to a black hole. What if a star gets close enough to a star to experience strong tidal ...
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Apr 9, 2025
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The universe doesn't come with an instruction manual—but if it did, University of Missouri Assistant Professor Charles Steinhardt suspects a few pages are missing. Either the universe has been playing by different rules all ...
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Apr 9, 2025
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Black holes come in a range of sizes. Stellar mass black holes form from the collapse of massive stars, typically weighing between 5 and 100 times the mass of our sun, and are scattered throughout galaxies. At the other extreme ...
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The "music" of starquakes—enormous vibrations caused by bursting bubbles of gas that ripple throughout the bodies of many stars—can reveal far more information about the stars' histories and inner workings than scientists ...
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Apr 3, 2025
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Astronomers from the Czech Republic and Argentina have employed the Gemini South telescope to observe a yellow supergiant star designated HD 144812. The observations found that HD 144812 is a rare post-red supergiant orbited ...
A black hole is a region of space where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. There are two main types of black hole; stellar mass and supermassive black holes, and they differ in size, formation, ...
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Apr 2, 2025
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They say music is the universal language of humankind, but some stars in our galaxy exhibit their own rhythm, offering fresh clues into how they and our galaxy evolved over time.
Astronomy
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