Astronomy Essay

Stars are luminous spheres that have been around longer than humans. In fact, it has been said that, “We are a way for the universe to know itself. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff.” [1] Just like any other animate object, stars also go through a life cycle. They grow up, live their life, and slowly but surely die out. Stars can live for billions and even trillions of years. The life span of a star depends on how fast or how slow they use up and burn their nuclear fuel. The size of the star also determines the longevity.

Thousands of years ago, ancient people looked up at the night sky and spotted unfamiliar objects in the sky, known as stars. Some people saw the stars as a tool to navigate at night and to keep up with the seasons. Others were completely clueless about what the stars were and why there were up in the sky. This eventually led to curiosity and the beginning of astronomy. The very first astronomers grouped stars into constellations, which basically is connecting the stars to make an imaginary outline of people, object, or animals. This allowed the astronomers to keep track of the movement of the planets and the sun, which allowed them to create the very first accurate calendar to know when it was the right time to harvest and plant.

Stars are born within galaxies and are formed by gas and the collapse of dust clouds, called a nebula. The star’s main goal in life is to reach equilibrium which means that there is not a net overall change in the star. In a stable star, the gas pressure pushing out from the center is equal with the gravity pulling atoms inward to the center – when these...

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...ectron-proton pair into a neutron. The neutrons, however, can often stop the collapse and remain as a neutron star. Neutron stars are fascinating objects because they are the densest objects known. They are only about 10 miles in diameter, yet they are more massive than the Sun. One sugar cube of neutron star material weighs about 100 million tons, which is about as much as a mountain.

The life cycle of a star is lengthy and it’s an endless cycle. Once a star dies, a dozen more are born. Stars may seem unimportant and useless, but if it weren’t for stars, there would be no Sun. No sun means that there would be no source of light, which means plants wouldn’t be able to be grown and that would mean that animals who eat grass or any other kind of plant wouldn’t be able to eat and that would mess up the food chain for every living thing, including humans.