Module 2: Stars & Stellar Evolution
Weeks 7–13 | How stars work and how they die
Why this module matters
Stars are not static points of light — they are dynamic nuclear furnaces held in delicate balance by gravity and pressure. This module takes you inside stars to understand how they generate energy, how we measure their properties, and how they evolve over billions of years.
Learning objectives
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Explain how the Sun generates energy through nuclear fusion
- Calculate stellar distances using parallax and the H-R diagram
- Describe how binary stars reveal stellar masses
- Trace stellar evolution from birth to death for different mass stars
Lectures
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Lecture Readings
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Optional Reference (OpenStax Astronomy 2e)
Lecture readings are provided on this website. For additional depth, see the free OpenStax Astronomy 2e:
- Chapter 15: The Sun
- Chapters 17–18: Analyzing Starlight; The Stars
- Chapters 20–23: Star Formation through Black Holes
- What triggers core-collapse supernovae? We know massive stars explode, but the exact mechanism is still debated.
- What is the maximum neutron star mass? Above ~2-3 M☉ they collapse to black holes, but the exact limit depends on unknown nuclear physics.
- Why do some massive stars collapse directly to black holes? The “island of explodability” is not fully understood.