Stellar mass
Okay, kiddo, let's talk about stellar mass! So, do you know what stars are? They're these giant balls of gas that shine really bright in the night sky. Well, every star has something called a "mass." It's like how you and I have a weight or a mass too – it's how much stuff we're made of.
Now, stars come in all different sizes. Some are really big, like hundreds of times bigger than our sun. Some are really small, like only a fraction of the size of our sun. And some are in between. The size of a star is related to its mass – the more stuff a star has, the bigger it is.
Scientists measure the mass of stars in terms of how many times bigger they are than our sun. So, a star that's twice as big as our sun has a mass of two solar masses. A star that's 10 times bigger than our sun has a mass of 10 solar masses.
Why does the mass of a star matter? Well, it affects a lot of things about the star. For example, how bright it shines, how hot it is, how long it will live, and even what kind of "life" it will have. Smaller stars, for example, can live for billions of years, while bigger stars might only live for a few million years. And the really big stars, well, they have some pretty big endings – they can explode as supernovae!
So, to sum it up – stellar mass is like how much stuff a star is made of, and it determines a lot about the star's life and fate. Pretty cool, huh?
Now, stars come in all different sizes. Some are really big, like hundreds of times bigger than our sun. Some are really small, like only a fraction of the size of our sun. And some are in between. The size of a star is related to its mass – the more stuff a star has, the bigger it is.
Scientists measure the mass of stars in terms of how many times bigger they are than our sun. So, a star that's twice as big as our sun has a mass of two solar masses. A star that's 10 times bigger than our sun has a mass of 10 solar masses.
Why does the mass of a star matter? Well, it affects a lot of things about the star. For example, how bright it shines, how hot it is, how long it will live, and even what kind of "life" it will have. Smaller stars, for example, can live for billions of years, while bigger stars might only live for a few million years. And the really big stars, well, they have some pretty big endings – they can explode as supernovae!
So, to sum it up – stellar mass is like how much stuff a star is made of, and it determines a lot about the star's life and fate. Pretty cool, huh?