From the December 2014 issue

Web Extra: What makes stars tick?

Inside most stars is a chaotic and high-energy environment. How do changes inside stars coincide with what we see?
By | Published: December 29, 2014 | Last updated on May 18, 2023
H-R Diagram
Research has shown that a star’s mass dictates almost everything about the object, from the core temperature to how long the star lives and how it dies.
Astronomy: Roen Kelly
Today, data from state-of-the-art missions like the Kepler space telescope, the Convection, Rotation and Planetary Transits satellite, and the Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars project are providing scientists with unprecedented information about stellar interiors. But astronomers have been using other methods to better understand the stars in our sky for decades, and they’ve learned a lot about the life cycles of various types of stars and what makes them shine. Check out the article below, “What makes stars tick?” to see a graphic explanation of the latest in stellar research.
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