Download Part 1—Stages of Human Life

Life Cycle of Stars Introduction
Part 1—Stages of Human Life
Directions:
1. Place the pictures in order from youngest to oldest.
2. Glue or tape the images to the paper. Draw in arrows
showing the sequence.
3. Estimate the age of the person in the picture.
4. List some evidence of the person’s age. Be specific.
5. Do you have to see the entire life cycle of one person to
know the general human life cycle? Explain.
6. Where are some places where you could study just one
specific stage of the life cycle? Explain.
Part 2—Guessing the stages of a star’s life
Directions
1. Make an educated guess of the life cycle of the images of the stars. Guess the stages of
life for this high mass star.
2. Shuffle the images and place them in order from youngest to oldest, but do NOT glue
them down yet.
3. List the logic and the reasons for why you placed the images in the order you did.
(“Because it was a guess” is not an acceptable reason.)
A _______(info)
B________(info)
C________(info)
F________
D________(info)
E________(info)
G________(info)
H________(info)
(info)
Part 3—Correct order of the life cycle stages of a star
Here is the correct order for the stages of life for this high mass star is as follows...
Glue these down and describe what’s going on in each stage.
1. C—Nebula (this is the Orion nebula) (gravity pulling gases together)
2. H—Embryonic Star (Protostar) formation (gases pulling together into
young stars)
3. A—A Main sequence (high mass star) (a young blue giant fusing
Hydrogen into Helium)
4. D—Red Giant (this is an image of Betelgeuse)
(a red giant star fusing helium in its core after
swelling up)
5. F—Nova (a brightening of a star)
6. E—Supernova Blast (star blows up from inside out)
7. B—Nebula (and pulsar) (expanding exploded gases)
8. G—Oxygen-Rich Supernova remnant
Life cycle for a high mass star:
C (nebula), H (protostar), A (main sequence--blue giant), D (red supergiant), F (nova),
E (supernova), B(Nebula and pulsar), G (oxygen rich supernova remnant)
(IMPORTANT NOTE: LOW MASS STARS LIKE OUR SUN WILL EVOLVE
DIFFERENTLY. SORRY, OUR SUN WILL NOT GO SUPERNOVA.  )
Part 4—Life cycle of our sun
Arrange these images to match up with those for the life cycle of a human. Describe each stage
of the star’s life cycle.
cloud of gas and dust
the sun
protostars and accretion discs
planetary nebula
red giant