Question: How do stars die

Christina Schoettler answered on 30 Mar 2026:

It depends on how big and massive they are. Stars like our Sun will run out of fuel, swell into a Red Giant, and eventually puff off their outer layers forming a beautiful cloud called a Planetary Nebula.
The tiny, hot core left behind is called a White Dwarf. Over trillions of years, it will theoretically cool down into a cold, dark Black Dwarf, though the universe isn’t old enough for any to exist yet. Stars that are more than 8-10 times more massive than our Sun go out with a bang—a Supernova explosion so bright it can outshine an entire galaxy. If the core survives, it collapses into a Neutron Star, which is so dense that a teaspoon of its material would weigh as much as a mountain. Really, really big stars do not turn into Neutron Stars, but the core collapses so much that it forms a Black Hole instead, something without a Supernova. Their light just stops.