Imagine a star is like a giant balloon filled with hot gas. When it runs out of energy, it starts to collapse in on itself, kind of like when you let the air out of a balloon and it shrinks. If the star is big enough, this collapse creates an explosion so powerful that it can light up entire galaxies. But smaller stars just shrink quietly and become white dwarfs instead.
Examples
- A big star is like a giant balloon, when it runs out of fuel, the balloon pops and creates an explosion.
- A small star is more like a lamp that slowly burns down until it becomes a tiny glowing bulb.
- Imagine watching fireworks in the sky from Earth: some go off with a huge flash, others are just dim little sparks.
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See also
- How Do Stars Die in Space?
- What are white dwarfs?
- What Is a Supernova?
- What Makes a Star Shine?
- What is When a star exhausts its fuel?