Why do massive stars burn out so much faster than smaller stars?
Quick Answer
Massive stars have much stronger gravity, so their cores get hotter and fuse fuel far more rapidly. As a result, a star with 20 times the Sun’s mass may live only a few million years.
The Full Story
A star’s life is a balance between gravity pulling inward and pressure from nuclear fusion pushing outward. In a massive star, the core is compressed much more strongly, so fusion runs at a much higher rate and the star spends fuel quickly. That means bright, massive stars can be thousands or even millions of times more luminous than the Sun, but they pay for it with very short lives. By contrast, small red dwarfs fuse fuel slowly and can last for tens to hundreds of billions of years, far longer than the current age of the universe.
Key Facts
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