⭐ Life of a star

A star begins inside a giant cloud of gas and dust floating in space. Gravity slowly pulls the cloud together into a tighter and tighter ball, and as it squeezes, the centre grows incredibly hot. When it gets hot enough, the core lights up and a brand new star begins to shine.

Deep in a star's core, the pressure and heat are so extreme that tiny pieces of gas are squeezed together and joined into new ones. This joining, called fusion, releases a huge burst of energy, and that energy streams out as the light and warmth we see. Our Sun does this every single second.

A star shines for billions of years, but one day it runs out of the gas it burns. Smaller stars slowly puff up, cool down and fade away. The biggest stars end with a giant explosion called a supernova, scattering their material into space where it can help form new stars and planets.

A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so incredibly hard that nothing can escape, not even light. Most form when a giant star collapses at the end of its life, squeezing a huge amount of material into a tiny space. Because no light comes out, a black hole looks completely dark.