What fraction of the Sun's active life ($ ext{ extasciitilde}10$ Billion Years) is accounted for by its formation period ($ ext{ extasciitilde}50$ million years)?
Answer
About 1/200th
When comparing the time spent in the fiery, stable phase of existence against the preparatory birth phase for a star like our Sun, the disparity is enormous. The formation process, spanning from the initial noticeable collapse of the cloud until the start of core hydrogen burning, takes roughly 50 million years ($5 imes 10^7$ years). The Sun's total active lifespan on the main sequence is estimated to be around 10 billion years ($10^{10}$ years). Dividing the formation time by the active lifespan ($50,000,000 / 10,000,000,000$) yields a ratio of $1/200$. This indicates that the birth process is a minuscule fraction of the star's overall luminous lifetime.
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