What stellar remnant is formed after a star similar in mass to our Sun exhausts its core hydrogen fuel?
Answer
A White Dwarf
When a star comparable to the Sun (a G-type star) completes its main-sequence lifetime by exhausting the hydrogen fuel available in its core, it undergoes significant structural changes. The star first expands into a Red Giant phase. Following this, the outer layers are shed, leaving behind a dense, extremely compact stellar core known as a White Dwarf. These remnants no longer sustain nuclear fusion; their faint light is simply the leftover thermal energy radiating away over vast timescales, estimated to cool down over approximately 10 billion years. White Dwarfs are distinct from Red Dwarfs because they are the end state of more massive stars (up to about eight times the Sun's mass), not the lowest-mass stars.
Related Questions
What approximate percentage of main-sequence stars are M-type Red Dwarfs in the solar neighborhood?What internal mechanism allows Red Dwarfs to sustain core hydrogen fusion for up to 14 trillion years?What stellar remnant is formed after a star similar in mass to our Sun exhausts its core hydrogen fuel?How do K-type Orange Dwarfs offer a theoretical advantage over G-type stars regarding habitability?What percentage of local main-sequence stars are accounted for when combining M and K dwarfs?What is the mass constraint that separates the largest Brown Dwarfs from the smallest true main-sequence stars?Which spectral class primarily characterizes the K-type Orange Dwarfs in the Morgan–Keenan (MK) classification system?How does the fuel consumption rate of massive O-type stars compare to that of low-luminosity M-dwarfs?What critical orbital complication can arise for planets orbiting closely within the habitable zone of K-dwarf stars?In the MK system, what luminosity class designation is used for main-sequence stars fusing hydrogen, like the Sun (G2V)?What surface temperature range characterizes the T spectral class among Brown Dwarfs?