Question: Is it true that stars die?

Iain Bethune answered on 23 Jun 2015:

Yes, eventually stars will die when they use up all the ‘nuclear fuel’ – hydrogen, helium, carbon etc. – that they burn to release energy as heat and light. This energy pushes the star outwards (pressure), and balances out the gravitational pull of the star’s mass which tries to compress the star. Once the fuel runs out, depending on the mass of the star it will either collapse to form a cool, dense ‘White Dwarf’ or if it is very big, a super-dense object called a Neutron Star, or even a black hole!