Since time immemorial, humanity has been fascinated not only by those elements that surrounded it, but also by the others, the unattainable, that are observed there in the sky. We stop to discover what stars are made of .
Since scientific advances regarding the celestial bodies that surround the Earth are rather recent, and although some coincide with the appreciations of scholars from centuries ago, it is not until now that we can affirm certain theories.
Once the position of our planet within the Solar System was determined, one of the questions that it revealed to astronomers was what stars are made of, what is the composition of those space objects that we see small , but with the certainty that they are much larger. .
And the answer to that question is just under a century old, and we owe it to Cecilia Payne, who in her 1925 doctoral thesis set out to answer all the doubts raised, explaining what stars are made of, and what compounds maintain them. there, moving around its own force of gravity , and shining at night, when darkness allows us to appreciate them.
In general terms, she stated that the stars are formed mainly by hydrogen, although they also have important percentages of helium in the gaseous state , being the combination of both “ingredients” the one that results in a bright celestial body, this being its main characteristic. They are also known to possess minimal amounts of nitrogen, iron, and carbon.
The stars produce that brightness because they are constantly consuming hydrogen , which is transformed into helium by the same process, emitting that energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation that, due to the distance at which we are, is seen as light.
On the other hand, it should be clarified that stars are born and die precisely when they consume all their energy, which means that all of them go through different stages throughout a complete life cycle, although they last millions of years, and survive thousands of human generations.
Stars originate as protostars and, upon reaching maturity, become stars of a main sequence, increasing both their temperature and luminosity.
When the stars die, all their remains will be reused as space recycling , and they will collaborate in the formation of new stars or, even, in the formation of new planets.
That is why they are considered essential to understand how the Solar System works and you know what stars are made of.
