During the course of their evolution, stars shed their outer layers and lose a significant fraction of their initial mass. Stars with masses of 8 MSun or less can lose enough mass to become white dwar...During the course of their evolution, stars shed their outer layers and lose a significant fraction of their initial mass. Stars with masses of 8 MSun or less can lose enough mass to become white dwarfs, which have masses less than the Chandrasekhar limit (about 1.4 MSun). The pressure exerted by degenerate electrons keeps white dwarfs from contracting to still-smaller diameters. Eventually, white dwarfs cool off to become black dwarfs, stellar remnants made mainly of carbon, oxygen, and neon.
During the course of their evolution, stars shed their outer layers and lose a significant fraction of their initial mass. Stars with masses of 8 MSun or less can lose enough mass to bec...During the course of their evolution, stars shed their outer layers and lose a significant fraction of their initial mass. Stars with masses of 8 MSun or less can lose enough mass to become white dwarfs, which have masses less than the Chandrasekhar limit (about 1.4 MSun). The pressure exerted by degenerate electrons keeps white dwarfs from contracting to still-smaller diameters.
