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 \(M_{\text{Sun}}\) 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 \(M_{\text{Sun}}\) or less can lose enough mass to become white dwarfs, which have masses less than the Chandrasekhar limit (about 1.4 \(M_{\text{Sun}}\)). The pressure exerted by degenerate electrons keeps white dwarfs from contracting to still-smaller diameters.
