The lives of stars:
How Hubble has revolutionised our understanding
of the birth and death of stars
Most of the light and radiation we can observe in the Universe originates in stars
— individual stars, clusters of stars, nebulae lit by stars and galaxies composed
of billions of stars. Like human beings stars are born, mature and eventually die.
Hubble has gone beyond what can be achieved by other observatories by linking
together studies of the births, lives and deaths of individual stars with theories of
stellar evolution.
In particular Hubble’s ability to probe stars in other galaxies enables scientists to
investigate the influence of different environments on the lives of stars. This is crucial in order to be able to complement our understanding of the Milky Way galaxy
with that of other galaxies.
Uncovering the Galaxy’s
stellar nurseries
Hubble’s work allowed it to link star formation with stellar evolution. Its infrared instruments are capable of looking through
the dust clouds surrounding newly born
stars. Some of the most surprising discoveries so far have come about by peering
through the clouds of dust surrounding
the centre of our Milky Way. Astronomers
found that this centre, which was thought
to be a calm and almost dead region, is
in fact populated with massive infant stars