The Life Cycle of a Star

An animated short documentary about the birth and death of a star

What’s the Life Cycle of a Star?

This animation is a short documentary that accompanies the life of a star from birth to death. We were so fascinated by the beauty of the cycle that we couldn’t help but visualize it in a narrative format. Our process consisted of research, scripting, animation, voiceover direction, sound design and post-production. We hope that one day we will find the time again to repeat this educational film, possibly based on further scientific knowledge – in 3D or perhaps even for virtual reality.

Birth of a Star

The life of a star begins in an interstellar nebula, a cloud-like structure consisting of many gases such as hydrogen and helium, but also dust particles. Over time, gravity slowly compresses the scattered matter, causing heat and density to rise to numbers beyond any imagination. This process results in the stage at which the life cycle of a star begins: a protostar is formed. Over time, again by the action of gravity, it further condenses into a main sequence star, the central portion of a star’s life. In our documentation, the star is classified as supermassive because its mass is about twenty times that of our domestic sun.

Life cycle of a star documentary animation showing the opening titles

In the picture we see the stable state in the life cycle of a star. The star can be seen in the center of the picture as a blue-white ball of energy.

Life of a Star

The star is now driven by the fusion of hydrogen to helium in its core. The forces of this process are directed outwards, but the counteracting gravity compensates for them. This state is called hydrostatic equilibrium. As our companion ages and slowly runs out of hydrogen, heavier elements gradually become involved in nuclear fusion. As we approach the end of a star’s life, the star grows and cools slowly until it becomes a red supergiant.

Death of a Star

In the life cycle of a star, the end depends strongly on its mass. Since our educational film shows a representative who is supermassive, the finale of the fusion results in the nucleus collapsing and exploding in a Type II supernova. What remains in the case of our star in the documentary is a stellar black hole. An object of enormous density that surrounds a gravitational field that not even photons can escape if they come too close.