ABSTRACT

Like humans, stars are born, they evolve, and eventually they die. For most stars, the stellar life cycle is dominated by quiescent phases such as the hydrogen-burning stage (e.g., our Sun today) and the eventual remnant white dwarf cooling phase. However, between these two stages, stars dramatically transform themselves by losing the bulk of their mass. The exact nature and timing of this mass loss not only sets the future evolution of all stars, but also impacts stellar surroundings such as planetary bodies. Using a novel method, we have now measured how our own Sun will end its life and what the eventual fate will be for the Earth and other Solar System planets.

About the Speaker:

As an astronomer at STScI, I study the formation and evolution of stars and galaxies in the local universe. My current research interests involve imaging and spectroscopic observations of resolved stellar populations, such as nearby star clusters and dwarf galaxies. I am also the STScI Project Scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), NASA's next flagship astrophysics mission. To read more about JWST, please visit the STScI JWST page (for astronomers) and our Webb telescope site (for the public).