The Sun's life from start to finish

Grade 9 Science Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. 1.

   Low mass and high mass. A star has the same mass as the Sun. Which ending fits it, by Esme's reading?

   • Supernova, then a neutron star
   • Red giant, planetary nebula, then white dwarf
   • Straight to a white dwarf with no giant stage
   • It goes dark once its core hydrogen is used up
2. 2.

   NASA says some massive stars live only a few million years, while the Sun gets about 10 billion. Why, by Jun's reading?

   • Massive stars use their fuel much faster
   • Massive stars burn with more oxygen
   • Small stars use fuel faster than big ones
   • Massive stars use fuel more slowly but have less
3. 3.

   Luz's friend says the Sun will burn out soon, maybe within our lifetimes. Which response is best (NASA)?

   • Agree: it is near the end of its fuel
   • Agree: once its fuel dips, it will go dark at once
   • Disagree: the Sun will shine with no end
   • Disagree: it has about 5 billion years of main-sequence life left
4. 4.

   Low mass to white dwarf, high mass to supernova. Milo's cousin says the Sun will end in a supernova. Which response is best?

   • Disagree: it will become a black hole
   • Disagree: it lacks the mass; it will end as a white dwarf
   • Agree: stars like the Sun end that way, after the red giant stage
   • Agree: red giants explode
5. 5.

   If the Sun's 10-billion-year main sequence were a 100-year life, about how old would the Sun be now, by Pia's math?

   • About 96 years, nearly done
   • About 10 years
   • About 46 years old
   • About 4.6 years
6. 6.

   Compare the Sun's main-sequence time already passed (4.6 billion years) with the time left (about 5.4 billion). Which is true, by Ren's math?

   • Almost nothing of it is left
   • Exactly half is left, to the year
   • Most of it has already passed
   • A little more time is ahead than has passed
7. 7.

   Earth is about 4.5 billion years old (USGS), and the Sun about 4.6 billion (NASA). What does this suggest, by Tala's reading?

   • Earth formed long after the Sun's life ended
   • The Sun formed in the last few thousand years
   • Earth formed billions of years before the Sun did, in another cloud
   • They formed at about the same time from the same cloud
8. 8.

   No one can watch a star for 10 billion years. How do astronomers know what the Sun will become, by Zee's reading (NASA)?

   • They watched an earlier sun go through its whole life and end
   • They watched one star pass through each stage
   • They guess, with no evidence
   • They observe many stars at different stages of life
9. 9.

   Drawing of a ring-shaped glowing cloud with a small hot star at its center. NASA describes the Helix Nebula, 650 light-years away, as a planetary nebula. What does it show about the Sun's future, by Ari's reading?

   • A cloud where a Sun-like star is being born
   • A picture of the Sun's own past
   • The leftovers of a supernova
   • A Sun-like star's shed layers around a white dwarf
10. 10.

    Drawing of a dark cloud of gas and dust with young stars glowing inside it. NASA says the Sun formed in a collapsing cloud of gas and dust. Which evidence fits, by Bo's reading?

    • Stars are seen forming today inside clouds of gas and dust
    • Stars form inside white dwarfs
    • Stars form just from supernova cores
    • No stars are forming anywhere now