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Grade 9 · Science · Earth and Space Science

9th grade The Sun's life from start to finish worksheet

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The Sun's life from start to finish

Grade 9 Science Worksheet - Challenge Me

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

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

    • Straight to a white dwarf with no giant stage
    • It goes dark once its core hydrogen is used up
    • Supernova, then a neutron star
    • Red giant, planetary nebula, then white dwarf
  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 fuel more slowly but have less
    • Massive stars use their fuel much faster
    • Massive stars burn with more oxygen
    • Small stars use fuel faster than big ones
  3. NASA says some low-mass stars will shine for trillions of years. Why, by Kira's reading?

    • They use fuel quickly but have far more
    • They are white dwarfs still fusing slowly
    • They use their fuel very slowly
    • They will explode before long
  4. Luz's friend says the Sun will burn out soon, maybe within our lifetimes. Which response is best (NASA)?

    • Disagree: it has about 5 billion years of main-sequence life left
    • 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
  5. Star card cutaway of a white dwarf with heat arrows leaving it. Noah's friend says a white dwarf is just a small star still fusing hydrogen. Which response is best?

    • Disagree: it fuses iron in its core
    • Agree: it is a protostar
    • Agree: stars keep fusing hydrogen until they slowly fade away
    • Disagree: fusion has stopped; it glows from leftover heat
  6. 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
  7. 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?

    • A little more time is ahead than has passed
    • Exactly half is left, to the year
    • Almost nothing of it is left
    • Most of it has already passed
  8. 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 billions of years before the Sun did, in another cloud
    • Earth formed long after the Sun's life ended
    • They formed at about the same time from the same cloud
    • The Sun formed in the last few thousand years
  9. 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 observe many stars at different stages of life
    • They watched one star pass through each stage
    • They watched an earlier sun go through its whole life and end
    • They guess, with no evidence
  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 form just from supernova cores
    • No stars are forming anywhere now
    • Stars form inside white dwarfs
    • Stars are seen forming today inside clouds of gas and dust
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9th grade The Sun's life from start to finish worksheet – printable
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About this worksheet

The Sun's life from start to finish. Every version has 10 questions, and the answer key prints on the second page.

What your child will learn

  • I can put the Sun's life stages in order: nebula, protostar, main sequence, red giant, planetary nebula, white dwarf.
  • I can read and scale the timeline: about 4.6 billion years old, about 10 billion years on the main sequence, about 5 billion left.
  • I can explain why each stage changes, why the Sun will not explode, and how astronomers know from other stars.

Standard: HS-ESS1-1

Words to know

main sequence: The long, steady stage when a star fuses hydrogen into helium in its core

red giant: A swollen, cooler-surfaced star whose core fuses helium into carbon

planetary nebula: The glowing shell of outer layers a red giant sheds

white dwarf: The hot, Earth-sized core left behind; it no longer fuses

deep time: Spans of millions and billions of years

Common mistakes

Your child matched the wrong life stage. The Sun goes nebula, protostar, main sequence, red giant, planetary nebula, white dwarf.

Your child expected the Sun to explode. Only stars many times the Sun's mass end as supernovas; the Sun will end as a white dwarf.

Your child shrank the Sun's time scale. The Sun formed about 4.6 billion years ago and has about 5 billion years of main-sequence life left (NASA).

Questions parents ask

What is the most common mistake with the sun's life from start to finish?

Your child matched the wrong life stage. The Sun goes nebula, protostar, main sequence, red giant, planetary nebula, white dwarf.

Are these 9th grade science worksheets free to print?

Yes. All 6 printable versions at each level are free to print, with the answer key, and no account is needed.

More earth and space science

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