In astronomy, stellar evolution is the sequence of changes that a star undergoes during its lifetime; the hundreds of thousands, millions or billions of years during which it emits light and heat. Over the course of that time, the star will change radically.
Stellar evolution is not studied by observing the life cycle of a single star—most stellar changes occur too slowly to be detected even over many centuries. Instead, astrophysicists come to understand how stars evolve by observing numerous stars, each at a different point in its life cycle, and simulating stellar structure with computer models.
Planetary Nebulae :: Interstellar Medium
Novae and Supernovae :: Stars
Astrophysics :: Physics

Astronomy HyperText Book: Stellar Evolution - From the Electronic Universe Project.
Evolution of Stars - Simple explanation of birth, life, and death of stars.
Life and Birth of Stars - The physical structure of stars, energy generation, mathematical models, main-sequence stars and the birth of stars.
Starclock: Stellar Evolution Software - Starclock is a program for DOS that animates the evolution of stars on the HR diagram.
Stars Beyond Maturity - The evolution of stars beyond the main sequence explained in detail.
Stellar Evolution - Stars and the Hertzprung-Russell diagram (where a star's absolute luminosity is plotted against its surface temperature).
Stellar Evolution (a la Chez Stella) - The Universe in the Classroom: Basic school lesson introducing stellar evolution metaphorically through a restaurant setting.
Meta Description: [ The Astronomical Society of the Pacific is an international nonprofit scientific and educational organization founded in 1889 that works to increase understanding and appreciation of astronomy. ]
Stellar Evolution and Death - The NASA Observatorium's presentation on stellar evolution and extinction of stars.
Meta Description: [ A description of how, in the course of millions to billions of years, stars evolve and eventually die. ]
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Stellar Evolution of Solar Type Stars - The complete sequence of events in detail.
Stellar Evolution Simulation - A graphical representation of the evolution of stars during their lifetime using the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram.
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The Evolution of Stars - Lectures on the main sequence, red giants, stellar clusters and variable stars. Semi-technical.
The Life and Death of Stars - A detailed look at the evolution of stars from birth to death.
Meta Description: [ This is the story of the birth and death of stars. ]
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