Stellar Evolution Scavenger Hunt

This activity introduces participants to the stages in the life cycles of massive and low-to-intermediate-mass stars. They will learn how a star’s life cycle depends on its mass by participating in a scavenger hunt that uses astronomical images—taken by the most powerful space- and ground-based telescopes—and scientific illustrations from the Astropix.org archive. Participants will identify and order images representing various stages of a star’s life (e.g., star-forming nebula, main sequence star, red giant star, supernova) to determine the type of star each image sequence represents.

Participants will learn:

• Stars form in clouds of gas and dust
• Stars have a life cycle
• The stars’ life cycle depends on their mass