Life and Death of a Star

By: Tsegazeab Beteselassie



Hypernova: This is an artists representation of a hypernova.
Picture is from:scitechdaily.com 

On a clear night, if you ever had looked at the sky, you will see stars scattered through the sky. We should know about them, because their death made our sun, and eventually, us. Our sun was created from dust clouds in the night sky, which were the remains of dead stars. The clouds were, in turn, made by supernova explosions. But lets rewind to the moment a star was born.

 

    We will start with a dust cloud, floating through the sky. The molecules' gravity will attract one another. Soon, the dust clouds will compress into a dense mass of hydrogen and helium. The pressure will get the compressed mass very hot. However, if fusion never starts, it will turn into a brown dwarf, nicknamed 'false stars'. However, if fusion starts, then a star will be born. Fusion will eat up the stars mass, making hydrogen into helium by fusing them together. Fusion happens when the pressure of the star will overcome the repulsion between atoms, and smashes them together at high speed. This process will continue for millions, billions, or even trillions of years, depending on the star's mass. But, you may ask, eventually the star will run out of fuel to supply fusion. Then what happens?*

The Paradox of Infinites

By: Tsegazeab Beteselassie

  

Infinity: This is an artist's representation of infinity.
Picture is from:depositphotos.com 

  What is Infinite Life? (Don't worry, this is not off topic) By normal means, it means to be immortal, to live forever. But in my terms, it is something radically different. It means there is life everywhere. And I am serious. As in, life to the subatomic level, to the largest scales. Not a spot without life. There is an infinite amount of life. You can already see the paradox forming. How is this possible? First, let's look at the paradox's origins.

    Now for a bit of science.

    By now, most scientists believe that the multiverse is real. But on most shows, such as on Nova, Fabric of the Cosmos, it shows the multiverse as black 'bubbles', some with galaxies on them, others, colored dust clouds, in a swirling blue mist. But as far as we know, universes don't actually have a physical barrier that separates them from the multiverse. So could there actually be only one universe?

    This notion seems to contradict string theory, which says it is possible to have more than one big bang, more than one universe. So does this mean that string theory is hopeless, or wrong? As an optimist in string theory, I think that this is not so. But how, you may be asking, when it seems we

have irresistible evidence? But my answer to that question is that maybe the 'bubble universes' is a simplification. How? Because maybe the region between the universes has no space-time fabric in it. So Nova and other TV shows simplify by making the universe look like a bubble. Without this simplification, we will get the misconception that there is only one universe. But there is another problem, one that I cannot find a solution to. And this is about the infinity of the multiverse.