Lifetime of Stars


What does all this tell us about the lifetime of stars?


How long until you run out of fuel = amount of fuel / rate of burn

miles until empty = gallons of gas / gallons per mile

lifetime of star = amount of Hydrogen / rate of burning Hydrogen

lifetime of star proportional to (mass of star) / (luminosity of star)

From measuring the masses and luminosity of nearby stars, we know that

so we find that