<p>My slapdash (and perhaps messy because I rendered it in PowerPoint) attempt at addressing stellar evolution. Open the flowchart in a new tab in fullscreen to see a better rendering of it.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/hIvGF.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/hIvGF.png" alt="Stellar Evolution" /></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-04-17T07:41:35.843Z
Do you have one or two references which you have based your nice and detailed chart on?
planetmaker
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-24T18:23:01.310Z
2021-01-25T14:04:19.817Z
2021-01-25T14:04:19.817Z
WarpPrime
<p>I remember that in my nuclear astrophysics lecture a decade ago, our lecturer drew a large flow chart like diagram of stellar evolution in dependence of the mass of the star (in solar units) on the black-board. I found <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Star_Life_Cycle_Chart.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">one from Wikipedia</a> which is close to the one I remember, but less detailed than the one I remember. The content of the linked chart is summarized in my following sketch:
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/RNhi2.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/RNhi2.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>Sadly, neither me nor my former classmates recall which text book or publication the diagram came from, we suspect it was a composition of many sources. The diagram came with a brief explanation of each mass threshold, and it also outlined the governing equations in the respective stellar state. I also remember that there were rough approximates of the time scales of the respective state given.</p>
<p>Maybe somebody can help me out with alternative search terms, references, or a textual answer briefly summarizing the conditions and the state-of-the-art error bars for the mass thresholds and timescales?</p>
<h3>Related</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/1261/the-life-course-for-a-massive-star-from-birth-to-death-using-the-hr-diagram">The life course for a massive star from birth to death using the HR Diagram</a> and it comments are helpful, but only slightly related</li>
<li><a href="https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/27203/what-are-the-equations-governing-stellar-evolution-luminosity-mass-temperatur">What are the equations governing stellar evolution (Luminosity, Mass, Temperature, Radius)</a> touches one aspect of what I am after</li>
<li><a href="https://www.asc.ohio-state.edu/stephan.98/research.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">A flowchart from Stephan et al. 2019</a> outlining the outcomes of binary stellar evolution in the galactic center comes with the right amount of details, but is not for general star evolution.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Edit from 2021-01-22</h2>
<p>To make answering easier, I quickly layed out the existing diagram as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Process_Model_and_Notation" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BPMN</a> which is editable e.g. with <a href="https://camunda.com/download/modeler/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this freely available editor</a>. The source code is available via <a href="https://pastebin.com/mrafLWa0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://pastebin.com/mrafLWa0</a> - please feel free to reuse, expand and distribution my diagram, just make you comment here where and what for.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-18T14:53:18.900Z
This is not the one, I suppose?
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/big-history-project/stars-and-elements/how-were-stars-formed/a/infographic-life-cycles-of-the-stars
theWrongAlice
<star><black-hole><supernova><stellar-evolution><neutron-star>
Stellar life cycle flow chart with mass conditions and time scales
B--rian
# Stellar life cycle flow chart with mass conditions and time scales

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-01-11)

I remember that in my nuclear astrophysics lecture a decade ago, our lecturer drew a large flow chart like diagram of stellar evolution in dependence of the mass of the star (in solar units) on the black-board. I found [one from Wikipedia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Star_Life_Cycle_Chart.jpg) which is close to the one I remember, but less detailed than the one I remember. The content of the linked chart is summarized in my following sketch:
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/RNhi2.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/RNhi2.png)

Sadly, neither me nor my former classmates recall which text book or publication the diagram came from, we suspect it was a composition of many sources. The diagram came with a brief explanation of each mass threshold, and it also outlined the governing equations in the respective stellar state. I also remember that there were rough approximates of the time scales of the respective state given.

Maybe somebody can help me out with alternative search terms, references, or a textual answer briefly summarizing the conditions and the state-of-the-art error bars for the mass thresholds and timescales?

### Related

* [The life course for a massive star from birth to death using the HR Diagram](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/1261/the-life-course-for-a-massive-star-from-birth-to-death-using-the-hr-diagram) and it comments are helpful, but only slightly related
* [What are the equations governing stellar evolution (Luminosity, Mass, Temperature, Radius)](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/27203/what-are-the-equations-governing-stellar-evolution-luminosity-mass-temperatur) touches one aspect of what I am after
* [A flowchart from Stephan et al. 2019](https://www.asc.ohio-state.edu/stephan.98/research.html) outlining the outcomes of binary stellar evolution in the galactic center comes with the right amount of details, but is not for general star evolution.

## Edit from 2021-01-22

To make answering easier, I quickly layed out the existing diagram as [BPMN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Process_Model_and_Notation) which is editable e.g. with [this freely available editor](https://camunda.com/download/modeler/). The source code is available via <https://pastebin.com/mrafLWa0> - please feel free to reuse, expand and distribution my diagram, just make you comment here where and what for.

**Tags:** star, black-hole, supernova, stellar-evolution, neutron-star
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: This is not the one, I suppose? https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/big-history-project/stars-and-elements/how-were-stars-formed/a/infographic-life-cycles-of-the-stars  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-01-24. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

My slapdash (and perhaps messy because I rendered it in PowerPoint) attempt at addressing stellar evolution. Open the flowchart in a new tab in fullscreen to see a better rendering of it.

[![Stellar Evolution](https://i.sstatic.net/hIvGF.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/hIvGF.png)

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: Do you have one or two references which you have based your nice and detailed chart on?  

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