stellar mass loss

Stellar mass loss is a phenomenon observed in some massive stars.

Stellar mass loss can also occur when a star gradually loses material to a binary companion or into interstellar space.

Alternatively, the partner star may undergo stellar mass loss by exceeding its Eddington luminosity, and some of this material may become gravitationally attracted to the neutron star.

The mass that makes up galaxies is recycled as stars are formed and destroyed, and red giants are major contributors, yet the mechanics of stellar mass loss remain a mystery.

Like most type M stars near the end of their lives, Rasalgethi is experiencing a high degree of stellar mass loss creating a sparse, gaseous envelope that extends at least 90 astronomical units.

In a 2009 paper, stellar mass loss was cited as the "key to understanding the evolution of the universe from the earliest cosmological times to the current epoch, and of planet formation and the formation of life itself.

As diverse evidence also indicates that the stars found in star-forming regions lose mass either from their surfaces or from surrounding accretion disks, a causal connection between stellar mass loss and the H-H objects has become a widespread article of faith.

This stellar mass loss was first discovered using rocket-borne telescopes in the 1960s, but the IUE allowed astronomers to observe a very large number of stars, allowing the first proper studies of how stellar mass loss is related to mass and luminosity.