Last gasps of dying Sun-like star captured by Hubble

"One of the most important lessons we learn from studying the Universe is that none of the sources of light that we see - none of the stars, galaxies, stellar remnants, quasars, or heated matter - will continue to shine forever. After a finite amount of time, anything powered by nuclear fusion or infalling matter will run out of fuel. Anything that emits light because it's hot will cool, and once it's cooled enough, it won't emit detectable light signatures any longer: not only ultraviolet and visible light, but infrared, microwave, and even radio emissions will eventually cease."

"For stars, there are three main fates that a star can have, all of which are heavily dependent on their mass at birth. The most massive stars will burn through their fuel and undergo collapse: either direct collapse to a black hole or core-collapse, leading to a supernova. These stars can leave black holes, neutron stars, or nothing at all behind when they die. The least massive stars take an enormous amount of time to burn through their fuel, living as red dwarfs and dying as white dwarfs, before fading away to black after roughly a quadrillion years pass."

"But the intermediate mass stars, including stars like our Sun, most commonly die by becoming red giants, then entering the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase, eventually transforming into planetary nebulae alongside a white dwarf, where the planetary nebula fades away after a few ten-thousand years. However, for intermediate mass stars, there's an in-between stage: after the AGB phase but before the planetary nebula phase. Known as a pre-planetary nebula, we've got a spectacular example nearby: the Egg Nebula. Using Hubble, we've just imaged it as never before, revealing details not only about this one system, but about all dying Sun-like stars, giving us a novel glimpse of our own future."

All astronomical sources of light will eventually stop emitting detectable radiation across ultraviolet, visible, infrared, microwave, and radio wavelengths as their energy sources exhaust or they cool. Stellar evolutionary outcomes depend primarily on initial mass. The most massive stars explode or collapse, producing supernovae, neutron stars, black holes, or no remnant. The least massive stars become long-lived red dwarfs that end as white dwarfs and fade over roughly a quadrillion years. Intermediate-mass stars like the Sun expand into red giants, enter the asymptotic giant branch, pass through a pre-planetary nebula stage such as the Egg Nebula, and form a planetary nebula that fades after tens of thousands of years, leaving a white dwarf.

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