Description: Simply speaking, stars are balls of gas (or better: plasma), held together by their own gravity, and kept from collapsing by their internal pressure. Models of stellar structure describe the details of how the conditions in a star's core lead to different kinds of nuclear fusion reactions, how the energy set free in those reactions is transported outward by radiation, conduction, or convection, and how the balance between gravity and pressure in the different segments of the star is maintained. In this way, stellar structure models also link the mass, luminosity, composition, and expected lifetime of a star. They also describe the role of stellar rotation, stellar evolution (how stars change over time), and the physics of stellar remnants.

Related Terms:

• Chromosphere
• Corona
• Photosphere
• Radiative Zone
• Star
• Stellar Evolution
• Stellar Remnants
• Convective Zone
• Rotation
• Stellar Core

Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher

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