The life cycles of stars

Associate Professor Karen Pollard, University of Canterbury and Director of Mount John Observatory

Stars are key components of galaxies: they are hosts for families of planets; they create the chemical elements deep in their interiors; they evolve and explode, providing the physical feedback mechanism to kickstart new generations of star formation. In this talk I will take you on a journey to understand the evolution of stars in our galaxy, starting from their birth in a cluster of stars, through their life cycle to their (sometimes explosive) demise.