Interview with a star

Interviewer: Hello Guys, Gals, Nonbinary pals, and all you lovely celestial objects. I’m Gary and today we’re here with Astro, the famous star who changed the universe. Astro, tell us a little bit about yourself!

Astro: Hey guys! I’m Astro! How are you all doing?

*cheering and applause*

Astro: I’m about 30 solar masses. That’s about 30 times the mass of your earth’s sun! Cause of that, when I died I became a black hole, pretty epic huh?

Interviewer: And that’s why this is a virtual interview! We don’t want you killing any of us and we’re pretty sure you don’t want to either! Now, let’s learn the story of your life! 

Astro: Oooh are we talking baby pictures cause I was a CUTE baby! Here’s a picture of me when I was still in a stellar nebula!

*animated stellar nebula picture*

Audience: awwwwwww

Astro: yeah I was pretty adorable. THOUSANDS of my siblings were also made in this nebula which is really normal. In here, gravity pulls all the gases and stuff together and forms a protostar. When I’m like this I’m not really hot enough to be a real star yet cause I’m not fusing Hydrogen and turning it into Helium. These stellar nebula that we stars are born in are HUGE cause there are so many of us stars in them. 

Interviewer: You were a cute baby if you don’t mind me saying. Now we heard rumors that your life got a bit… hotter in your adult years. Care to tell us about that?

Astro: *clears throat* well uh, you might be getting some things confused. Yeah, my life got hotter but only cause I was fusing Hydrogen and turning it into Helium! That takes a lotta heat and energy! I was almost BLUE in the face!

*laughter*

Astro: Yup, I was so hot that my light was blue! I was MASSIVE in my main sequence. I gave off a LOT of energy. In fact, here’s a picture of me when I was in my main sequence. I was a pretty hot star. 

*animated picture of blue main-sequence star*

Audience: *wolf whistles and cheers*

Astro: Hah yeah, I kinda looked good back then. The good old days. My planets were so much fun! One had some life that was messing up so much they managed to wipe out their race. It was kinda adorable. Poor tiny life. Hopefully, you guys don’t do that on earth!

*pictures of COVID articles and climate change articles pop up* 

Interviewer: *nervous laugh* haha, um let’s move to our next question, how did you age? Do you think it was normal for a star like you? 

*picture of red supergiant* 

Astro: Yeah, most stars my size do what I did. First, I turned into a Red Supergiant. All my hydrogen got used up so I couldn’t keep fusing it! My core got a lot hotter and I started having to fuse larger elements, like Carbon. My edges expanded and I got way bigger. In fact, stars like me can get up to 400X their original size in this phase!

Interviewer: I love your confidence, most stars we talk to are really ashamed of this phase. They all like to brag about their Supernovas though! Let’s talk about yours
. 
Astro: I loved mine, it was gorgeous! I kept fusing elements until I got to Iron and then I ran out of energy! I couldn’t fuse any more elements without wasting energy! When I reached Iron, I exploded! It was weird, the gravity was pushing in on me and my core collapsed. It was super beautiful though. 

*picture of a supernova* 

Astro: yeah, then I died. It was super extra. I turned into a black hole. After my supernova, all my materials got forced together. Now, I have so much gravity that not even light can escape me. I’m one of the biggest single objects in the universe! I’m at the center of a galaxy like most black holes, isn’t that epic!

Interviewer: Wow that’s so cool! I think we might be out of time for today! Astro, I’m super glad we got a chance to talk to you! We’ll be back in a couple of minutes with an interview with a surprise celestial object. Thanks, Astro!

*loud applause and cheering as the screen fades black*