What are stars made up of?
Within the Astronomy and Space Physics community, the stuff that stars are made from is generally known as “star stuff”. A star is initially a huge ball of Hydrogen gas. When this ball gets big enough and dense enough, the pressure in the center becomes so immensse that it is strong enough to force to Hydrogen atoms together to form Helium – this process is Nuclear Fusion. Once the star gets to a point where there is not enough left in the centre of the star for fusion to occur, the pressure has generally become great enough to force the Helium atoms together in nuclear fusion reactions, which forms heavier elements. This process continues, with heavier and heavier elements being formed within the star (nitrogen, carbon, etc.). Most (if not all) of the matter we see around us would have originally been created through nuclear fusion processes in the centre of a star. As the new stages of fusion start, a massive explosion occurs deep within the star which throws off the outer layers of
