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White dwarfs and neutron stars
Stars live their lives for millions or billions of years but will eventually die. Low mass stars (like the Sun) will end their lives producing so-called planetary nebulae, and leave behind a collapsed core known as a white dwarf. More massive stars will end their lives by exploding and producing a so-called supernova remnant, and leave a neutron star (or possibly a black hole) behind. In this free course, White dwarfs and neutron stars, you will learn about how stars die, and about the structure and composition of white dwarfs and neutron stars. Throughout, you will use mathematics to calculate their properties and behaviour.
This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course S384 Astrophysics of stars and exoplanets.
Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
- appreciate how stars end their lives
- understand how planetary nebulae and supernova remnants form
- calculate the physical properties of white dwarfs and neutron stars
- understand the properties of electron-degenerate and neutron-degenerate matter
- calculate the energetics of supernovae explosions.
First Published: 07/01/2025
Updated: 07/01/2025
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