I'm pretty sure stars don't die and then somehow get reborn, but I was wondering if there is anything in the 'life' of a star that is like some kind of cycle. Something that the star does that repeats endlessly... preferably something that has a sequence, not just a short moment in time. If they don't, then just say so.
I know this is kind of strange, but I'm creating a dance and drama piece based on stars - I'm clutching at straws here...
2012-01-04T11:55:14Z
Just to reiterate - something that a SINGLE star does and repeats. Not stars in general, ONE star that has some kind of repeating sequence. Thanks
Alan2012-01-04T12:44:14Z
Favorite Answer
Yes most stars do.
Our sun has a 22 year cycle, every 11 years it swaps magnetic poles and gets covered in sunspots.
Well, there are Cepheid Variables, stars that get brighter, then dim over a particular period. There are unstable giants, which can brighten and then dim at irregular intervals. Our sun goes through a 22-year less active/more active phase, where sunspot activity and flares decrease, then increase again - and it's thought this pattern to have been discovered in some nearby stars as well.
All stars undergo evolution, gradual change over their lifetime. Many stars are variable in brightness in a cyclical way. Usually this is caused either by their being double stars which pass in front of one another (eclipsing binaries) or stars which vary in size, colour, and brightness (pulsating variables). An example of the former is Algol (Beta Persei) and an example of the latter is Mira (Omicron Ceti).