Stars are born,they shine,and eventually they die. Every stage of a star's life takes many millions of years.Stars are being born at the top of this column of dust. Stars are formed in a vast, swirling cloud of gas and dust called a Nebula.You can see part of one in this picture,called the Eagle Nebula.The Eagle Nebula is so big that it will take a ray of light a whole year cross the area shown in this picture.Below you can see how a star forms in a Nebula. 1)Inside the Nebula, clouds of gas form into dense clumps. 2)These clumps collapse inward to form a core which will become a star. 3)The core grows hotter and hotter. 4)The hot gas starts to explode,and the core begins to shine. Eventually, a star's supply of gas runs out and it dies.This is what will happen to our Sun in around five billion years time. 1)Our Sun will become a Red Giant.This means it will swell up and turn red. 2)Gas on the outside will burn off into space. 3)A very heavy and much smaller ball, called a white dwarf, will be left. 4)The white dwarf will cool and fade away. When stars much bigger than our Sun reach the end of their life, they explode.These explosions are called supernovas.Only four of them have been seen from Earth in the last thousand years.This dying star is the Hourglass Nebula.(Left)Rings of gas are blowing away from it.