Astronomy · Unit 4: Stars · Project 4.2.3

The Project: Life of a Star

📄 In-Class Project
3 in-class days. Pick your star, then use the sample panel, checklist, day-by-day plan, and rubric below.
Back to Project 4.2.3

🎯 Deliverable — Pick a Format

Tell one star's life, birth to death. Either format covers the same checklist.

🎞️ Storyboard

8–12 panels, each with a drawing or image, a caption, and a timestamp showing how far into the star's life we are. Paper or digital.

🎬 Video

60–90 seconds with narration or captions. Animation, stop-motion, slides, or drawings on camera all work. Submit your script with it.

⭐ Choose Your Star

Every story starts with one number: the mass your star is born with. Pick one. Working out which path it takes — and how long each stage lasts — is your job.

No masses near ~8 or ~20–25 Suns on the menu — those boundaries are fuzzy, and your ending should be clear. The 0.3 M☉ challenge is a prediction: no star that small has died yet.

🖼️ Sample Panel — Panel 1: Birth

Every star starts the same way, so here's a model first panel. Your other panels need the same four parts.

Panel 1 · Birth
t = 0
[ drawing: a dark, dusty cloud with one dense clump starting to glow ]
CaptionA cold cloud of gas, only about 10–20 K, begins to collapse under its own gravity.
ScienceCollapse heats the clump into a protostar; fusion starts at ~10 million K.
H-R positionNot on the diagram yet — the protostar appears next panel

Four parts, every panel: an image, a caption in plain language, the science behind it, and a timestamp. For video, the timestamp can be on-screen text.

📋 Content Checklist

Every item below has to show up somewhere in your story — check them off as you go.

📅 Day-by-Day Plan

Day 1
Research & Outline
Choose your mass. Use the 4.2.1 and 4.2.2 tools to map every stage, its timescale, and your star's H-R track. Outline your panels or write your script, including the "one wrong turn" panel.
Day 2
Build
Draw your storyboard or produce your video. Keep checking the content checklist as you go — every stage needs its science, not just its picture.
Day 3
Fact-Check & Submit
Swap with a partner for a fact-check: they name your star's mass from your story alone, then flag any stage that doesn't fit that mass. Fix what they catch, then submit.

📊 Grading Rubric — 100 pts

A starting point — adjust weights to fit your class before assigning.

CategoryWeightExemplaryProficientDevelopingIncomplete
Sequence Accuracy30 ptsEvery stage is present and in the right order for the chosen mass, from cloud to remnant, with no stages from the wrong path.Correct path and ending; one stage missing or slightly out of order.Mixes the two paths (e.g. a planetary nebula for a massive star), or skips several stages.Sequence largely missing.
Mass-Dependent Details25 ptsTimescales match the chosen mass, and the remnant's size, density, and what holds it up are correct.Mostly correct; one timescale or remnant detail off.Timescales generic or wrong for the mass (e.g. a 30-Sun star living billions of years).No mass-specific details.
H-R Track15 ptsShows the star's position on the H-R diagram at three or more stages, moving in the right directions.Shows the track, but one move is in the wrong direction.H-R diagram shown but the star doesn't move, or positions are mostly wrong.No H-R track.
The "One Wrong Turn" Panel15 ptsClearly explains how the ending would change if the star had been born on the other side of a mass boundary, and why.Correct alternate ending, but the explanation is thin.Alternate ending wrong, or the reason isn't tied to mass.No what-if panel.
Storytelling & Production15 ptsClear, engaging, and easy to follow; visuals and narration (or captions) support the science.Clear overall with minor rough spots.Hard to follow, or visuals don't match the narration.Not submitted.
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🔭 Project 4.2.3 · Unit 4 of 6 · Single Semester