• Question: What is the most common element in stars, apart from Hydrogen?

    Asked by tobinn to Nick on 16 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by freyawoolley.
    • Photo: Nick Wright

      Nick Wright answered on 16 Mar 2014:

      Good question! The most common element in stars after hydrogen is helium. This is partly because stars convert hydrogen into helium in their cores by a process called ‘nuclear fusion’, but its also because helium is the second most common element (after hydrogen) in the Universe. When a star is born it is about 75% hydrogen and 24% helium (the remaining 1% are all the other elements combined – they’re very rare!), and over its life it converts a very small amount of that hydrogen into helium, so that by the end of its life it is maybe 74% hydrogen and 25% helium.

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