Question: Can stars be created or destroyed?

David Ho answered on 8 Nov 2018:

Absolutely — scientists don’t believe that stars have been around forever. They form when a gas cloud gets so big that it collapses in on itself and becomes very hot. The first stars were formed many billions of years ago, but some are still forming today!

When stars use up all of their fuel they “die”. What happens then depends on how big they are. Smaller stars (after a few steps, see the link below) will kind of fizzle out like a dead firework. Really big stars, however, cause a massive explosion called a supernova — and then leave behind either a neutron star or a black hole.

Lots more information in this link here: https://www.schoolsobservatory.org/learn/astro/stars/cycle