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Large Stars
[OAB 86] It is well-known to astronomers that larger stars have much shorter lifespans than smaller stars, in some cases less than a billion years. The claim seems to be that large stars, which are characteristically short-lived, should not exist in an old Universe. Of course, the explanation for this is simple if one recognizes the ongoing formation of new stars, and the real issue here is simply whether or not new stars are formed. Young-Earth advocates complain that star formation has not been observed, but this is not really true. Although the complete process of star formation cannot be observed on a single star because the process is so slow, the physics of star formation are well understood (in fact, they are simpler than the physics of raindrop formation), and stars are observed in every stage that is predicted by theory. In fact, in the past few years, the Hubble Space Telescope and other advanced telescopes have observed stars in stages of formation that had previously been known only as theoretical predictions. Notwithstanding complaints about the lack of certain observations which are impossible anyway, a robust and coherent theory exists for star formation, and therefore the existence of new stars should not be cited as if it were a challenge to the age of the Universe.

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