Final answer:
The life cycle of a high mass star starts as a contracting protostar, transitions to a stable main-sequence star, becomes a red giant, and ends with a supernova, possibly leaving behind a neutron star or black hole.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Stages of a High Mass Star's Life Cycle
The life cycle of a high mass star, much like stars of smaller mass, begins as a contracting protostar. From there, it lives out most of its years as a stable main-sequence star, where it fuses hydrogen into helium. Eventually, the star exhausts its hydrogen and moves off the main sequence to become a red giant, where it starts to fuse helium into heavier elements.
After exhausting the helium, the star's core contracts and the outer layers expand even more, possibly going through a brief period where it fuses heavier elements.
However, for high mass stars specifically, their lives culminate in a spectacular supernova explosion, after which the remnants may form a neutron star or a black hole, depending on the residual mass.
These stages can be observed on an H-R (Hertzsprung-Russell) diagram which tracks the evolution of stars.
Through stellar evolution models and observations, we can confirm that the more massive a star is, the more rapidly it progresses through its life stages.
It is important to note that these stages can vary based on the star's mass, composition, and the influence of any nearby companion stars, which can complicate the life cycle of binary systems.