Compact Stars As The Endpoint of Stellar Evolution
Compact stars form the endpoint of stellar evolution. A star shines and thus loses energy. The loss from the radiating surface is compensated by the production of energy from nuclear fusion in the interior of the star. When a star has exhausted all its energy and undergoes stellar death, the gas pressure of the hot interior can no longer support the weight of the star and the star collapses to a denser state: a compact star.
Read more about this topic: Degenerate Stars
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“The more specific idea of evolution now reached is—a change from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity, accompanying the dissipation of motion and integration of matter.”
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)