The answer (dated 2000 or so) about how we determine distances between us and other objects in space was informative. It mentioned that supernovas provide some information in this regard. For whatever reason, this brought up another question in my mind (not that we’d ever have to deal with it in our lifetimes).
Are supernovas (or other star destructions (burn-outs, etc)) accelerated the closer a star is to the center of the galaxy, or furthest away?? Is our sun more or less likely to go ballistic because it has to catch up to stay in its arm of the galaxy? Or is it completely independent of that and just based on the the category the star falls into (giant, dwarf, etc.)?
Once again, I won’t be there to see it. But just curious.
I’m merely a high school physics teacher, and have little formal education in astrophysics, but I believe location in the galaxy only affects the chance of a particular type of star forming. Once you’ve got a star, or pair of stars, or trio, the life of the star is pretty much predetermined, baring an incredibly rare stellar collision.
A star’s lifespan, and the manner of its eventual death (whether that be supernova, red-giant, etc.), are mainly a function of its initial mass. The star’s death is not related to where it is in the galaxy or its velocity with respect to the galaxy — except as naita says, the location can influence what sorts of stars are likely to form there in the first place.
Our sun, in any case, has an expected lifespan comparable to any other class-G stars, wherever they may be. The sun is expected to go red-giant, then become a white dwarf, in about 5 billion years.
Amateur astronomer here, but no expert on this topic. Still, I agree with Bytegeist that how a star ages is related to its initial mass. Hence, the main sequence chart. Per the OP’s words, I’ve never heard of the kind of life a star lives (so to speak) determining its lifespan and/or how its life will end. (In other words, I don’t think stars experience stress!)
Apart from an actual collision, the other exception not mentioned yet is the case of a binary pair so close together that one star is sucking the atmosphere off of the other one.