Re: Stars are mostly big burny things right?
Don't all burny things get a bit dimmer as they run out of fuel? Not things like gas cookers of course I'm thinking more of your old log fire / bbq type burny thing.
Stars tend to follow a more complicated route. While they're on the "main sequence" - the longest part of their life when they fuse hydrogen into helium in their core - they gradually get a bit brighter. This is because the core builds up helium, and helium is denser than hydrogen, so the core can be more compact, denser, and hotter, which are conditions to fuse hydrogen faster. It's like a bonfire getting hotter because more of its fuel is burning at once as the fire proceeds.
At the end of the main sequence, a star runs out of hydrogen fuel in the core. Without new heat to keep the giant gas ball inflated, it begins to collapse. The pressure in the core reaches the point where helium can fuse, and helium fuses more energetically. The star will puff up into a red giant, which is a tumultuous time (millions of years long) but eventually it starts shining in a stable fashion as a red giant - much bigger and brighter than the old main sequence form, though ironically cooler and less massive. The transition to red giant can involve dimming, but it takes a long time to happen.
This star appears to be in the main sequence, a bright yellow-white F3V star. A sudden change like this is not going to be due to a fuel shortage.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
