I was watching 'How the Universe Works' on the science channel and everything suddenly made sense.
Seems that stars are born when hydrogen gas collects in a lump. The lump has gravity that attracts more gas, generating more gravity, compressing th gas. Eventually, this progresses to the point that there is enough gravity that the gas compresses and generates heat enough to ignite. OK, that was when it became clear. Stars light off from COMPRESSION ignition. The universe is a giant diesel engine! That's why it has been able to run so long.
