Imagine lying on a grassy hill as a kid, gazing up at the night sky, counting stars until your eyes blurred. I did that a lot growing up in a small town with little light pollution, feeling like those twinkling lights were eternal companions. But years later, diving into astronomy books and chatting with stargazing buddies, I started wondering: could the universe actually run out of stars? It’s a mind-bending question that blends cosmic history with our own fleeting existence, and science has some fascinating—and a bit somber—answers. The Cosmic Story of Stars: A Brief Overview Stars aren’t just pretty…