Discussion on The Interesting Facts About Stars

Imagine looking into the sky and never seeing stars. Most people would be genuinely concerned because we are used to seeing stars nearly every night. But do you actually know things about stars or do you just like to look at them? Did you know that there is a variety of stars or that they go through a life cycle? There a lots of interesting things about stars that not everybody knows.

Interesting Facts About Stars

Have you ever looked up at night and seen a shooting star fly across the sky. I hate to break it to you but those are not really stars. They are really just meteors that are hitting Earth’s atmosphere. It moves very fast, heats up and starts glowing. Usually the meteors burn up before they hit Earth but occasionally small pieces will make it to Earth. Also there are different types of stars. They aren’t all the same. Stars go through a life cycle. They aren’t just stars their whole life. Yes they are still stars just not the same their whole life. Finally did you know that stars make pictures in the sky? They are very interesting and fun to look at.

Variety

Why do stars look different in the sky? There are many different types of starts in the galaxy. There are blue, white, yellow, orange, and red stars. The only difference is not the color though. Blue stars are the hottest stars that are usually around the blazing temperature of 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit. White stars are hotter and larger than the sun. They are usually 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Yellow stars are 9,900 degrees Fahrenheit. The sun is a yellow star but not all yellow stars are the same size as the sun because there are yellow giants which are bigger. Orange stars are around 7,200 degrees Fahrenheit and are usually smaller than the sun except orange giants that are near death.

Lastly, there are red stars that are the smallest and coldest at only 5,400 degrees Fahrenheit through red giants are very big when they are close to dying.

Constellations

Looking in the sky and seeing constellations is amazing. But do you actually know anything about them other than they are pictures in the sky made from stars? Well for one thing there are 88 constellations that we know of. 48 of those 88 are original Greek constellations. This means they are the first constellations that we know of. Constellations are old. There are constellations dating back to as early as the 15th century. There are 88 constellations now but who knows maybe we will discover new, better, and cooler ones soon.

The Life Cycle-Nebula

When a star is a ¨baby¨ or when it is being created it is called a nebula. When the nebula is smashed by gravity, it collapses and separates. When it is dense enough it will be born or ignite forming a star. So you could say that a nebula is a baby star. How cute is that nebula!

The Life Cycle- mid-life

There is two parts to a stars mid-life. There is a star cluster and the main sequence. A star cluster is earlier than the main sequence. When stars are born they are relatively close together but will spread out during their life. This is called a star cluster. After they spread out there brightness will depend on its weight and the brighter a star is the shorter it will live because it is burning brighter which takes more fuel to burn, therefore going through more fuel faster. This is the main sequence which most stars you see are in the main sequence.

The Life Cycle- Death

After a star lives for billions of years they eventually will die. What happens is they run out of gas and get bigger and brighter. They will also turn orange or red. They are an orange or red giant. This means they are close to their death. Some dying stars will turn into black holes though. If they are big enough, gravity will pull them inside out and create a black hole. So in the future I challenge you to go look at the stars. All you have to do is go outside on a night that isn’t very cloudy and look up! Stars are very interesting but not everybody knows about them so I also challenge you to teach somebody something about stars and spread the information!