What is a star?

Space

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by Mya Kagan (whyzz writer) >> more about the author

Stars are first formed when clouds of dust and gas in outer-space start spinning around together and are pulled inward by gravity. The dust and gas start to compress (get smaller) and, as they continue to compress and become denser, the whole mixture starts to get hotter and hotter, too! Once it gets really hot (hotter than you can probably imagine!), a special reaction occurs called “nuclear fusion,” in which some of the gas particles combine into bigger particles. This process creates energy deep inside the center of the star.

It’s all of a star’s energy that we see as its light down here on Earth! The “twinkling” of a star’s light comes from the movement of air in the atmosphere – in reality, a star’s light shines out in straight rays, so it’s only interferences in the atmosphere that makes it appear to twinkle and glint. (A star seen from a space shuttle wouldn’t appear with the same twinkling affect as one we see from Earth!)

Eventually, a star can run out of gas particles to fuse. When this happens, the star no longer produces energy and it stops shining. However, before this happens, a star can shine for billions of years!

Did you know that even the sun is a type of star?! The reason it looks like a big round ball (so different than all of the other small, twinkling stars you see!) is mostly because the sun is much closer to us than those others!

Constellation Investigation!

Have you ever heard of “constellations” before? A constellation is a group of stars that can be “connected” to one another (almost like imaginary connect-the-dots) to form a picture or a figure up in the sky! People have used constellations and the special stars that make them up for thousands of years, for everything from navigation to storytelling!

Some of the most famous constellations are The Big Dipper and Orion, the great hunter.

Have a grown-up help you get some information about constellations! Learn some of the stories, and then spend an evening with your family stargazing at the cool constellations you’ve learned about!