Stars
Stars are celestial bodies made up of hot gases. Stars radiate energy that comes form thermonuclear reactions. In this section you will learn all about stars and their importance in the universe.
What Are the 'Dog Days of Summer'?
How to Find Orion's Belt in the Night Sky
Astronomers Tell You How and Where to Best View Meteor Showers
Shooting the Stars as an Astrophotographer
Stellarium Is the Free 'Planetarium' for Your Computer
The Hitomi Satellite Briefly Glimpsed the Universe, Then Died — What Happened?
Why March's Full Moon Is the Worm Moon
Why Does Earth Spin?
Why Do Black Holes Twinkle?
Learn More / Page 2
And you thought it was tough deciding which family to visit during the holidays. We just identified two stars in the process of forming a planet – or a planetary system.
These days, we may take the stars for granted, but it's not hard to imagine the wonder early humans must have felt gazing up at those inexplicable points of light. Naturally, superstitions were bound to develop — some more fortuitous than others.
By Bambi Turner
Relying on a collapsed star to power our lives on Earth might seem like a good solution to our energy crisis, but there's just one tiny problem: The process might be lethal.
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A single pulsar is fascinating enough, but as a set, these rapidly rotating neutron stars help scientists figure out mysteries of the universe.
It's not uncommon for planets to wander alone through the universe like big, sullen teenagers. But how do they end up flying solo, and could they still harbor life?
When a huge star collapses, it releases massive amounts of radiation in concentrated streams. If one of those streams hit Earth, it wouldn't be pretty. But where should we put "gamma-ray bursts" on our list of anxieties?
A dying star can explode with the force of a few octillion nuclear bombs and create any element in the universe. But why do stars go supernova?
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It wasn't so long ago that astronomers thought the universe contained normal matter, or baryonic matter, the base unit of which is the atom. But when it comes to the cosmos, there's always more than meets the eye. What else is hanging out in space?
Stars are enormous celestial bodies hot enough to register millions of degrees. They're fascinating scientific phenomena, but is it actually possible for scientists to create them?
Galaxies got their start nearly 14 billion years ago, with one unimaginably hot, dense and tiny pinpoint. How did we arrive at the universe's sprawling state of galactic affairs today?
By Robert Lamb
Long, long ago, our sun began its life as a mere twinkle in the universe's eye. How did it become the ruler of our solar system?
By Robert Lamb
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It's your home, and a colossally sized one at that. How much do you know about your galactic digs and their residence amid the yawning universe?
By Robert Lamb
A look at the night sky at any time of year will reveal a faint band of light stretching across the sky -- our solar system's home, the Milky Way. How much do we really know about it?
When you look up at night and see thousands of stars, have you ever wondered what you are looking at? Learn what stars are and how they live and die!
It turns out that measuring the distance to a star is an interesting problem! Astronomers have come up with two different techniques to estimate how far away any given star is.
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According to an article I read, astronomers are able to detect that star has a planet orbiting it by observing the "wobble" of the star induced by the gravitational pull of one or more planets. At the tremendous distances involved, what is the technology that enables these discoveries?