A star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to earth is the sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth. Other stars are visible from Earth during the night when they are not outshone by the Sun or blocked by atmospheric phenomena. Historically, the most prominent stars on the celestial sphere were grouped together into constellations, asterisms and the brightest stars gained proper names.
1: Proto Star
A Proto Star is a portion of a nebula that is about to form into a new star.
2. Life of Stars
Stars are generally between 1 billion and 10 billion years old. The universe itself is believed to be 13.7 billion years old. The oldest star yet recorded, HE 1523-0901, is thought to be 13.2 billion years old, almost as old as the universe itself. All stars have different life spans, largely dependent upon the star’s size. Large stars burn energy at a greater rate than smaller stars such as red dwarfs. Smaller stars, therefore, have a significantly longer lifespan than their bigger brothers.
3. Brighter Than Sun
Some stars are 600,000 times a bright as our sun.
4. Presence of Natural Elements
Of the 92 “natural” elements on Earth, 2/3 has been found in the star “Sun”. The rest are probably present as well.
5. Faculae
Facula is an area on the surface of a star that appears brighter by comparison to surrounding regions.
6. Nova
A nova is a sudden increase in luminosity of a star, usually in the magnitude of thousands of times its original brightness. Stars that have nova usually return to their original luminosity.
7. Movement of Stars
Each star is moving through space and therefore through the universe. Because of the “Big Bang’s” effect everything is moving outward from a central point. Each spiral arm of our galaxy, the Milky Way, rotates at approximately 140 miles per second. The Milky Way is itself moving through space at more than 190 miles per second. Therefore, the Earth is sometimes traveling through the universe at approximately 330 miles per second.
8. Amount of Energy Produced
One pound of hydrogen being changed into helium inside star yields energy equal to over 10,000 tons of coal.
9. Pulsar
A pulsar is a neutron star that emits pulsed radio signals. The first pulsar was discovered in 1967.
10. Oldest Star
The oldest star yet discovered is HE 1523-0901, which is an estimated 13.2 billion years old.