A Hubble Space Telescope image of stars in the globular cluster M22.
Click on image for full size
NASA, ESA, and K. Sahu (STScI)

Stars

The pinpoints of light that you see in the night sky are stars. Your ability to see the stars depends on how bright they are (their "absolute magnitude"), as well as how close they are to Earth. Stars are giant balls of gas in space that shine through the darkness. The Sun is an average star that Earth orbits.

Check out some Star Statistics or visit the All Star Gallery to learn about specific stars.

You can visit these interesting ExploraTours that explain How to Build a Star and that take A Peek into the Lives of Stars.

Last modified July 31, 2008 by Becca Hatheway.

You might also be interested in:

Traveling Nitrogen Classroom Activity Kit

Check out our online store - minerals, fossils, books, activities, jewelry, and household items!...more

Magnitude - a measure of brightness

Astronomers use a special term to talk about the brightness of stars. The term is "magnitude". The magnitude scale was invented by the ancient Greeks around 150 B.C. The Greeks put the stars they could...more

A Star Is Born... But How?

Daniel Wolf Savin, a senior research scientist at Columbia University's Astrophysics Laboratory, has published a paper on the research he and his colleagues have done on how stars began. In their research,...more

Waterworld Discovered Orbiting a Nearby Star

Astronomers have discovered a planet about 40 light-years from Earth that contains water. They describe this planet as a "super-Earth" planet because it is between one and ten times the mass of the Earth....more

Black Holes Out for a Spin

Everyone is awed by black holes. How could there be a thing that devours all light and matter around it...so that matter can never escape?!? A new discovery has been made about black holes - some of them...more

Hubble Detects the First Extrasolar Planetary Atmosphere!

You probably know there are nine planets in our own solar system...but did you know that we know of 76 planets that are outside our own solar system? These planets orbit other stars and are called extrasolar...more

NASA Reveals Two New Missions

NASA has just revealed its newest missions, Swift and FAME. These two projects are part of MIDEX, NASA's medium class explorer program. The agency had to choose from over 31 proposals, which was very...more

President of Peru Visits Ancient Incan Sites

Peru's new president, Alejandro Toledo, was sworn in on July 28, 2001. The next day he visited Machu Picchu and Cuzco. There were ceremonies at both locations where Toledo asked for the blessing of the...more

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA