Stars

THINK: What do you already know about the size, brightness, and color of STARS?

Think about our activity. What happened when we moved the flashlight closer? Farther away?

• Star may be different sizes and colors

• When seen from the Earth, most stars appear as small points of light because they are very far away.

• The color of a star tells us the temperature of a star

• Red stars are the coolest

  
  

• Yellow stars are hotter than red stars.

• White stars are hotter than red and yellow

• Blue stars are the hottest stars of all.

One reason a star can seem brighter than another star is due to how much power a star has - which can also be explained as the amount of wattage it has (think of light bulbs!). Stars with more power (or higher wattage) will shine brighter than those with less power (lower wattage).

Another reason is the distance of the star from the Earth. Just because a star looks brighter, doesn’t mean it actually is brighter. The more distant an object is, the dimmer it appears. Therefore, if two stars have the same level of brightness, but one is farther away, the closer star will appear brighter than the more distant star - even though they are equally bright!