Here on earth, we always hear about stars.
''Look to the stars''
or
''Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground''
- Theodore Roosevelt
But what exactly is a star? Well, read on and you will find out.
What is a Star?: Stars are huge balls of gas, mostly hydrogen and helium that are nuclear reactors. Gigantic nuclear reactors to be exact, with very very hot hydrogen in their centers fusing to make helium.
How Stars Are Born:
The way a star is born is from a large cloud of interstellar gas and dust, that starts to collapse under its own weight under its own gravity. As it does it starts to spin, and, as it spins, most of the material in the collapsing cloud falls into the center to make the star. The stuff that gets left behind on the outside forms a ring or a donut shaped area, that breaks up and becomes planets!
So, now, astronomers understand that planets are the natural afterbirth of stars. They come together. And, that's why the planets of our solar system aren't unique they're lots and lots, in fact, probably a trillion planets - just in our Milky Way Galaxy. As a star is being born it gets hotter and hotter in its center. Protons crash faster and faster into each other to release more and more energy. Finally, the star gets so luminesce and so bright. That it stops anymore in falling material from falling onto it. It's not a stellar fetus anymore, but it's become a stellar newborn object!
''Look to the stars''
or
''Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground''
- Theodore Roosevelt
But what exactly is a star? Well, read on and you will find out.
What is a Star?: Stars are huge balls of gas, mostly hydrogen and helium that are nuclear reactors. Gigantic nuclear reactors to be exact, with very very hot hydrogen in their centers fusing to make helium.
How Stars Are Born:
The way a star is born is from a large cloud of interstellar gas and dust, that starts to collapse under its own weight under its own gravity. As it does it starts to spin, and, as it spins, most of the material in the collapsing cloud falls into the center to make the star. The stuff that gets left behind on the outside forms a ring or a donut shaped area, that breaks up and becomes planets!
So, now, astronomers understand that planets are the natural afterbirth of stars. They come together. And, that's why the planets of our solar system aren't unique they're lots and lots, in fact, probably a trillion planets - just in our Milky Way Galaxy. As a star is being born it gets hotter and hotter in its center. Protons crash faster and faster into each other to release more and more energy. Finally, the star gets so luminesce and so bright. That it stops anymore in falling material from falling onto it. It's not a stellar fetus anymore, but it's become a stellar newborn object!
Milis, John P. "What is a star?" About.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Aug. 2013.
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