Star Light, Star Bright Star Bright

Bright Lights The night sky is filled with thousands of lights. These lights are stars. What do stars look like to you? Fireflies? Glitter? Shiny coins?

Bright Lights Have you ever drawn a star? Your star probably had five points. Real stars aren’t pointy. They are round.

Bright Lights Fun Fact: Stars look tiny from Earth. However, most stars are much bigger than Earth. They look small because they are so far away.

Bright Lights All of the stars are far, far away. Many stars are so far away you cannot see them without a telescope. Some stars are so far away you cannot see them even with the biggest telescope in the world.

Birth of a Star How are stars made? There are clouds of gas and dust in space. When gases clump together, they get hotter and hotter. A star is born.

Birth of a Star Fun Fact: Stars are balls of hot, burning gas. The inside of a star is its hottest part. The inside of a star is 60,000 times hotter than the hottest oven.

Birth of a Star Eventually, a star runs out of energy and dies. Some dying stars explode. An exploding star is called a supernova. It looks like fireworks.

Birth of a Star Fun Fact: Not all dying stars explode. Some just get cooler and smaller until they disappear.

Everybody’s Different Look at your friends. Does everyone look the same? Just like your friends, each star is different.

Everybody’s Different When you first look at the sky, the stars may all seem alike to you. But take your time, look for awhile, and you will begin to see differences.

Everybody’s Different Some stars are brighter than others. You may see half a dozen or so that are very bright.

Everybody’s Different Some stars are small. They are called dwarf stars. These stars are usually dim.

Everybody’s Different Some stars are large. They are called giants. Larger stars are usually bright.

Everybody’s Different Fun Fact: Some stars are even larger than giant stars. They are called supergiants.

Star Colors Stars are different colors. Some are white, some are black, and some are brown. Some are blue, some are yellow, and some are red.

Star Colors Blue stars are the hottest stars. Red stars are the coolest. Yellow stars are in between.

Star Colors Fun Fact: The color and size of a star tells people its age. Yellow dwarfs and blue giants are young. Red giants and red supergiants are older. White dwarfs and black dwarfs are the oldest. They have used up most of their energy.

The Milky Way There are more stars in space than people on Earth. Like your group of friends and family, stars have groups, too. Groups of stars are called galaxies. Some galaxies have millions of stars. Other galaxies have trillions of stars.

The Milky Way If the sky is dark and clear, you will be able to see a cloudy path across the sky. This path is called the Milky Way. People used to think it was a weather cloud. It looked milky and that’s why they gave it the name.

The Milky Way Later, when people looked at the Milky Way through a telescope, they discovered that it is really billions and billions of stars. The stars are very far away and very dim. The seem to blend together into a cloud--a cloud of stars. We live in the Milky Way Galaxy.

The Milky Way Fun Fact: All the stars we can see in the sky are a part of our galaxy. If you use a telescope, you can see even more stars. You can also see stars in other galaxies.

Our Star Not all stars are tiny dots at night. You can see one star during the day. It is our sun.

Our Star The sun is a star, just like the other ones you see in the night sky. It is a yellow, middle-sized star. It seems bigger than other stars do, but that is just because it is closer to Earth.

Our Star The sun is the closest star to Earth. Even though it is the closest star to Earth, it is still very far away. The sun is 91 million miles away from Earth. In star distances, 91 million miles away is not very far at all. Proxima Centauri, the next closest star after the sun, is 26 trillion miles away.

Our Star Fun Fact: Most stars are far away, so we can’t feel their light and heat. But the sun is close to Earth. It gives us the light and heat we need to live.

We Need Sunlight Without the sun, our world would be wrapped in darkness. Trees, grass, and other plants would not grow. Animals and people would have nothing to eat.

We Need Sunlight Fun Fact: The sun gives of 40,000 watts of light from every square inch of its surface. Imagine fitting 400 light bulbs in a square that is only one inch long on each side!

We Need Sunlight Without the heat from the sun, the Earth would be a very cold place. Oceans and lakes would turn to ice. The air would be very still and too cold to breathe.

We Need Sunlight The sun creates our weather. Oceans, lakes, and rivers take in energy from sunlight. This energy heats the water.

We Need Sunlight When the water gets warm, some of it turns into vapor. The vapor rises and mixes with the air. As water vapor cools, it turns into tiny droplets that form clouds. These clouds can bring rain or snow.

We Need Sunlight The land also absorbs sunlight’s energy. As the land warms up, it heats the air above it. Warm air rises and expands. As the air moves, a breeze is formed. These winds rush across lakes and fields, cities and mountains.

Night and Moonlight Stars cannot be seen during the daytime. The sun shines more brightly than the stars and hides them.

Night and Moonlight At night, the moon gleams with a pale, cool glow. Moonlight really comes from the sun. Part of the moon’s surface faces the sun. That part of the moon catches the sun’s light. Some of the light bounces off the moon and shines down to Earth.

Important Things to Know: Stars are balls of hot, burning gas. Most stars are much bigger than Earth. All of the stars are far, far away. You can see more stars with a telescope than with just your eyes. Stars are still in the sky during the day, but the light from the sun hides them.

Important Things to Know: Stars are different. Some stars are big and some are small. Some stars are bright and some are dim. Stars are different colors. The color of a star depends on its age.

Important Things to Know: The sun is a star. The sun is the closest star to Earth. The sun looks large and bright because it is so close to Earth. The sun gives us light and heat. Without the sun, Earth would be dark and cold.

Congratulations! Now you are a star expert!

Bibliography The text in this slideshow was adapted from: Spots of Light: A Book about Stars by Dana Meachen Rau. The Sky is Full of Stars by Franklyn M. Branley Sunshine: A Book About Sunlight by Josepha Sherman