Sun and Other Stars

Before Video

• The sun is the closest star to the earth.
  

• One. The sun is the only star in our solar system. All other stars are found far beyond our solar system.
  

• Stars can appear brighter or dimmer due to a variety of reasons, most commonly their size and their distance from the earth.
  

• The star further from Earth would appear smaller and less bright.
  

After Video

• Looking directly at the sun can damage your eyes. It is very bright!
  

• Stars are gigantic balls of exploding gas held together by gravity.
  

• Stars produce light and heat.
  

• A light year is the distance light travels in a year. Since light can travel at 186,000 miles per second, it can travel very far in one year. Light years are used to measure very large distances in space, such as distances between stars.
  

• Sunlight travels 93 million miles from the sun to the earth in about 8 minutes.
  

• Zoe and Izzy’s candles are the same size, but Zoe’s candle is much closer to the camera than Izzy’s so it appears larger and brighter.
  

• When Dr. Jeff moves his large flame far away from the camera, it appears to be the same size as Izzy’s flame, which is much closer.

• Earth’s distance from the sun puts it in a perfect position to support life. Life as we know it needs liquid water. If Earth were closer to the sun our water might dry up. If Earth were further from the sun our water might freeze.
  

An exploding ball of burning gas held together by gravity.

How far light can travel in 1 year. Light travels at 186,000 miles each second.

It is a reddish star about 1000 times bigger than the sun and more than 600 light years away. It is also the ninth-brightest star in the night sky and second-brightest in the constellation of Orion.

An area around a star that is approximately the right distance to support liquid water on the surface of a planet.

The brightest star in the night sky. It is also 500,000 times further from us than the sun.

A blue-white star in the constellation Orion. It is also one of the brightest stars in the night sky. It's 40,000 times brighter than our sun but it is also 864 light years away.

A reddish star that is 700 times larger than our sun. It is one of the largest known stars and is about 600 light years away from us. It is the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius.

A burst of high energy radiation made by the sun that can travel to Earth and interfere with cell phone reception and satellite communications.

A huge telescope in space launched in 2009 that is searching for planets outside our solar system. It looks for planets that are around the same size as Earth in the "habitable zone" of a star.

A device used to show what stars are visible at any given time of year.