Summary
Introduces stars as distant suns and explains why they differ in brightness, color, and size — showing that the night sky is a window into the enormous variety of stellar objects in the universe.
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All ages
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Discussion
- Why do some stars look brighter than others — is it always because they are bigger?
- What does a star's color tell us about its temperature?
- Our sun is a star. How does it compare in size and brightness to other stars in the universe?
- Why can't we see most stars during the daytime?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: star, luminosity, distance, apparent brightness, temperature, spectrum.
Try it: Hold a flashlight very close to a partner, then back away slowly. How does 'apparent brightness' change? Write one sentence connecting this to why stars differ in apparent brightness from Earth.