The burning question is why? Why are stars born in such a wide variety of sizes and colors? Are there limits on how big or how small a star can be? What do burnt out stars turn into? And how do we know what we know?
How bright are stars? Some are barely as bright as our moon while others blaze forth with a million times more light than our own sun.
Stars can be found that weigh so little, more than a dozen would be needed to make up the sun's mass. But even these "little" stars are far heavier than the Earth. Some stars, called hypergiants, are heavier than 100 suns put together.
The add on the left tells you how big, bright, and large stars can be and their range of colors. Any star you find could respond to this add.
The source of this material is Windows to the Universe, at http://www.windows.ucar.edu/ at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). ©1995-1999, 2000 The Regents of the University of Michigan; ©2000-01 University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. All Rights Reserved. Site policies and disclaimer