What are the main differences between the sun and other stars?
The most important difference between our Sun and other stars is that the Sun is closer to Earth than any other star. Other possible differences between stars are mass, size, temperature, and age.
The Sun is a relatively small star as compared with the giants in the Universe.Only about one out of one hundred stars are more than eight times as massive as our Sun. The largest star, Mu Cephei is so large you could fit over one billion of our Suns inside of it!
Most stars (about nine out of ten) are less massive than the Sun. The smallest are only about three times as big as Earth. About one out of ten stars are similar in mass to our Sun.
The temperature of a star can be determined through its color. Stars which are cooler than our Sun are red and orange. Stars hotter than the yellow of our Sun are white, or blue-white. Our Sun is a middle aged-star, about five billion years old. As stars age they change in size, temperature, and can even lose mass. Stars are classified on the Hertzsprung-Russel (HR) diagram (shown in the picture), on which our Sun is classified as a main sequence star. Stars go through many life stages, and move around on the diagram as they age.
Submitted by Sarah Jo (age 14, Sydney, Australia)
(7/9/99)
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