My Date with

the STARS

JOHN
KENNETH KIM
I. ARCAN

Grade 6 Eros
Science

Background
When you look up at the night sky, you can see many beautiful stars. If
you are out in the open field, farm or provinces, you may see

My Date with the Stars

thousands of them twinkling in the dark skies over mountains and
away from the city lights. There may even be times when you may see
part of the Milky Way (ooohhh, yum!) Oops, not the chocolate bar,
mate! In a town or city, you may not really see as many stars because
the city lights swallow their glitter.

We may not know it but there are several classifications of stars and
they even vary in intensity and temperature. Some stars may be hot or
cool. Some are brighter than the others. Some are big, some are small.
In fact, a couple of stars were discovered to be larger than the sun by
100 to 200 times. There are stars which are smaller than the Earth.
Scientists and students study stars and group them according to their
likeness or differences.

Surprisingly, these stars have names. I wish there is one named John,
Kenneth or Kim. Oh well, join me in my odyssey to space and learn
about these diamonds in the sky.

My Date with the Stars

Table of Contents

I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.

Background --------------------------------------------------------Why Stars Objectives of the Study ------------------------Twinkle Twinkle A Starry Overview ------------------------All About Stars -----------------------------------------------------Beyond the Galaxy A Conclusion ------------------------

1
3
4
5
10

VI.

Sources References --------------------------------------------

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My Date with the Stars

Why Stars

This research was conducted in order to answer the following

questions:
1. Do stars come from nowhere?
2. Are there different types of stars?
3. Do stars have similarities and differences?

My Date with the Stars

Twinkle Twinkle A Starry Overview

Stars are giant, luminous spheres of plasma. Galaxies consist of stars,
stellar remnants, dust, gas, and dark matter, bound together by
gravity. Learn more about stars and galaxies.
Basically, stars are big exploding balls of gas, mostly hydrogen and
helium. Our nearest star, the Sun, is so hot that the huge amount of
hydrogen is undergoing a constant star-wide nuclear reaction, like in a
hydrogen bomb. Even though it is constantly exploding in a nuclear
reaction, the Sun and other stars are so large and have so much
matter in them that it will take billions of years for the explosion to use
all the "fuel" in the star. The huge reactions taking place in stars are
constantly releasing energy (called electromagnetic radiation) into the
universe, which is why we can see them and find them on radio
telescopes such as the ones in the Deep Space Network (DSN). Stars,
including the Sun, also send out a solar wind and burst out occasional
solar flares.

All About Stars

A star is a great ball of gas formed mostly from element hydrogen
which is converted to helium through a thermonuclear reaction called
fusion.

My Date with the Stars

Stars, though often immediately seen in the sky, follow a specific life
cycle. This cycle is:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Nebula
New Star (large)
Red Supergiant
Supernova
Black Hole
Neutron Star

Stars following this complete life cycle also show the peculiarities of
these twinkies. They give each specific star an identity of its own.
Classification of Stars
There are different classifications of stars, namely: Variable Stars,
Binaries and Nova. They not only vary in names, they also have their
own qualities.
Variable Star is, quite simply, a star that changes brightness. A star is
considered variable if its apparent magnitude (brightness) is altered in
any way from our perspective on Earth. These changes can occur over
years or just fractions of a second, and can range from one-thousandth
of a magnitude to 20 magnitudes. More than 100,000 variable stars
are known and have been catalogued, and thousands more are
suspected variables. Our own sun is a variable star; its energy output
varies by approximately 0.1 percent, or one-thousandth of its
magnitude, over an 11-year solar cycle.

My Date with the Stars

The first modern identified variable star was Omicron Ceti, later
renamed Mira. It had been described as a nova in 1596 by David
Fabricius. In 1638, Johannes Holwards observed Omicron Ceti pulsating
in a regular 11-month cycle. This was an important discovery, as it
helped verify that the stars were not eternal and invariable as ancient
philosophers such as Aristotle had believed. The discovery of variable
stars, along with reports of supernovae, paved the way for
development of the science of astronomy.
In the abstract of a talk given to celebrate the 400th anniversary of
Miras discovery, Dorrit Hoffleit, of Yale University, said, Within the
first century following Fabricius, four Mira-type variables were
discovered, and in all cases it has been found that the stars were
suspected of being novae long before their "official" discovery in the
Western World. Three of the four had been recorded as novae in early
Chinese
or
Korean
records.
(Retrieved
from
http://www.space.com/15396-variable-stars.html)
Binaries are two stars orbiting a common center of mass. The brighter
star is officially classified as the primary star, while the dimmer of the
two is the secondary (classified as A and B respectively). In cases
where the stars are of equal brightness, the designation given by the
discoverer is respected.
Binary pairs can be classified based on their orbit. Wide binaries are
stars that have orbits which keep them spread apart from one another.
These stars evolve separately, with very little impact from their

My Date with the Stars

companions. They may have once contained a third star, which booted
the distant companion outward while eventually having been ejected
themselves.
Binary star systems provide the best means for scientists to determine
the mass of a star. As the pair pulls on one another, astronomers can
calculate its size, and from there determine characteristics such as
temperature and radius. These factors help characterize single main
sequence
stars in
the
universe.
(Retrieved
from
http://www.space.com/22509-binary-stars.html)

Nova (plural novae or novas) is a cataclysmic nuclear explosion on a

white dwarf, which causes a sudden brightening of the star. Novae are
not to be confused with other brightening phenomena such as
supernovae or luminous red novae.
Novae are thought to occur on the surface of a white dwarf in a binary
system when they are sufficiently near to one another, allowing
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My Date with the Stars

material (mostly hydrogen) to be pulled from the companion star's
surface onto the white dwarf. The nova is the result of the rapid fusion
of the accreted hydrogen on the surface of the star, commencing a
runaway fusion reaction.

Similarities and Differences Characteristics of Stars

Stars, with their own characteristics make them really special. In fact,
would you believe that the Sun, the center of the Solar System is
considered an average star not too hot, not too cold; not too large,
not too small.
They have four color changes which includes red, yellow, white and
blue. These colors also give the stars their temperature. The Sun as
5,000 C is not the hottest among the stars. Their temperatures range
from 2,000 C to 50,000 C. The coolest, at 2,000 C, is Red in color while
the hottest, at 50,000C is Blue in color.

My Date with the Stars

Hereunder is an example of Star colors and temperatures:

Color

Temperature

Examples

Blue white

12,000

Rigel, Spica

White

11,000

Vega

White

10,500

Sirius

Yellow

6,000

Cepalla

Yellow

6,000

Sun

Orange

4,200

Arcturus

Red

3,000

Antares

Red

2,200

Betegeuse

Stars also have differences in terms of sizes and brightness. These are
the reasons why some are seen visibly while others are not. They make
the stars seem to sparkle in the night sky. Brightness is related to the
distance from the earth and the age of the star. Classifying stars by
their brightness, they can either be 1st magnitude stars are the
brightest or 6th magnitude stars are the weakest. These magnitude are
also grouped as Apparent Magnitude which dictates the brightness as
it appears to us and the Absolute Magnitude which tells us the stars
brightness given a certain distance.

My Date with the Stars

Beyond the Galaxy A Conclusion

In the end, each star in the sky is an enormous glowing ball of gas. Our
sun
is
a
medium-sized
star.
Stars can live for billions of years. A star is born when an enormous
cloud of hydrogen gas collapses until it is hot enough to burn nuclear
fuel (producing tremendous amounts heat and radiation). As the
nuclear fuel runs out (in about 5 billion years), the star expands and
the core contracts, becoming a giant star which eventually explodes
and turns into a dim, cool object (a black dwarf, neutron star, or black
hole, depending on its initial mass). The largest stars have the shortest
life span (still billions of years); more massive stars burn hotter and
faster than their smaller counterparts (like the Sun).

Indeed, Stars are amazing as they follow a life cycle. They are not just
pop-ups in the sky at night. They have a living pattern which also affect
all sorts of colors, temperatures, brightness and distances. They live
among and within us.
Next time you sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars, remember that these
glowing balls of gas are interesting diamonds in the sky.

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My Date with the Stars

Sources

http://www.space.com/15396-variable-stars.html
http://www.space.com/22509-binary-stars.html
www.dvd-ppt.slideshow.com
www.kidsastronomy.com/stars.html
www.cosmos4kids.com/files/stars_intro.html
www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/stars
http://www.google.com.ph/images
http://curious.astro.cornell.edu

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