Page 244 - DK Children's Encyclopedia
P. 244
Stars SEE ALSO
▸ ▸ Color pp.26–27
▸ ▸ Galaxies p.116
Stars are balls of very hot gas, deep in space. From Earth, ▸ ▸ Light p.147
they look like tiny dots but are actually huge. The smallest ▸ ▸ Solar system
ordinary star is about the same size as Jupiter. Stars shine p.233
because the gases inside them constantly crash together ▸ ▸ Sun p.247
in a process called fusion. ▸ ▸ Temperature
p.252
Sizes and colors
Stars come in different sizes
and colors. A star’s color
depends on how hot its
surface is. The hottest stars
are blue, and the coolest
ones are red.
Blue supergiant
These stars are
very young and
extremely hot.
Red giant star
Red giants are
older stars with
cool surface
temperatures.
Sun
Our sun is a
middle-aged,
medium-sized
star with a
medium surface
temperature.
The nearest star Star deaths
The star closest to the Earth Some stars end their
after our sun is Proxima lives in a spectacular
Centauri, a red dwarf with at explosion called a
least one planet. This star is
9,000 times farther away supernova. Others
than Neptune, the planet slowly fade as they
farthest from the sun. run out of energy.
Cloud of material from a
supernova explosion
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