Astronomy Stack Exchange
Astronomy Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [star]

Questions regarding large spheres of plasma undergoing fusion.

For questions specifically about the star Earth is orbiting around, use the tag.

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Did atoms in human body indeed come from stars?

I think I am not alone who saw videos about that we (humans) are made of same atoms which someday were in stars. In other words, some atoms in our bodies are from stars which exploded billions of years ago. I wonder if it is indeed true. I mean…
user1880405
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Do star remnants actually burn?

As we know, some stars can fuse heavy elements to produce carbon and oxygen after using up hydrogen if they are massive, and the remnant of stars are usually hot, my question is, if a star fuse to produce carbon and oxygen, does it also burn to…
Gstestso
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What are the minimum element requirements for a star?

What elements would be essential for a star to exist? From what I understand our sun is made of mostly hydrogen and helium and most stars have small amounts of heavier elements like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and iron. But could a sun exist on a…
Jake Graham Arnold
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How do you figure out the magnitude of stars?

How do you figure out the star magnitude of a star? Do they just give it a guess or what? If not, how do they figure it out accurately?
Jamd
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Appearance (frequency) ranking of stars?

Is there some ranking / statistics that shows how common given type of celestial objects is? A table that would allow the answers to questions like: What type of star is most common per volume of our galaxy? Are white dwarfs more common than red…
SF.
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Is there a way to factor age into the mass-luminosity relationship for stars?

I'm wondering if there's a way to formulate the luminosity of a star not only as a function of mass, but of age, too, and if so, what the formula for luminosity would look like. In the case of the Sun I'm aware it gets 10% brighter every billion or…
Happy Koala
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When will Sirius be closest to the solar system?

Sirius is currently approaching the solar system, at a rate of 5.5 km/s, consequently in the future it will be closer and therefore brighter. When will Sirius pass closest to the solar system? How far will it then be from the sun, and what magnitude…
James K
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Is there anywhere I can find some kind of database on all known stars and their properties (mass, surface temperature, radius, and luminosity)?

I have been looking for some kind of collection of all known stars and their individual respective mass/radius/temperature/and luminosity, can you link me to one if it exists? My goal is to write an algorithm that creates polynomial functions that…
ChaosOverlord
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Is there any planet/star bigger than VY Canis Majoris?

Compared to VY Canis Majoris, our Sun is more like a speck of space dust. Is there any planet or star which is known to us that is bigger than the VY Canis Majoris?
Ero Sɘnnin
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Less stars in the night, compared to 15-20 years back

I am not sure if my question is true or not. But this is what I observe regularly. When I was young and when I look at the sky, there were too many many stars were there. But now, from few months I'm observing the sky (by eyes, not any telescope), I…
rajuGT
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Estimating the angle covered by the star trails and deducing how long the exposure lasted

How would you estimate the angle covered by the star trails and deduce how long the exposure lasted in the following image? Here is the photo's caption: Star trails beyond the Gemini Observatory on Mauna Kea, from which a laser beam forms a guide…
user5532
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Very bright star in the east at northern hemisphere. What is it?

From some time now (few weeks as far as I can remember), there is a very bright star in the eastern sky. I first thought it was Venus, but according to this link, Venus is in the western sky and sets 2 hours after sunset. But this (very) bright…
ahmed
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Accurate way to programmatically generate a main sequence star?

I am working on a (personal) programming project, part of which involves generating random stars and their parameters. In order to create a procedurally generated star, I want to randomly select as few parameter values as possible, and then…
MMM
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Why nuclear fusion with hydrogen alone, why not with others?

Are there any stars that use any other elements as its fuel besides hydrogen? If not why not?
Kavin Ishwaran
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What color is a red dwarf star?

I read recently that a red dwarf star might actually look white. I realize there's a wide range in red dwarf surface temperature, 2,500 to 3,500 degrees K, compared to 5,778 for our Sun. Metal at 2,500 degrees K is nearly white hot with just…
userLTK
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