What is a star and how is it different from a planet?
Star vs Planet
What is a star and how is it different from a planet?
On a clear night, the sky is sprinkled with little points of light. They all look pretty much the same — tiny, twinkly, far away. But hiding up there are two very different kinds of thing, wearing the same sparkly costume. Some are stars. Some are planets. And telling them apart is one of the oldest games humans have ever played.
Let's start with a star. A star is a giant ball of burning-hot gas — mostly hydrogen, the lightest stuff in the universe. It's not "on fire" the way a campfire is. Deep in its center, it squeezes that gas so hard that the gas fuses together and releases a flood of energy. That's how a star makes its own light and heat. A star is a glowing engine.
