Star what is

We see them on most clear nights as tiny, twinkling pinpricks of light in the sky. Stars are the topic of countless poems, stories, and nursery rhymes alike. But just what is a star, exactly? A star is a luminous ball of gas, mostly hydrogen and helium, held together by its own gravity.

Nuclear fusion reactions in its core support the star against gravity and produce photons and heat, as well as small amounts of heavier elements.

The Sun is the closest star to Earth. According to current star formation theory , stars are born as clumps within gigantic gas clouds that collapse in on themselves. Temperature is also correlated to mass. Red dwarf stars have as little as 0. The most massive and hottest stars exhaust their energy supply within a few million years, while tiny and cool red dwarf stars can keep on burning for many billions of years. Other characteristics of a star are determined by its evolutionary history, including diameter, rotation, movement and temperature.

A plot of the temperature of many stars against their luminosities, known as a Hertzsprung—Russell diagram, allows the age and evolutionary state of a star to be determined. Starred , adorned or studded with stars. A milestone in the Infinite. A malicious, ironic eye. A device to show man his insignificance. In heraldry, the star is of frequent occurrence; it sometimes represents the heavenly body so called, and sometimes the rowel of a spur.

In the latter case it is blazoned a Mullet. Stars of more than five points should have the number of points designated, and the points may be wavy. The star, or estoile, with wavy points, is often designated a blazing star; and when the points are more than six in number, it is usual to represent only every second point as waved. The star is a well-known ensign of knightly rank. A star of some specified form constitutes part of the insignia of every order of knighthood.

The star symbol -- In this Symbols. Song lyrics by star -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by star on the Lyrics. What does STAR stand for? He's not going to be a TV star. He's not going to capture the imagination of the average Japanese person.

But the Japanese people want stability and security, and I think he will be able to provide that. Prime Minister David Cameron :. We have lost a great star , she was a great campaigning MP with huge compassion, with a big heart. It is dreadful, dreadful news. Everybody loves me here and it feels good to give a performance to the crowd. Donald Trump. Then-White House chief of staff Reince Priebus attends a breakfast meeting with small business leaders in White House.

John Kelly has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. John Kelly has been a true star of my Administration. I would like to thank Reince Priebus for John Kelly service and dedication to his country.

We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him, he continued. The replacement of Preibus as Anthony Scaramucci. Anthony Scaramucci The announcement of Anthony Scaramucci, 53, as the White House communications director on July 21 set into motion a big shakeup in White House staff, resulting in the resignations of press secretary Sean Spicer and chief of staff Reince Priebus.

He was reportedlyremoved at the requestof new White House chief of John Kelly. John Kelly was sworn in as chief of staff just hours before Anthony Scaramucci was removed.

We are grateful for his service and wish him the best. Saida Caballero-Nieves :. We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe. If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly. Forgot your password? Retrieve it.

If by any chance you spot an inappropriate image within your search results please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly. Term » Definition. Word in Definition. Princeton's WordNet 3. Wiktionary 3. His teacher tells us he is a star pupil. Wikipedia 5. Webster Dictionary 4.

The largest supergiant stars, on the other hand, have very short lives. A star like Eta Carinae, with times the mass of the Sun is emitting more than 1 million times as much energy as the Sun.

It has probably only lasted a few million years and will soon detonate as a powerful supernova; destroying itself completely.

Once this hydrogen runs out, and only helium is left in the core, the stars have to burn something else. The smallest stars eject their outer layers and become white dwarf stars, while the more massive stars have much more violent ends, become neutron stars and even black holes. We have written many articles about stars on Universe Today. Want more information on stars? We have recorded several episodes of Astronomy Cast about stars.

Source: NASA.