What are stars and everything you need to know about them

What are the stars? When we look at the stars and constellations in the sky, it seems like we are admiring a painting. Generally, we don’t even stop to think about how those brilliant beings are organized and we have a completely distorted view of reality – as it is the logical view we have of objects here on Earth.

This article brings a lot of interesting facts about the stars but you can relax, it’s not boring! LOL

Stay with us and understand more about the universe you live in. Then just sit on the couch with some popcorn and wait for the ETs to arrive…lol

How stars are formed

They appear to be made up of little lights, but they are not…lol

Basically and briefly, stars are composed of hydrogen and helium (with traces of some other elements). Furthermore, they derive from supernova explosions (a massive star that at a certain stage of its evolution explodes, generating a huge impact / “auê” lol) that occur in galaxies – full of gas and cosmic dust.

The chemical reactions that constantly take place inside stars form a tremendous amount of energy released in the form of light. And so they are celestial bodies / stars that have their own light.

Below, you will see a very educational video that shows what stars are. Furthermore, he compares their types and sizes and also talks a little about the constellations.

For a better experience, click on the gear and select the subtitle in Portuguese to understand all the information it brings:

The distance between us

Many here already know that we do not measure the distance between the Earth, the planets and the stars in meters or kilometers but rather in light years, which is the distance measured by the speed of light, in other words: time.

One light year corresponds to one Earth year. Likewise, it is equivalent to the time it took for light to synthesize this being for us. In an approximate calculation, one light year corresponds to 9.5 TRILLION km.

The Sun is 0.0000158 light years from Earth, and therefore it takes about 8.33 minutes for its light to reach us. It seems small, but if you multiply it by 9.5 trillion km, you will see that our distance is almost 150 million km.

An Uber to the Sun? Only if you have a lot of time and a card with literally no limits. Haha

The photograph of the most distant star is that of Icarus, which is 9 billion light years from Earth. In other words: its light took 9 billion years to reach us and make it possible to see it.

This was only possible to be recorded because there was a massive accumulation of stars that formed a phenomenon equivalent to a celestial magnifying glass. Thus, the Hubble telescope managed to record it. Now, have you ever thought about 9 billion light years in km?

It was also an achievement to be able to take a good photo of a star called Antares, which is 620 light years away from us. Until then, this feat had only been achieved with the Sun (remember, 0.0000158 light years from Earth…look at the difference!).

The distance between the stars

Looking at the night sky, we see those little luminous dots and think: “look how lined up they are, side by side!”. We think this because our brain tends to group elements in a logical and linear way according to what we know.

So, if we see people one after the other, our pre-acquired knowledge automatically understands that it is a queue. Likewise, we tend to replicate this “logic” for other things.

However, most stars are very far away from each other, several light years away. However, it is the position of the Earth in relation to them that makes us have this impression.

More than 80% of stars have one or more companions and revolve around each other. But it is not easy to distinguish, because they are usually very far from us.

The brightest star in our sky, easily identifiable, is Sirius. It appears to be just one star, but it is made up of Sirius A, a smaller star that is Sirius B. Recently, Sirius C was also discovered (but mysteriously already known for some time by an isolated African tribe, the Dogons), making the their triple system.

The constellations and the hemispheres

The grouping of stars was done by different people throughout history as a way of guiding themselves within a period of time – we even talk about it here.

There are currently 88 official constellations, which are divided into southern (seen only from the southern hemisphere (such as the Southern Cross), boreal (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor), equatorial which are close to the Celestial Equator (Orion) and zodiacal ( close to both the north and the south).

In the case of the last type, we can observe 12 constellations throughout the months of the year. Therefore, astrology strongly believes that the stars of each of them influence the personality of those born during this period of the year in which they become more visible – hence the zodiac signs.

It is worth highlighting that because of the movement of the Earth, sometimes it is possible to notice a constellation on Earth, sometimes not.

But as we said above, they only give the impression of being close together, as in reality, they are sometimes tens of light years away from each other.

Other curiosities about the stars!

– (almost) More than meets the eye: We can see, from the northern hemisphere and in perfect observation conditions, Daneb – a star in the Swan constellation at 2,616 light-years and the Andromeda galaxy, 2.54 million light-years from us. Again: did you think about km? Eeeee good look!

– Just a portion of stars: in the sky there are millions and millions of stars, but no matter how “sharp” the human eye is, it is only possible to see between 2 thousand and 2.5 thousand of them. Again, depending on the region you are in and the weather and lighting conditions. If you are in the city of São Paulo and can see 100, then you can consider yourself a master! Haha

– If we exchanged Sirius for the Sun: Sirius A has a radius that is 71% larger than our Sun and Sirius B has a smaller radius, which makes it a little smaller than Earth. If they were taking the place of the Sun, our days would be 23 times brighter – but for that to happen we would need to be much further away from them than we are in relation to the Sun to survive.

– Brazil’s flag: the meaning of the stars on our flag is that 9 constellations appear there (highlighted: Southern Cross, Scorpio, Southern Triangle, Canis Major and Canis Minor) and 27 stars represent the Brazilian states. Its layout represents the sky of Rio de Janeiro, on the day of the Proclamation of the Republic, on November 15, 1889.

– Shine and warm little star: stars are classified according to their mass/size and the temperature of their surface. Very calm for a summer day, temperatures vary between 2,500°C and 50,000°C. Next time you complain about the Sun’s temperature, remember that it is only 6,000°C.

What you didn’t imagine about the stars

– The stars DON’T BLINK! The tremor that we see from the stars happens simply because of the Earth’s atmosphere, which, as it has several layers, ends up shuffling the stars.

– “Moonlight” does not exist – when we say “the light of the Moon” that is actually a lie (sorry, romantic songs!). The Moon, like the planets, does not emit light. The Moon’s brightness is a reflection from the Sun, hence its phases – as it rotates around the Earth, some of its parts receive illumination from it and others do not, which reflects on our planet.

– Clueless even beyond Earth: humanity, with its countless astronomical satellites, has caused more than 400 thousand artifacts to travel at a speed that can reach 30 thousand km/h (data from 2005). In addition to being dangerous, it is estimated that soon if space debris (that is, until then) is not contained, it will be impossible to use the cosmos for the benefit of humanity, as we see here.

The stars as a gift

Phew, so much! Are you also inspired by the stars and this infinite and complex world that they bring with them, far beyond a wonderful and inspiring landscape?

The paintings and posters on bring back exactly what many people and scientists have seen over the years: more than meets the eye.

If you are looking for a gift for your boyfriend or a gift for your husband, we are sure that the Map of My Heaven will bring to light a special moment lived and witnessed by all the stars, some of which have been shining for thousands of years to illuminate our lives. ? Check it out here.