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- THE 20 BRIGHTEST STARS
- STAR DISTANCE (LIGHT- YEARS)
- 1. SIRIUS 8.8
- 2. CANOPUS 98.0
- 3. ALPHA CENTAURI 4.3
- 4. ARCTURUS 36.0
- 5. VEGA 26.0
- 6. CAPELLA 46.0
- 7. RIGEL 900.0
- 8. PROCYON 11.0
- 9. BETELAEUSE 490.0
- 10.ACHERNAR 114.0
- 11.BETA CENTAURI 290.0
- 12.ALTAIR 16.0
- 13.ALPHA CRUCIS 390.0
- 14.ALDEBARAN 68.0
- 15.SPICA 300.0
- 16.ANTARES 250.0
- 17.POLLUX 35.0
- 18.FOMALHAUT 23.0
- 19.DENEB 1,630.0
- 20.BETA CRUCIS 490.0
-
- STAR: Is a hugh ball of glowing gas in the sky.
-
-
- NUMBER: About 200 billion billion stars in the known universe.
-
- AGE: Up to 12 billion yrs. Most stars are between 1 million and 10 billion
- yrs. old.
-
- COMPOSITION: About 75% hydrogen; 22% helium; and traces of most other
- elements (oxygen, neon, carbon,and nitrogen).
-
- MASS: From 1/50 the mass of the sun to 50 times the mass of the sun.
-
- NEAREST STAR EXCLUDING THE SUN: Proxima Centauri, 4.3 light-yrs. away.
-
- FARTHEST STARS: In galaxies billions of light-yrs. away.
-
- BRIGHTEST STAR EXCLUDING THE SUN: Sirius
-
- LARGEST STARS: Have a diameter of about 1 billion miles (1.6 billion km.)
- About 1,000 times that of the sun.
-
- SMALLEST KNOWN STARS: Nuetron stars that have a diameter of 10 miles
- (16 km.).
-
- Colors: From Blue through white, yellow, and orange, to red, depending on
- star's surface temperature.
-
- TEMPERATURE: Surface, from about 50,000°F (28,000°C.) on blue stars to about
- 5,000°F. (2800°C.) on red stars; interior, more than
- 2,00,000°F. (1,100,000°C.)
-
- RADIATIONS: Heat, light, radio waves, ultraviolet rays,X rays.
-
- ENERGY SOURCE: Nuclear fusion process and other processes that change
- hydrogen into helium and energy.
-