STARS

WHAT ARE STARS? Stars are balls of hot gas. They are much larger than planets and much further from Earth. The sun is the closest star to Earth. Most of the gas in the inside of a star is hydrogen and its temperature is over 20 million degrees Fahrenheit. There is also helium, a gas that is formed when the hydrogen molecules join together. The energy released by a star is equal to millions of hydrogen bombs exploding all at once.

HOW ARE STARS LIKE OUR SUN? Stars ARE faraway suns. The stars are in the sky in the daytime too- we just can’t see them because our sun is so bright.

WHY ARE STARS DIFFERENT COLORS? Stars come in different colors and sizes. Cooler stars are red in color and hotter stars are bluish-white. Stars that are in between shine yellow like the sun.

GALAXIES A galaxy is a vast collection of stars. There are billions of galaxies in the universe. Our sun is in the galaxy called The Milky Way.

CONSTELLATIONS Constellations are the name given to groups of stars in the sky that seem to form a pattern. Stargazers created these pictures in the sky by drawing lines to connect the stars. Constellations are named after gods, animals, and people. Looking at constellations, the stars in them seem very close together, but are they really? There are 88 total constellations and they cannot all be seen from one location.

FAMOUS CONSTELLATIONS: ORION One of the largest and easiest to find. Stars form a hunter with his two faithful dogs by his side.

ORION’S LEGEND Orion was a handsome and famous hunter. The Battle- Goddess Anat fell in love with Orion, but when he refused to lend her his bow, she sent another man to steal it. This chap bungled the job, and wound up killing Orion and dropping the bow into the sea. This is said to explain the astronomical fact that Orion and the Bow (an older version of the constellation) drops below the horizon for two months every spring.

BIG DIPPER Also called the Great Bear or Ursa Major Made up of seven stars

LITTLE DIPPER Also called the Little Bear or Ursa Minor Like the Big Dipper but on a smaller scale It contains the North Star, a very important star to navigation

BIG DIPPER’S AND LITTLE DIPPER’S LEGEND The Myth ~ The Great Bear and the Little Bear To the ancient Greeks, the Big Dipper represented Callisto, huntress and goddess of the crescent moon. Zeus, king of the gods, fell in love with Callisto and she gave birth to his child named Arcas. Some say Hera, wife of Zeus and queen of the gods, became intensely jealous and changed Callisto into a bear left to roam the forest. One day Arcas came upon the bear. Callisto stood on her hind legs to welcome her son. Thinking himself attacked, Arcas readied his bow. Zeus, who saw what was about to happen, turned Arcas into a small bear. Grabbing both bears by their tails, Zeus hurled them into the safety of the sky, where they still roam close together as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.