• Question: are star's planet's...if not then what are they?

    Asked by carys to Jim on 9 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Jim Barrett

      Jim Barrett answered on 9 Mar 2016:

      Nope, stars and planets are quite different. Stars are a lot bigger than planets, and so the gravity is so strong around them that they have to burn from the inside to stop from exploding or collapsing.

      Planets are relatively boring lumps of rock or gas or ice which circle around stars due to gravity.

Comments

  • Photo: Scott

    Scott commented on :

    When you look up in the night sky, you’ll often see lights which are even brighter than the stars. These are the planets in our solar system. At first glance it is difficult to tell the planets apart from the stars, as they all just look like points of light in the sky. But if you look over several nights, you’ll see the planets move while the stars stay fixed!