Stars

Stars

An image of the Christmas Tree Cluster processed to make it look more like a Christmas Tree. Blue and white 'lights' are young stars that give off X-rays detected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Green gas from the nebula is captured in optical light by the National Science Foundation’s WIYN 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak. Infrared data from the Two Micron All Sky Survey shows foreground and background stars in white. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: T.A. Rector (NRAO/AUI/NSF and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA) and B.A. Wolpa (NOIRLab/NSF/AURA); Infrared: NASA/NSF/IPAC/CalTech/Univ. of Massachusetts; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare & J.Major

Cosmic Christmas Tree Cluster glows festive green in real deep-space image

The Christmas Tree Cluster appears green and even more Christmassy in a new image.

Caph by Jaspal Chadha, London, UK. Equipment: Skywatcher 100ED, QHY9S MONO, Chroma LRGB, iOptron CEM60

A guide to bright star Caph

Star Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Credit: iStock / Getty Images Plus

Astronomy explained | What is the brightest star?

The night sky is awash with stars, but which are the brightest? Discover what the brightest star in the night sky is tonight, and how to find it.

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Artist's impression of Gliese 887 and exoplanets Gliese 887 b and c. Credit: Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library

10 closest stars to Earth, from red dwarfs to multi-systems and those invisible to the naked eye

SS Cygni is an extrinsic variable, due to a nearby white dwarf drawing material away from the red giant. Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

This 'cataclysmic' binary star changes brightness every few weeks. Here's how to see it for yourself

Star Diary Podcast

Artist's impression showing the brightening of the T Coronae Borealis nova. Credit: NASA/Conceptual Image Lab/Goddard Space Flight Center

When T Coronae Borealis the Blaze Star ignites, it could become as bright as the North Star

Four antennas of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the Atacama Desert, Chile. Credit: ESO/José Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org)

Are most of the stars we see already dead?

UK astrophysicist Alastair Gunn tackles a common myth in space science

Zeta Reticuli (left), the constellation Reticulum and the Large Magellanic Cloud, captured in 2013 by Pete Lawrence from Paranal, Chile. Credit: Pete Lawrence / BBC Sky at Night Magazine.

Astronomy explained | The Zeta Reticuli double star

A guide to the Zeta Reticuli star system, facts about the binary pair, and how the stars became involved in one of the most popular UFO tales of recent decades.

Red giant star Antares

A guide to star Antares

How to see star Antares in the night sky.

Close-up image of ASKAP J1832 in X-ray and radio light. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/ICRAR, Curtin Univ./Z. Wang et al.; Radio: SARAO/MeerKAT; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk

Astronomers detected a strange radio and X-ray signal in deep space, unlike anything they've seen before

Star system TYC 7037-89-1, consists of 3 pairs of stars known as 'eclipsing binaries' because they alternatively pass in front of each other in their orbits, from our perspective. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

An eclipse-chaser's paradise! In this 6-star system, every sun regularly undergoes an eclipse

3 pairs of stars have been discovered 1,900 lightyears away in a system that sees each star regularly undergo an eclipse.

Illustration showing a star being ejected from the centre of a galaxy. Credit: NASA/ESA/G. Bacon (STScI)

Rogue stars have been found roaming in between galaxies

Is there such thing as a wandering star? Could rogue stars be ejected from their galactic systems and roam freely throughout space?

How many stars are born each day? This image shows part of the Taurus Molecular Cloud, a huge star-forming region. Credit: ESO/APEX (MPIfR/ESO/OSO)/A. Hacar et al./Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin.

How many stars are born each day? Are more being born than dying, or vice-versa?

What is the rate of star formation in the Universe, and are there more stars dying than being born, or vice-versa?

Artist's impression of a black dwarf star Credit: VectorWiz / Getty Images

5 hypothetical stars we've yet to discover

There could be dozens of strange stellar objects still left to discover. Here are some of the strangest hypothetical stars thought to exist.

What are stars? This is a starry region of the sky captured with ground-based telescopes. Credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2, Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin

Astronomy explained | What are stars?

What is a star? How does a star form and die? Find out in our guide packed with facts about stars and answers to some of the most commonly-asked questions.

M16. Credit: Gerald Rhemann.

Star clusters: an astronomer's guide

Groups of stars against the blackness of space, star clusters make great observational targets for the amateur astronomer.

Globular cluster NGC 3201, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. What makes stars twinkle? Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA. Acknowledgement: Sarajedini et al.

Astronomy explained | Why do stars twinkle?

What makes stars appear to twinkle in the night sky, as seen from Earth? And why is it that stars twinkle, but planets do not?

M44 - Behive Cluster ("Praesepe") in Cancer by Bill McSorley, Leeds, UK. Equipment: SW 150P Newtonian, HEQ5Pro Mount, QHY8L cooled ccd.

Beehive Cluster

Facts about and images of M44, also known as the Beehive Cluster.

Artist's concept of HD 188753 triple star system, with the primary star having a planet orbiting it. Credit: Mark Stevenson/Stocktrek Images

Triple star system TIC 290061484

A view of star cluster RCW 38 stellar cluster in infrared light, captured by ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy. Credit: ESO/VVVX survey

Infrared telescope peers through cosmic dust to create 80-million-pixel view of newborn stars in a cluster

Amazing image shows young stars glowing among the very ingredients from which they formed.

Delta Aurigae forms part of a line of stars that point the way to the North Star. Credit: BBC Sky at Night Magazine

Delta Aurigae

M13, The Great Hercules Cluster Patrick Cosgrove, Honeoye Falls, New York, May 2022 Equipment: ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro camera, Astro-Physics 130mm EDT apo scope, IOptron CEM60 mount

Gallery | Hercules Globular Cluster

M13, the Hercules Globular Cluster, is perhaps the most famous of all globulars.

A coronal mass ejection captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).

What do stars look like up close?

What does a star really look like, and how do astronomers know?

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