The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to stars:
A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by self-gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night; their immense distances from Earth make them appear as fixed points of light. The most prominent stars have been categorised into constellations and asterisms, and many of the brightest stars have proper names. Astronomers have assembled star catalogues that identify the known stars and provide standardized stellar designations. The observable universe contains an estimated 1022 to 1024 stars. Only about 4,000 of these stars are visible to the naked eye—all within the Milky Way galaxy.
What type of thing are stars?
Stars can be described as all of the following:
Types of stars
Types of stars, by luminosity
Types of stars, by spectral classification
Fields that study stars
History of stars
Stellar evolution
Organizations that study stars
- American Astronomical Society - Major organization of professional astronomers in North America
- European Space Agency - Intergovernmental organization dedicated to space exploration, including stellar research
- European Southern Observatory - Intergovernmental research organization for ground-based astronomy
- Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics - Research institute combining the resources of Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institution
- International Astronomical Union - Global association of professional astronomers, including those who study stars
- W. M. Keck Observatory - Astronomical observatory in Hawaii with two of the largest optical telescopes in the world
- Max Planck Institute for Astronomy - German research institute focusing on stellar and planetary astronomy
- NASA Exoplanet Science Institute - Research center dedicated to the study of exoplanets and their host stars
- National Optical Astronomy Observatory - US national center for ground-based night-time astronomy
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory - Federally funded research and development center for radio astronomy in the US
- Royal Astronomical Society - UK-based learned society for astronomy and astrophysics
- SETI Institute - Organization dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, including studying stars
- Space Telescope Science Institute - Science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope and other space observatories
Star-related publications
Persons involved with stars
See also
References
External links
- Kaler, James. "Portraits of Stars and their Constellations". University of Illinois. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
- "Query star by identifier, coordinates or reference code". SIMBAD. Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
- "How To Decipher Classification Codes". Astronomical Society of South Australia. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
- Prialnick, Dina; et al. (2001). "Stars: Stellar Atmospheres, Structure, & Evolution". University of St. Andrews. Retrieved 2010-08-20.