Nearby Stars to Our Sun (Sol)
Where Planets have been discovered

Our Sun is just one star among billions in the Milky Way Galaxy.  The most recent estimate is that there may be about two hundred billion suns (200,000,000,000) in our Milky way Galaxy and the most recent study done by astronomers from the University of Washington has concluded that the Milky Way has a mass of about seven hundreds billion (700,000,000,000) suns!*

Are we the only star with planets orbiting a sun?  Are we the only planet where intelligent life exists?  These are probably two of the greatest questions people want to see answered.

* The Seattle Times 17 Dec 1998, page C11; "Student does stellar job on Milky Way Mass"
 

To visit a web site about planets orbiting other stars other than our own Sun click the "ExtraSolar Visions" icon.


 

The nearest Star to Earth
Our Sun

Our Sun is a Star and all stars we see in space are also Suns.  There are more stars in the Universe than there are grains of sand on all the world's beaches on the planet Earth!

The Sun is a glowing hot ball of gas.  At the center of the Sun, every second four million (4,000,000) tons of matter is converted into energy as hydrogen is turned into helium by the process known as nuclear fusion.

The Sun shines by nuclear fusion, where Hydrogen is fused into more complex elements.  In this process matter is transformed into energy according to Einstein's equation

E = MC2
It is the energy released from nuclear fusion that gives the solar system and  the Earth, Light, heat and energy.

The Sun in classified as a yellow Dwarf star.  It has a life expectancy of about 11 billion (11,000,000,000) years.  It has already lived about 4,500,000,000 years.  This means that the Sun will die out in about  six billion years when it uses up all of it's nuclear fuel.  It will at first swell up to become a RED GIANT and then shrink to a WHITE DWARF star.

All Stars eventually die out.  Some fade away and become BROWN DWARF or white dwarfs.  Other larger stars undergo a dramatic death by exploding during a supernova.  The remaining core of the star then becomes a NEUTRON STAR or a BLACK HOLE.

Other Stars in space
ALGOL - The "Winking Demon Star".  A binary star in the constellation Perseus where one star eclipses the other causing the brightness of the stars to continually change.  Click on the exploding star  to see more info about  ALGOL  and a motion picture of the two stars orbiting and eclipsing each other.
 

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