The Stars and Bars was the first official flag of the Confederate States of America, adopted in 1861. It featured seven white stars on a blue box and alternating red and white stripes. Its designer is disputed. It was replaced in 1863 due to confusion with the US flag and several battle flags were used […]
The history of the US national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner,” dates back to 1750. It was officially made the national anthem in 1931 and is notoriously difficult to sing. The song was composed by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreonotic Society of London, and Francis Scott Key wrote the poem “In Defense of Fort […]
Gene Autry has five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in film, television, recording, radio, and live performances. He starred in the first musical Western, Tumbling Tumbleweeds. The Walk of Fame has over 2,300 stars, with an average of 20 added each year. A man is alone among the stars on […]
There are 3-7 x 10²² stars in the universe, a relatively small number. Stars are organized into clusters, galaxies, galaxy clusters, superclusters, and the Great Wall. The Milky Way has 200-400 billion stars, and there are 80 billion galaxies in the observable universe. The universe is at least 93 billion light-years in diameter. Scientists estimate […]
iPTF14hls, nicknamed a “zombie star,” has survived five separate supernova events, shining brightly for 600 days. Its brightness varied erratically, breaking what we thought we knew about supernovas. It may have also survived a previous explosion in 1954. The final stage of a giant star’s life is a blaze of glory called a “supernova.” Typically, […]
Main-sequence stars form a coherent curve on the Hertzsprung-Russell plot due to their masses dictating their luminosity and spectral signatures. White dwarfs have similar spectral signatures but less luminosity. Stars eventually collapse into white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes depending on their mass. Most stars fall into a categorization class called the main sequence, […]
Giant stars have a larger radius and luminosity than main-sequence stars due to their helium or heavier element cores. Stars with more than 0.4 solar masses will become giants, and stars with more than 8 solar masses will eventually collapse into a supernova, creating a neutron star. Giant stars are massive stars with a radius […]
Stargazing is a fun activity that can be enjoyed by anyone. No special equipment is needed, just a clear view of the night sky and a comfortable place to sit. Binoculars can enhance the experience, and visiting a planetarium can provide access to professional equipment. Stargazing can help put life’s problems into perspective and provide […]
WISE 1828+2650 is the coldest known star at 80°F, while CFBDSIR 1458 10b is the second coolest at 200°F. These stars are brown dwarfs and too small to initiate nuclear fusion. Most visible stars rotate in binary pairs. The coldest known star is “WISE 1828+2650,” which is about 80°F (about 24°C), making it cooler than […]
NASA discovered six Y-dwarfs, the coldest stars of the brown dwarf variety, using the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer in 2011. These stars lack the mass to burn for long periods and gradually cool until emitting only faint infrared light. The coolest Y dwarf, WISE 1828+2650, is 80 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the others and is […]
The first stars formed from primordial gas clouds 300 million years after the Big Bang with no metallicity. They were huge and probably existed for no more than a million years, and we may not observe them until telescope technology improves. The first stars formed about 300 million years after the Big Bang, when the […]
Fixed stars appear to remain in relative position to each other, unlike wandering stars such as the sun, moon, and planets. The concept is not scientifically accurate but was used in ancient cosmological models. Most visible objects are part of the Milky Way galaxy and constantly moving. Wandering stars were those other than fixed stars, […]
Scientists found the first planet-like object in 2002, but it’s unknown how they came into being. Theories suggest they were kicked out of orbit or created by collapsing dust and gas. CFBDSIR2149 is one of the closest known free-floating planets. Jupiter rotates the fastest, Mercury’s craters may contain ice, and Uranus has 21-year seasonal cycles. […]
When a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel, it forms an iron core that collapses into neutronium, a state of matter where electrons and protons fuse into neutrons. This collapse creates a supernova that results in a neutron star, which is incredibly dense and can emit radio or X-ray waves. Some neutron stars, called […]
Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t have tattoos because he donates blood twice a year and a new tattoo can prevent blood donation for up to a year. He has won multiple Ballon d’Or awards and is considered one of the greatest soccer players of all time. He was also named the highest-paid athlete in the world in […]
