do stars reflect light?

Question

I know that sattelites like the moon can reflect light but someone told me stars could reflect light

Answer 1

Stars produce much more so than reflect, I would imagine the quantity they reflect is insignificant next to what they produce. We don't see them because they reflect....in their case we see them because they "emitted". Be well.

Answer 2

I don't think anyone has nailed the answer.

No. Stars do not reflect light. Not even a little.

In order to be considered "reflecting" light, photons would need to strike a surface, and reflect off in the opposite direction. A star is basically a massive flame burning in space. It has no surface with which to reflect light.

One way to look at it: ask yourself if a candle-flame reflects light. It does not. It doesn't matter if you use a headlamp 1,000 times brighter than the candle, the flame itself will not reflect any of that light back. This is because the flame is not a reflective object, but a region where gasses are undergoing combustion.

Another way to see this is that if you backlight the candle and look at the shadow on the wall, the flame itself doesn't cast a shadow ... so the flame is allowing the light to pass right through it, so it cannot be reflecting the light .
Picture: http://set.lanl.gov/programs/DX2/explorations/CandleShadow.htm

Answer 3

It runs in my mind that there is an eclipsing variable star with a very large, faint red component and a much brighter, much smaller white or blue component. If memory serves me correctly, the light curve indicates that light from the white or blue component is reflected off the red one, when the red one is behind the other. I just cannot recall which variable it is, and I am not even certain about the reflection. The star may be epsilon Auriga, but I'm not certain. However, there is no reason something like that wouldn't occur.

Answer 4

Yes, the reflective factor of a star is quite high. But since the star is producing light, it is a sun after all, the reflective properties are not really a factor. It is only after is stops producing light of its own that its reflective properties, or albedo factor, are even considered. An example of the difference would be shining a flashlight off of an object in full sunlight, the light from the flashlight would be almost nonexistent.

Answer 5

You don't have to have a surface to reflect light. Anybody who has ever seen a cloud knows that. Some of the photons hitting a star from the outside will be reflected, so yes, stars can reflect light. It would be pretty much impossible to detect hidden in the light they generate themselves, but it would be there.

Answer 6

Well yes...but, the star gives off light. This light is so intense that any light that is reflected off from the gases within the star...as the star is made up of gases these too reflect light. But the light from the star is so intense it wou ld be hard to see the reflected light.

Answer 7

Ever heard the song "Why Does the Sun Shine" by They Might be Giants?

"The sun is a mass of incandescent gas..."

Stars emit light. Certainly they also refelct some but most of the light results from the nuclear reactions going on inside of the stars.

Answer 8

While this might be technically possible, the reflection that occurred would be extremely small in comparison to the light given off by their nuclear fires which are burning so hot that intense light and radiation are given off lighting up the heavens.
That is the light that you see when you look at a star. Intense Xray and Gamma radiation is also given off by the burning mass of stars.

Answer 9

They probably do, a little, but because they emit light, the persentage of light relfected is too small to even talk about it. It is the same light, so it is imposibble to differentiate.

There are always some particles capable of reflecting some photons.

Answer 10

Stars are the ones that produce the light, for example the Sun is a medium sized star and we all know that the sun produces light :)

Answer 11

the definition of star is- celestial bodies that generate their own heat and emit their own light energy.
so no, stars do not need to reflect light and i dont think they do either. a luminous body does not reflect other light falling on it.