do stars just reflect light or create their own light?

Answer 1

you know i never thought about it .............good question

Answer 2

What we refer to as "stars" are actually "suns", that is to say gigantic balls of incandescent gas. The nearest star to us is our sun, which is 93,000,000 miles away. It is 860,000 miles in diameter. Earth is about 8,000 miles in diameter. At that, the sun is only a medium sized star. The next nearest star is 26,000,000,000,000 miles away (I think that's the right number of zeros) so for us to be able to see it and all the other approximetly 6,000 stars we can see with just our eyes, they have to be a pretty big nuclear bodies. With binoculars or a telescope, you can see billions more, even whole galaxies
Those bodies we see that do not "twinkle" are our own solar system's planets and their satellites. We only see them when we are between them and the sun, as they are reflecting the sun's light back. Our own planet Earth is beautiful from space because of all the water and air surrounding it. Just as the ocean reflects light more brilliantly than the sand, Yes, sand reflects light or we could not see it. Almost everything reflects light except black holes. But that's another question

Answer 3

The sun is a star. Officially stars give off light. But some of the 'stars' you see in the sky are actually planets reflecting the light. I think you can see Venus at times but I couldn't point it out to you!

Answer 4

All of your responders are correct, except for one small class of double stars.

Stars create their own radiant energy, but they can reflect light, too! If a star has a close and small companion, and the companion is very hot, it can cause the larger star to reflect its light!

So in all, but the most exceptional cases, stars shine by their own light, but they can reflect the light of another star, too.

HTH

Charles

Answer 5

Stars create their own light. Like the sun.

Answer 6

Stars create their own light. In actuality, they do this by nuclear fusion. Hydrogen atoms are under such pressure and heat that they fuse to form Helium, the resulting helium atoms are lighter than the original hydrogen atoms and the extra mass is radiated as energy. As the star ages it fuses heavier elements (Ex. Helium to carbon) and eventually exhausts all of its fuel. The outward nuclear pressure can no longer sustain the star, it goes into gravitational collapse and depending on its size it either becomes a white dwarf star, a neutron star or a black hole.

Answer 7

Create their own. Where would the light come from if all the stars we see, including our own star (the sun), reflected it?

Answer 8

Stars Are Burning Balls Of Gas. They Create Their Own Light. How Old Are You Anyway?

Answer 9

They make their own. Every second, millions upon millions of fusion reactions occur within the sun which produce energy... any time that you produce energy, heat and light are given off... the sun would also reflect a certain amount of light, but for the most part, they give off all of the light that you see.

Answer 10

Our sun is a star. Stars create their own light.

Answer 11

Stars form from concentrations in huge interstellar gas clouds. These contract due to their own gravitational pull. As the cloud gets smaller it loses some of the energy stored in it as potential gravitational energy. This is turned into heat, which in the early days of the embryo star can easily escape, and so the gas cloud stays cool. As the cloud's density rises, it gets more and more difficult for the heat to get out, and so the centre gets hot. If the cloud is big enough, the temperature rise is sufficient for nuclear reactions to take place. This generates more heat, and the 'burning' of hydrogen into helium takes place, as in the Sun. The object is then a star.