can the stars we see in the nightsky be referred to as suns, or are they totally unrelated entities?

Answer 1

Don't quote me on this, but yes they can be. But it's just that we call our star the sun.

Answer 2

Yahoo or Google for the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram. This will show you all the known types of stages of stars. Of those types there is a classification in the main sequence of "yellow". Our Sun is a star in the yellow stage of its life.
This can be interpreted like the "If a tree falls in the forest does it make a sound" question. Some refer to Sun as a star with a planetary object orbiting it. If there isn't a planetary object it isn't a sun. Others will say if it's a star, it's a sun. I would say, all stars are suns and either term could be used.
Edit after reading answer and realising what I did.
Sun, caplitalized, refers to our Earth's yellow star while the term sun, lowercase, refers to another star. Like Earth refers to our planet and earth is some dirt found out in your yard.
I am sure this will be debated with as much energy as whether Pluto is a planet or not :P

Answer 3

They are all stars and so they are related. And many many stars are virtually identical to the sun in every way but Sun is the name we have given our parent star and all other stars should be referred to by their name (Alpha Centauri A, Epsilon Eridani etc). Unless we travel to another starsystem that is. Humans would probably refer to the parent star of that system as the sun.

Answer 4

As far as we know, most stars are the center of true planetary systems, very many of them, thousands of times bigger than our own...this can be deduced by the altered spinning movement of the stars, cause by surrounding rotating planets..
An yes, we can refer to them as "suns" of another galaxies, however our sun is a very small star, compared with other more at the center of the galaxy...
Conversely, some of the stares we do see at night, when analyzed with potent telescopes, do not show this "spindle" behavior, and we cant conclude that they are surrounded by planets,,,there is another mystery for the next generations to solve.....

Answer 5

If the star twinkles it is a sun. If it's just a steady and still light than it's a planet reflecting light from a nearby sun.

Answer 6

The name "sun" is usually referenced when talking about our star but it's not unusual to hear about the other suns out in space. I'm sure the inquisition won't come after you is you use it that way.

Answer 7

well our sun is a star. so that you could call a sun. however for a star to be considered a sun it has to have planets that revolve around it otherwise it is known as one of the following classifications of stars: Red star,Blue Star or yellow star. those can be further divided into sub categories of stars known as: Blue giants,Blue dwarfs, Red Giants and Red dwarfs and also Yellow dwarfs and yellow giants. Our sun is a yellow star!

Answer 8

there is only one element in the galaxy that produces light by itself, while, almost all thing in the galaxy reflect light.

the only element in the galaxy that produces, or emits light by itself is star. all kinds of stars emit light. and, sun is a star also. the term "sun" is the name that we given to the star of our solar system, the milky way. hence, sun, and all stars that become the centers of other solar systems, are one same element - star.

Answer 9

yes, a sun is synonymous with a star, but in the night sky you could also see planets galaxies or other astronomical stuff.

Answer 10

you can also call them as sun because our sun is also a star.