Stars

1. The Sun is not a star.

The Sun is a star. People associate stars with the night sky because they can see stars clearly. The Sun can be seen in the daytime because it is so close to Earth. We can't see other stars during the day because the Sun's light illuminates the Earth's atmosphere.

2. All stars are exactly the same.

All stars are not the same. Stars vary in brightness, color, mass, temperature, and age.

3. The stars in a constellation are close to each other.

The stars that make up a constellation are the brightest ones in that region of the sky, but they are not close to each other. Some groups of stars are close to each other and reside at the same distance from Earth. The Pleiades is such a group.

4. Stars live forever.

Stars do not live forever. Stars' life spans range from millions to trillions of years, depending on the type of star. The shortest-lived stars last about 50 million years.

5. All stars will end their lives the same way – as supernovae.

Not all stars will end their lives in violent explosions, called supernovae. Only massive stars become supernovae. The Sun and other, less-massive stars will gently puff off their outer layers to form a shell of glowing gas called a planetary nebula.