10 Amazing Facts About Stars

I’ll argue that the biggest mystery is not what was, or what will be—it’s what is.

For thousands of years people have looked at the sky and asked that very question—it’s even in one of the world’s most famous lullabies.

Because that’s what stars do: they fill us with awe and intrigue. They make us wonder about the nature of the universe and ourselves, and although we might not have all our questions answered, we still feel hope and inspiration when we look up… Almost as though being here is enough.

Well, we don’t have all the answers for you, but we’ve got some, and their sure to leave you with the same curiosity that science never fails to deliver. At the very least, these 10 amazing facts about stars will make you the most interesting person in the room.

Oh, and they might also blow your mind.

1. Almost All Matter in The Universe Comes From Stars

The oxygen you breathe in, the calcium that strengthens your bones, and even the nitrogen that forms your DNA—they were all formed in stars long before galaxies even existed.

Stars spend their entire life building elements within themselves, then when they reach the end of their life, they explode and scatter the elements throughout space.

These elements are responsible for creating matter (anything that’s physical).

2. Planets Are Born from Stars—and Depend on Them. The Ones That Don’t, Go Rogue

Planets are created from the leftover gas and dust in a spinning cloud that surrounds young stars.

Incredibly, there are around 100 billion stars in the galaxy, and it’s likely that for every star there are one or more planets. This means that there are more planets than stars, which makes sense because planets sometimes orbit stars—just like the Earth orbits the Sun.

3. You Can Never Actually See A Star; You Can Only See The Light They Give Off

One of the most interesting facts about stars is that we don’t actually see them.

It’s easy to think that you are seeing a star when you look up into the night sky, but don’t be fooled—what you are really looking at is the light that stars give off.

In reality, stars are too far away to see with your naked eye, and even if you were to look through a telescope, you are not actually seeing the sun, moon, or any other celestial object—all you are seeing is their light.

You can only see objects that light has reached the surface of. For example, If you can view Mars with a telescope, then it is only because the light reflected from Mars has reached the distance your telescope can show you. In reality, Mars is way too see with your naked eyes.

A light year is the distance light travels in one year. The stars you see when you look up at the night sky is about 1000 light years away; therefor, they take about 1000 years to reach the Earth, and when they do, they reach your eyes.

But space as a huge place, and some stars are much further than that.

4. The light From Some Stars Travel For Billions of Years and Still Haven’t Reached Us

Light has a speed of 18,000 miles per second.

To put that into perspective, light can travel from the Earth to the Moon in 1.28 seconds, and in that same amount of time, it could travel back and forth between New York and Los Angeles 36 times!

There are stars in deep space—not within our galaxy—that are so far away, that their light has not reached the Earth yet.

5. When You Look at a Star, You Are Looking at The Past

Let’s say that you go outside and begin to look at a star in the night sky.

Since you’ve read our 10 interesting facts about stars, you know that you are only seeing the light of that star, and not the star itself.

If you can only see the light that a star gives off, and it takes a thousand years for that light to reach the Earth, then you are actually seeing that star as it was 1000 years ago.

For you to see what that star looks like right now, you’d need to wait another thousand years—because the light it’s emitting right now would take another thousand years to reach you.

6. It’s Theoretically Possible That Some Stars You See Might Not Exist Anymore

Some stars in deep space are millions of light years away meaning that it will take millions of years for their light to reach the point where you can see them with a telescope.

Stars typically live for a few million years, and If some stars sent out their light a few million years ago, it’s theoretically possible that some of these stars have died and aren’t there anymore. Why?

Because the light has already left the star and is travelling into space, but the star is still in its orbit in a galaxy far far away (unless the poor sucker went rouge).

The light and the star are two independent things. So, you can be looking at a star, but for all you know, that star might have died.

But although it may be gone, you are still able to look at it’s light—it gives you inspiration and leaves you in wonder for as long as you live.

Star Size	Lifespan
Massive Stars	A few million years
Medium-sized Stars	Approx. 10 billion years
Small Stars	Tens to hundreds of billions of years

8. Stars Are One of The Few Things in Existence That Give Off Their Own Light

Planets, moons, asteroids, and even most living things don’t produce light on their own; they reflect light from celestial objects that give off light—like stars.

In other word’s, you can only see other objects largely because stars exist. Without light from stars, your eyes would never be able to capture these objects (or people or thing’s).

Here’s a bonus to go with our 10 facts about stars:

the only reason we can see anything on Earth is because light reflects off objects and into our eyes, and before we invented light bulbs, most of that light came from stars.

Other than infrared and thermal radiation—which can only be seen with some cameras—we as human beings don’t even produce our own light.

9. Stars Are Constantly Battling Gravity, and Gravity Always Wins (Thankfully)

Stars are in a constant battle with gravity throughout their lives.

The core of a star burns hydrogen, and this fuel keeps the star stable by generating an outward pressure. At the same time, gravity is always trying to crush the star by pulling matter inward—creating inward pressure.

Eventually, the star runs out of energy and gives into the pressure where it is swallowed by gravity and implodes.

This explosion spreads elements throughout the galaxy, and elements were responsible for the creation of all matter.

A star literally had to die for you to be here right now.

10. The Final Fact About Stars: A Star Created the Largest Ocean In The Universe—and it’s Floating In Space

The largest body of water in the universe is 140 trillion times the size of all of Earth’s oceans combined, and it’s floating in space around a quasar.

What does this have to do with stars?

Sometimes when stars explode, they create a region in space where gravity is so strong that nothing—not even light—can escape it. This is called a black hole—a term you’re probably familiar with.

The largest body of water in the universe is surrounding a type of black hole called a quasar and it’s moving through space at this very moment.

If Light Cannot Escape a Black Hole, Then How Do We See it?

Nothing can escape a black hole, not even light.

This means that black holes neither produce their own light nor can they reflect it; however, we can see black holes from the lights that are close to it.

This is exactly what happened in 2019 when the first image of a black hole was captured in a galaxy 53.49 million light years away (Galaxy M87).

You see how the red colour looks as though it’s moving? That’s because the gravitational force of the black hole is bending the light passing near it.

In this way, we are able to view black holes because of the lights around it.