Did You Know: Space – Are all stars the same?
Stars come in lots of different sizes and colors. Some are gigantic, many times bigger than the sun. Other stars are tiny and not very bright. Here are some of the types of star that have been discovered in the universe so far.
Red supergiant
These stars are huge!
If you were to put the sun next to a red supergiant you would hardly be able to see it.
These massive stars have much shorter life spans than smaller stars.
Blue supergiant
In space, the hottest stars are blue. Blue supergiants are extremely hot and bright, but are smaller in size than the red supergiants.
Blue giant
Large and compact, blue giants burn fuel quickly.
This means they reach really high temperatures and are very bright.
The sun
The sun is an average star, also known as a main sequence star.
There are many stars similar to our sun in the universe.
Red giant
Red giants are stars that are near the end of their life. They are much cooler and larger than the sun.
Orange subgiant
Between a red giant and a star like the sun, is the orange subgiant. Our sun will turn into an orange subgiant toward the end of its life, before it becomes a red giant.
Are there stars that are smaller than the sun?
Red dwarf
Stars that are small are known as dwarf stars. A red dwarf is a star that is much smaller and cooler than the sun.
White dwarf
A white dwarf is what is left over from a star like our sun, when it has come to the end of its life. It is very heavy and small, about the same size as the Earth.