If you ask astronomers if there is anything unusual in the Sun, in the star closest to us, most of them will unequivocally answer no. Meanwhile, in the Universe there are many much more interesting stars to study - huge, with unusual planetary systems, binary, neutron, and so on. The universe definitely has something to surprise a person with; amazing discoveries do not stop.

To understand how unusual the world of stars can be, just consider some interesting facts.

Stars and Distances

Despite the fact that the night sky in clear weather may seem densely strewn with stars, the distance between them is huge. It can be thousands of light years. If we take any galaxy for consideration, it will be necessary to note that closer to its center the stars are denser, but with distance from it the distances increase more and more. The sizes of galaxies, star clusters are also huge - the Milky Way, within which our solar system is located, has about 100 thousand light-years across.

This is an ordinary, not at all large galaxy, of which there are billions in the cosmos - tens, hundreds of billions. Man cannot observe the whole cosmos, and the most distant stars that can be seen today with the help of modern technology are 10 billion light-years distant. The speed of light is negligible in outer space, the dimensions of which are amazing.Because of this, a curious paradox arises. A star removed a certain number of light years may no longer exist. But the light from it will go to the Earth, and only after a significant period of time, equal to the period of its removal, will it be possible to see the death of this star on Earth.

What can astonish stars with?

It is worth mentioning some other facts that may surprise. And it’s worth starting with the Sun, which is a yellow dwarf, stable, at the main stage of its life. Space has been receiving stable light from the Sun for about 4.5 billion years, which allowed life to develop on Earth. Scientists believe that our star will continue its “work” for at least another 7 billion years, and only then turn into a red giant, rapidly expanding to the orbit of Mercury or Venus. But what about the other stars?

• All of them were initially cold and were a gas cloud of hydrogen. Then gravitational forces pulled the gas into a ball, and in its bowels thermonuclear processes were activated;
• Hydrogen, necessary for creating new stars, is everywhere in space - the Big Bang provided them with the space of the Universe very generously. Over time, stars convert part of the hydrogen into helium;
• The sun is 29 percent helium and 70 percent hydrogen;

The life of a star is a constant struggle with its own gravity, which requires constant compression of the celestial body. But the emitted light and the reactions occurring in the bowels throw out a mass of energy out.Photons can emerge from the bowels of the sun for 100 thousand years, punching their way through the entire thickness and counteracting the forces of gravity. By emitting too much energy, a star can expand to a red giant, but by producing too little, it can decrease to a white dwarf;

• The bulk of the stars in the universe known to man are red dwarfs with sizes half as small as the sun;
• If the mass of the star is only 7.5 percent of the mass of the Sun, then its gravity will not be enough to start thermonuclear reactions. These are the so-called brown dwarfs, failed stars;
• Red stars are the coldest, blue are the hottest
• The larger the star, the more unstable it is, and the shorter its life.

You can tell a lot about the stars, but even these facts will be enough to understand the unusual nature of our universe.