Why is the sun a dwarf star?

Answer 1

A yellow dwarf star, is a star on the main sequence that has a temperature range of between 5,200 to 6,000 Kelvin. It has a spectral class of G or possibly F.

Our Sun is a yellow dwarf - much as you may not believe it, it is a dwarf compared to other stars!!

See related question for a size comparison

Answer 2

There are several kinds of dwarf stars, and I suggest you look them up in the Wikipedia or some other encyclopedia, for more details. Briefly:

A white dwarf is a star that stopped producing energy. It is relatively bright (per unit area), but the total brightness is small.

• A white dwarf will eventually convert to a black dwarf - after it cools down. This is because no new energy is produced. Since it takes a long, long time for a white dwarf to convert to a black dwarf, it is believed there currently are none - they didn't yet have time to form.
• A red dwarf is simply a star that has much less mass than the Sun. It is smaller and radiates much, much less energy; it is expected that one of those can continue shining normally up to a trillion (1012) years or so.
• A brown dwarf is a "failed star" - smaller still than a red dwarf, it never reached the temperature required for nuclear fusion. Somewhat between a giant planet and a star.
  
  There are several kinds of dwarf stars, and I suggest you look them up in the Wikipedia or some other encyclopedia, for more details. Briefly:
• A white dwarf is a star that stopped producing energy. It is relatively bright (per unit area), but the total brightness is small.
• A white dwarf will eventually convert to a black dwarf - after it cools down. This is because no new energy is produced. Since it takes a long, long time for a white dwarf to convert to a black dwarf, it is believed there currently are none - they didn't yet have time to form.
• A red dwarf is simply a star that has much less mass than the Sun. It is smaller and radiates much, much less energy; it is expected that one of those can continue shining normally up to a trillion (1012) years or so.
• A brown dwarf is a "failed star" - smaller still than a red dwarf, it never reached the temperature required for nuclear fusion. Somewhat between a giant planet and a star.
  
  There are several kinds of dwarf stars, and I suggest you look them up in the Wikipedia or some other encyclopedia, for more details. Briefly:
• A white dwarf is a star that stopped producing energy. It is relatively bright (per unit area), but the total brightness is small.
• A white dwarf will eventually convert to a black dwarf - after it cools down. This is because no new energy is produced. Since it takes a long, long time for a white dwarf to convert to a black dwarf, it is believed there currently are none - they didn't yet have time to form.
• A red dwarf is simply a star that has much less mass than the Sun. It is smaller and radiates much, much less energy; it is expected that one of those can continue shining normally up to a trillion (1012) years or so.
• A brown dwarf is a "failed star" - smaller still than a red dwarf, it never reached the temperature required for nuclear fusion. Somewhat between a giant planet and a star.
  
  There are several kinds of dwarf stars, and I suggest you look them up in the Wikipedia or some other encyclopedia, for more details. Briefly:
• A white dwarf is a star that stopped producing energy. It is relatively bright (per unit area), but the total brightness is small.
• A white dwarf will eventually convert to a black dwarf - after it cools down. This is because no new energy is produced. Since it takes a long, long time for a white dwarf to convert to a black dwarf, it is believed there currently are none - they didn't yet have time to form.
• A red dwarf is simply a star that has much less mass than the Sun. It is smaller and radiates much, much less energy; it is expected that one of those can continue shining normally up to a trillion (1012) years or so.
• A brown dwarf is a "failed star" - smaller still than a red dwarf, it never reached the temperature required for nuclear fusion. Somewhat between a giant planet and a star.

Answer 3

There are several kinds of dwarf stars, and I suggest you look them up in the Wikipedia or some other encyclopedia, for more details. Briefly:

A white dwarf is a star that stopped producing energy. It is relatively bright (per unit area), but the total brightness is small.

• A white dwarf will eventually convert to a black dwarf - after it cools down. This is because no new energy is produced. Since it takes a long, long time for a white dwarf to convert to a black dwarf, it is believed there currently are none - they didn't yet have time to form.
• A red dwarf is simply a star that has much less mass than the Sun. It is smaller and radiates much, much less energy; it is expected that one of those can continue shining normally up to a trillion (1012) years or so.
• A brown dwarf is a "failed star" - smaller still than a red dwarf, it never reached the temperature required for nuclear fusion. Somewhat between a giant planet and a star.

Answer 4

A dwarf star is any main sequence star that has a luminosity class of V. [See related link]

Our Sun is a yellow dwarf, although it may not look dwarfish!

Other dwarf stars are:

• Red Dwarf - a low mass sequence star that will "burn" for billions of years
• White dwarf - The remains of a star similar to our own Sun
• Brown dwarf - A star that did not have enough mass to fuse hydrogen into helium.
• Black dwarf - The remains of a white dwarf that has cooled so much that it no longer emits any radiation.
  
• Blue dwarf - A star that "may" form the basis of a red dwarf.
  

Dwarf stars are still hot by Earth standards, but substantially less so than many stars.

See related questions

Answer 5

The sun is considered a yellow dwarf, although this is a complete misnomer, as it is larger and brighter than over 3/4 of the stars in the galaxy and is fated to become a red giant after this part of it's life cycle.

The term "yellow dwarf" is somewhat antiquated, as it was coined before the space age, when we were able to find out not only that our sun is actually relatively big and will be getting much bigger, but also that when seen from space (as opposed to through the atmosphere), it is not yellow at all, but is instead white.

So, in short, it is not yellow, and it is not a dwarf, but it is still considered to be a "yellow dwarf".

Answer 6

The Sun is categorized as a yellow dwarf, stellar class G2V. The "V" part is what

indicates that it's a "dwarf" (main sequence) star.

The terminology is a little confusing. "Dwarf" is used for historical reasons and only

incidentally refers to size; for the hottest stars, there's very little size difference

between dwarfs and giants.

Also, there's no "medium" or "normal" category. Stars are white dwarfs, subdwarfs,

dwarfs, subgiants, giants, bright giants, supergiants, or hypergiants. Dwarfs are

by far the most common type of star.

Answer 7

They give off so much light, because technically they are of the same make as our sun, just smaller, so they give out around the same amount, although a bit less probably, depending on the star, as our sun

Answer 8

There are different classes of star that can be called dwarf stars. Some are ordinary stars that have masses similar to or less than that of the sun. These include red dwarfs, orange dwarfs, and yellow dwarfs. A brown dwarf is a star that failed to initiate nuclear fusion. A white dwarf is the collapsed remnant of a low to medium mass star.

Answer 9

No, it is impossible for the sun to be a brown dwarf. Brown dwarfs are bodies that are too large to be planets, yet too small to be a star. The Sun is a fully-functioning star; it is hundreds of times larger than Jupiter. Brown dwarfs are only about 40 times larger than Jupiter.

Answer 10

Yes, the Sun is what astronomers call a yellow dwarf, stellar class G2V. The "V" part is what indicates that it's a "dwarf" (main sequence) star.

The terminology is a little confusing. "Dwarf" is used for historical reasons and only incidentally refers to size; for the hottest stars, there's very little size difference between dwarfs and giants.

Also, there's no "medium" or "normal" category. Stars are white dwarfs, subdwarfs, dwarfs, subgiants, giants, bright giants, supergiants, or hypergiants. Dwarfs are by far the most common type of star.