Can you tell the difference between a star and a planet?

Answer 1

The main difference is that a star emits its own energy, which it converts through nuclear fusion; a planet does not. As a result, you can expect a star to have a surface that's quite a bit hotter than that of a planet. What an object is depends, to a great extent, on its mass; objects up to about 13 times the mass of Jupiter would be planets (or planet-like object - if they don't orbit a star, they won't be called a planet!), objects more massive than that would be called "brown dwarves" - these can fuse deuterium, but don't get hot enough to fuse normal hydrogen (hydrogen-1), and objects with more than about 0.075 times the mass of our Sun would be a star proper (a red dwarf, for the less massive ones). A star is an object able to fuse hydrogen-1.

Answer 2

Planets tend to be brighter (although not always).

They also do not appear to twinkle, except when close to the horizon.

The only sure way to tell is that stars don't move in relation to each other over a period of a few years.

Answer 3

If you're asking how can you tell if a given point of light in the sky is a planet or a star, then watch it for a few nights. If it moves relative to the other stars, it's a planet (or, possibly, a comet); otherwise it's a star. If you don't want to wait, look it up on a star chart (and see if there's a star at that position) or an ephemeris table (and see if there's supposed to be a planet there at that particular time).

Answer 4

The star spins off matters and gases to form the planets, which circle the star. The star is an active nuclear reactor providing light and energy to surrounding planets. A star and its planets form a star system, like our solar system; all star systems in the galaxy spin around the enormous black hole at the center of the galaxy. A star is bigger and more massive than any one of its planets.

Answer 5

Yes, stars are massive celestial bodies that primarily emit light and heat through nuclear fusion, while planets are smaller bodies that do not emit light of their own but reflect light from stars, orbiting them. Stars generate energy through nuclear reactions that produce light and heat, while planets do not have nuclear reactions and do not produce their own light.

Answer 6

From earth, the planets will move relative to the background. The stars will stay fixed, they will always appear the same, only moving as the earth rotates.

Answer 7

The easiest way to tell from simply looking up into the sky is that stars "twinkle" and planets don't.