Guiding Questions

• How far away are the stars?

• What evidence do astronomers have that the Sun is a typical star?

• What is meant by a “first-magnitude” or “second magnitude” star?

• Why are some stars red and others blue?

• What are the stars made of?

• As stars go, is our Sun especially large or small?

• What are giant, supergiant, and white dwarf stars?

• How do we know the distances to remote stars?

• Why are binary star systems important in astronomy?

• How can a star’s spectrum show whether it is actually a binary star system?

• What do astronomers learn from stars that eclipse each other?