• Question: why are some stars brighter than others?

    Asked by Ellie B to Connor, Jillian, Lidunka, Sarah, Steven on 16 Jun 2015. This question was also asked by Jodie.
    • Photo: Lidunka Vocadlo

      Lidunka Vocadlo answered on 16 Jun 2015:

      @324frcc29 Stars are brighter the closer they are to us and the bigger they are. In fact some of the brightest “stars” in the sky are actually our other planets reflecting sunlight.
      The actual brightness of a star – say, if you put them all in a line the same distance away – depends on the amount of energy they are putting out, called the luminosity.

    • Photo: Jillian Scudder

      Jillian Scudder answered on 17 Jun 2015:

      Some are brighter because they’re actually intrinsically pumping out a lot of light, and some are brighter just because they’re really near to us. Sirius is the brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere, but if you put the sun, which is definitley the brightest star in our sky, at the same distance, Sirius would be much brighter!

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