Stars in the night sky are always beautiful to watch. People love to travel at night as the sky is full of stars and the twinkling of stars is a sight for gaze. Earth is a planet on which we live, and there are other planets too.
Planets revolve around the sun, whereas the stars sit at a particular position.
Key Takeaways
- Stars are luminous celestial bodies that generate heat and light through nuclear fusion, while planets are non-luminous celestial bodies that orbit stars.
- Stars are much larger and more massive than planets.
- Stars can be seen from great distances, while planets are visible only when they reflect light from stars.
Star vs Planet
The difference between Star and Planet is Star is an astronomical object, but Planet is a part of the solar system and a celestial body. Star twinkle at night, which means it has its light which they exhibit. Stars are made of helium and hydrogen, but Planet is made of solid, liquid, and gases.
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Star is an astronomical object. It consists of plasma.
Stars have twinkling property. Star does not change positions so rapidly like the Planets in the solar system.
It is dot-shaped. It has a high temperature. It consists of hydrogen and helium.
The earth’s atmosphere makes it twinkling.
The planet is a celestial body. It is sphere-shaped due to gravity.
They move around the sun constantly that has a certain period. Every planet has its period of revolving around the sun.
The planet is made of solids, liquids, and gases. They do not have high temperatures like a star.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Star | Planet |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Astronomical object | Celestial body |
| Light | It has its light. | It does not have its light. |
| Position | Changes but in a very long time | Constantly changing its position |
| Look | Dot shaped | Sphere shaped |
| Temperature | High | Moderate |
| Twinkle | Yes | No |
What is Star?
Star are those objects which twinkle at night. They are very large, but it seems small as it is very far away from the earth.
Star appears like a dot in the sky. Star has a high temperature.
It is made of hydrogen and helium. They move very slow, and the change can be seen in a long time.
Sun is a star. The group of stars is known as a constellation.
Plasma comes in a spheroid, and finally, it makes a star. They are very far away from earth and millions of stars, due to which it is hard to know the movement of stars.
There are catalogs through which people can identify different stars and constellations.
The Milky Way and galaxy are visible to the naked eyes. Star has the most important factor which determines evolution which is mass.
They can form orbital systems. They can form a group with two or more stars.
They have a large gravitational bound. It forms a star cluster which is referred to as a galaxy.
Stars are considered to be the important part of the civilizations as it is used by people still in their religious practice. People usually use stars to know about the future.
They just visualize the distance and synchronize with other positions.
What is Planet?
Planet refers to a celestial body. It is spherical due to its gravity.
The planet is an ancient term that is related to science, history, religion, mythology, and astrology.
There are eight planets in the solar system. They have different position the distance between the planets and the sun are different.
The planets and the sun make the whole solar system. The planets are divided into terrestrial and giant planets.
Mercury, Earth, Venus, and Mars are considered terrestrials planets. Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, and Uranus are considered Giant planets.
The largest planet in the Solar system is Jupiter. Saturn is the next largest planet in the system.
There are dwarf planets in the solar system, which refers to those planets are neither an alive planet nor a natural satellite. Planets are the natural body that has its orbit, and planets revolve around the sun in their respective orbits.
These planets do not have their energy radiations but its just natural celestial bodies.
There are natural satellites of the planet. The natural satellite of the Erath is Moon. Pluto was considered the ninth planet.
The size of Pluto was very small. It had unusual characteristics due to which astronomers had questions about the planet Pluto.
Main Differences Between Star and Planet
- Star refers to astronomical objects in the sky, whereas Planet is a celestial body found in the solar system.
- Stars exhibit their light, but Planets do not exhibit their light.
- Star rarely changes its position, but Planets keep on changing its position.
- Star is dot-shaped, but Planet is sphere-shaped.
- The temperature is high in stars as compared to Planet.
- Stars have twinkling properties, but Planet does not twinkle like stars.
- https://science.sciencemag.org/content/300/5616/105.abstract
- https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10452
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Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.
