Star vs Planet: Difference and Comparison

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 the 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

  1. Stars are luminous celestial bodies that generate heat and light through nuclear fusion, while planets are non-luminous celestial bodies that orbit stars.
  2. Stars are much larger and more massive than planets.
  3. 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 twinkles at night, which means it has a light which they exhibit. Stars are made of helium and hydrogen, but Planet is made of solids, liquids, and gases.

Star vs Planet

Star is an astronomical object. It consists of plasma.

Stars have twinkling properties. Star does not change positions as rapidly as 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, which 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.

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Comparison Table

Parameters of ComparisonStarPlanet
MeaningAstronomical objectCelestial body
LightIt has its light.It does not have its light.
PositionChanges but in a very long timeConstantly changing its position
LookDot shapedSphere shaped
TemperatureHighModerate
TwinkleYesNo
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What is Star?

Stars 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 slowly, 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 eye. 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 bond. It forms a star cluster which is referred to as a galaxy.

Stars are considered to be an important part of civilizations as it is used by people still in their religious practice. People use stars to know about the future.

They just visualize the distance and synchronize with other positions.

star

What is Planet?

A 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.

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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 terrestrial 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 that are neither alive planets nor natural satellites. 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 on 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.

planet

Main Differences Between Star and Planet

  1. Star refers to astronomical objects in the sky, whereas Planet is a celestial body found in the solar system.
  2. Stars exhibit their light, but Planets do not exhibit their light.
  3. Star rarely changes its position, but Planets keep on changing its position.
  4. Star is dot-shaped, but Planet is sphere-shaped.
  5. The temperature is high in stars as compared to Planet.
  6. Stars have twinkling properties, but Planet does not twinkle like stars.
Difference Between Star and Planet
References
  1. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/300/5616/105.abstract
  2. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10452

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About Author

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.