The night sky is always have been a fascination for many people as many heavenly bodies can be found in the sky during this time. The planets, stars, comets, asteroids, constellations are some of the bodies that are found. Although these are situated many light years away from the Earth and appear to be tiny objects with naked eyes despite being large.
Main Differences Between Stars and Planets
- Stars can be stated as the heavenly objects that are present in the universe having with own light source and formed by the thermonuclear fusion, whereas comparatively, on the other hand, the Planets can be stated as the heavenly body that revolves in a fixed path around the star.
- The light source of stars is present on their own, whereas comparatively, on the other hand, the light source of the planet comes from the star that is Sun. In other words, they don’t have their self-light source.
- The position of the stars is normally unnoticeable as they don’t change it, but when they move to a considerable distance, it is noticeable, whereas comparatively, on the other hand, the position of the planets is often changing because they revolve on their axis and around the star.
- The size of the star in the universe tends to appear quite big, whereas comparatively, on the other hand, the size of the planets in the universe appears to be small.
- The temperature possessed by a star is very high, whereas comparatively, on the other hand, the temperature of any planet can be high or low but never as high as a star.
- Star shows an extraordinary effect or phenomenon that is known as the twinkling effect, whereas comparatively, on the other hand, planets are the bodies that don’t show any such phenomenon.
- The composition of the stars includes many elements that have light atomic masses, with hydrogen and helium, whereas comparatively, on the other hand, the composition of the planets differ according to their name although the main constituents are – liquid and gases, and sometimes they have solid particles too.
- In the solar system, only one star is present, and that is Sun, whereas comparatively, on the other hand, in the solar system, there are eight total planets.
- Stars have a dot-shaped whereas comparatively, on the other hand, the planets have a sphere-shaped size.
- The revolution period of the star is fixed, but it is unnoticeable, whereas comparatively, on the other hand, the revolution period of the planets is also fixed, and the specific term used for it is ‘orbit.’
Conclusion
To summarize the above discussion, the universe is full of many mysteries and astronomical objects that are known and unknown to scientists. Some of these objects possess light but still, some don’t have. Some of the objects with light are – sun, stars, and moon, while some of the objects with no light are – planets, comets, asteroids, etc. The most noticeable difference between the above terms – stars and planets is the occurrence of a special phenomenon known as the ‘’twinkling of stars’’.
The size of these astronomical objects also does vary as stars tend to be large while planets are small compared to them. Same as their temperature, stars have quite high temperatures while the temperature of planets may vary from high to cold, but they are always less than the stars.
References
- https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full/2001/27/aah2744/node2.html
- https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/308/2/447/1047228?login=true
- https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/377080/meta
- https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-abstract/335/4/1005/962058