Stars are celestial objects that are luminous in nature. That is they produce their own light. For example, the Sun is a star.
Though the sun is a star, it appears big and bright because it is much closer to the earth as compared to the other stars. Which is why they appear as tiny shining objects.
Stars appear in the night as well as the day. But we are not able to see them during the day because of the sunlight.
How do the stars move from our point of view?
The stars appear to be rising from the east in the evening and setting in the west in the morning. But they are actually not moving. It is the Earth which is moving along its axis from west to east direction, making the stars look like they’re moving from east to west.
In fact, there is a star on the Earth’s northern hemisphere axis, known as the Pole star. It is the star that is closely aligned to the Earth’s axis. It always stays in the same position and never appears to move.
What is a Light year?
The distance travelled by light in one year is defined as a Light year.
Light covers a distance of 300,000 km in one second. The distance between celestial objects is very large. It is therefore expressed in terms of light years. There are some stars that are 1000 light years away from earth while some are less than 20 light years away.
The sun is nearly 150 million km away from the earth. But in light years, it is just 8 light minutes away from the earth.
 Summary
| Stars | Celestial objects that are luminous in nature |
| Light Year | The distance travelled by light in one year |
Did You Know?
The farthest star humans have ever seen is named Icarus. It is so far away that its light took 9 billion years to reach earth.
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