WHAT ARE STARS MADE OF?

     Stars aren't solid like the ground beneath your feet. Instead, they are made of gases like the air around you. The two main gases in stars are called hydrogen and helium. They are the stars' fuel. Stars make heat and light from them.

• Since earliest times, people have seen patterns in the way stars are grouped in the sky. The patterns are called constellations.
• The brightest star we can see in the night sky is called Sirius. Another name for it is the Dog star. It is about twice as big as our Sun, but it gives out more than twenty times as much light!

       Stars only twinkle when we look at them from earth. Out in space their light shines steadily. We see them twinkling and shimmering because of the air around the Earth - as light from a star travels towards us, it is bent and wobbled by bubbles of hot and cold air.