Sunset Valley Stars!

I had a very interesting conversation with the first and second graders over at Sunset Valley Elementary School yesterday. After taking a virtual trip around the universe, a student named Ella brought up the subject of stars. She wondered if red stars were dying. Then Matthew pointed out that blue stars were the hottest. These students raised very important points, because it turns out that a star’s color tells us a lot about them, including their temperature, age, and size.

Photograph courtesy NASA

So Ella, the answer to your question is yes — and no. Some stars are red because they are small and don’t get very hot. They burn coolly and much more slowly