# Starry Skies - Source: StoryWeaver (storyweaver.org.in), CC BY, Pratham Books, StoryWeaver, CC BY 4.0 - Reading level: Grades 3 and 4 - Subjects: Space, Science - Topics: stars, atoms, universe, inside, star, cloud - Length: 556 words, about 4 min - By: Sandhya Ramesh - Original: - Page: - Open in Sprouts: Did you know that you and the Sun are made of the same things? Our bodies are made up of tiny things called atoms. Atoms are everywhere! They are in animals and objects, in books, roads, oceans, the sun and the whole universe. Atoms come close together and then move far away from each other. This happens inside you, inside me and inside everyone and everything you know! Whizz! Whoosh! They are buzzing with energy. The same thing happens in space, where there are lots of gases and dust particles floating around. In some parts of the universe, lots of dust particles collect, forming a cloud. As the cloud grows, it becomes very heavy. All the atoms inside begin to fuse together. When the cloud becomes too heavy, SWOOOOSH, it collapses! Atoms come rushing to the center of the cloud and are squeezed so tight that they stick together and form bigger atoms. This releases heat and light. Any two Hydrogen and Helium atoms that fuse together release energy. When millions of atoms do this, a very hot, very bright, very big ball of energy is formed. And then a star is born! To us on Earth, stars may look tiny. But they are actually HUGE. Do you know which star is closest to us? The Sun! The Sun is big, bright and gives off a lot of light . All the other stars in the sky are also fiery balls like the Sun. Some of them are even bigger. But they are very FAR away. That is why they look tiny to us. If you start counting the stars in the sky, you will be counting all night. And the next night too! There are THAT many stars in the sky! And these are only the ones we can see. There are GAZILLIONS of stars in the universe! Young stars, old stars, big stars, little stars, hot stars, cool stars, and even colourful stars. There are Red Giants that glow big and red. There are White Dwarfs that are extremely hot. Stars can also be yellow or blue! Stars change colour as they grow older. The Sun is now yellow. As it grows older, it will become bigger and redder, expanding like a balloon. Then it will shrink, becoming white. Stars sometimes explode too! This is called a Supernova. This releases large amounts of dust, gas, and atoms—everything that a star is made of! We won’t be around to see the Sun change colour because stars live for billions and trillions of years. The Sun is a young star. It’s only 4.6 billion years old. The oldest star we know is 13.2 billion years old. The universe is 13.8 billion years old. When it comes to stars and the universe, everything is very large. The Sun is so massive that more than a million Earths could fit inside it. The Earth is so enormous that billions of people can live on it. And we are all made of so many atoms that they’re impossible to count! The next time you go out during the day, remember how big and hot the Sun is. And at night, look up at the tiny twinkling stars and remember how large they really are. Compared to everything else in the universe, we are the small ones! ## Picture credits - Aditi Kakade, CC BY 4.0 () - Aditi Kakade, CC BY 4.0 () - Aditi Kakade, CC BY 4.0 () - Aditi Kakade, CC BY 4.0 () - Aditi Kakade, CC BY 4.0 () - Aditi Kakade, CC BY 4.0 () - Aditi Kakade, CC BY 4.0 () - Aditi Kakade, CC BY 4.0 () - Aditi Kakade, CC BY 4.0 () - Aditi Kakade, CC BY 4.0 () - Aditi Kakade, CC BY 4.0 () - Aditi Kakade, CC BY 4.0 () - Aditi Kakade, CC BY 4.0 () - Aditi Kakade, CC BY 4.0 () - Aditi Kakade, CC BY 4.0 () - Aditi Kakade, CC BY 4.0 () - Aditi Kakade, CC BY 4.0 ()