There are millions and millions of stars in the universe. Stars are balls of fire that emit a phenomenal amount of heat and light! A galaxy is a collection of trillions of stars, dust and gas. Our galaxy is called the Milky Way.
A star lasts about 10 trillion years. Our star, the Sun, is about 5 trillion years old!
Stars consist of gases such as hydrogen and helium. They are under a tremendous amount of pressure. The center is extremely hot and the star gets gradually cooler toward the surface. Some stars are brighter and hotter than others.
(Learn about stars and their mythology at: http://www.windows.umich.edu/cgi-bin/tour.cgi?link=/mythology/stars.html&sw=false&sn=324991&d=/mythology&edu=elem&br=graphic&cd=false&tour=&fr=f)
(To find more background information about the sun, check out: http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level2/sun.html)
Student Activity:
**Students illustrate the Sun. See: http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level2/sun.html for a diagram to label (sunspots, photosphere, solar flares, prominence, corona, chromosphere)