Difference between stars and planets?

Question

What are 3 WAYS to differentiate between stars and planets when viewing the sky @ night

Answer 1

stars are from other galazies, take millions of lightyears to get here (as in by the time we see the light the star is already dead) and you only see the same star once, because it burnes out unless its a constellation. a planet stays in the same place all the time, is mostly solid, and its sometimes habitable. hope i helped!

Answer 2

There is no way to tell just by looking unless you memorize where they are and at what time of night you will see them in a particular spot. One clue tho is the planets will rise near the same spot you see the sun rise and will follow the suns path across the sky and set near where you see the sun set. If you watch for a while and see one following that path at night and not the same path as all the other stars you will know it is a planet. Also you can only see 5 planets since the others are too small or far away. And usually you will not see more than a few at a time in the night sky. That is because sometimes they are only visible in the day (they are on the opposite side of the planet at night) and obviously you cant see them in the sky when its light out. If you have a smart phone download "Stellarium" for free. You can hold your phone to the sky it will tell you every star, planet and constellation you see as you point your phone towards it. Takes a few to figure out how to work it but Great App!

Answer 3

If you look closely, stars twinkle, planets just reflect light so they dont twinkle.



Planets follow the same path as the sun, so if you know more or less the path of the sun, you will find planets in that same orbit.



Planets are usually brighter than most stars. Only few stars are actually brighter than planets to the naked eye, and those stars are not usually on the same path as the sun.



If you pay attention to the planets day by day, you will notice that the position in the sky changes faster than stars

Answer 4

1) planets may be brighter than most stars.

eg Venus, Jupiter & Mars.

2) planets do not twinkle as stars do.

3) planets move across the sky in the same area of the sky that the sun & moon do. They can't appear anywhere in the sky as stars do.



By the way, we can't see any stars in other galaxies.All the stars we see are very close to us, withing about 1000 light years.

Answer 5

Stars are a group of burning gases that give off mild, some with planets orbiting and some without. A planet is a body that orbits a star. They mainly have surroundings and they best reflect light. Within the night time sky, if you happen to look up one can find the change. The sunshine from a celebrity "twinkles" while the light from a planet is steady.

Answer 6

Planets tend to be brighter (Although not always). they also do not appear to twinkle*, except when close to the horizon. The only sure way to tell is that stars don't move in relation to each other from night-to-night. Since a planet's light is reflected it appears to be steady (non twinkling). Star light twinkles.

Answer 7

Stars are essentially suns from other galaxies that are most likely already burned out but the light still reaches us. Planets are usually much smaller and are either jovial (such as Jupiter or Saturn) or non jovial (such as Eath or Mars).

Answer 8

Stars twinkles where as planets doesnot.

#Planets have their own orbit to revolve but stars might or might not have Orbit to revolve.

#Planets are rarely seen in the sky, whereas stars are mostly seen in the sky.

Answer 9

Stars a bright and have a small glow around them we can kind of see from a distance. Planets aren't so bright and don't glow.

Answer 10

stars could be other suns or far away planets...or galaxies