The Different Types of Stars

types of stars

When we think about the stars, the first thing that comes into our minds is the Sun. The truth of the matter is that there are very many types of stars. By taking a critical look into the heavens one will notice that there are a variety of stars up there. The following are all the different types of stars in the known universe.

Main Sequence Stars – For a star to be born there must be nuclear fusion in its core. This is where star life begins and stars in this stage are known as sequence stars.

Red Giant – When the hydrogen fuel in a star is completely used up, the star transitions and becomes a red giant star but his depends with its mass.

White Dwarfs – Because of their low mass, there are some stars that fail to enter the giant phase at the end of their lives. The outer part of the star merges with the interstellar space and the only part that remains is its core. The core glows slowly as it cools.

Neutron Stars – These are actually not stars they are stellar remnants. After a star’s life has come to an end it goes through a supernova explosion and the core remains. These remnants are what are known as neutron stars.

Black Holes – While not technically stars, these are formed as a result of the massive gravity created by large stars collapsing in on themselves.

Brown Dwarfs – These are also known as failed stars. Just like normal stars, they are formed in the same way but they do not accumulate enough mass to generate nuclear fusion in the core hence the name failed stars. They are smaller than the normal stars.

Variable Stars – These are stars that tend to change their brightness. Unlike other stars that maintain a constant brightness, these stars tend to vary their brightness from time to time.

Proto Stars – This is a compilation of gas that collapsed down from a huge molecular cloud. These stars derive their energy from the heat created by the gravitational energy but not from the nuclear fusion in the core.

T Tauri Stars – This is actually a stage in the formation of stars. It is after the proto star phase. They are stars that are yet to become main sequence stars. They lack enough pressure in their cores to enable them generate nuclear fusion.

Super Giant Stars – These are the biggest stars in the entire universe. They consume hydrogen at an enormous rate. This means that they die off very fast and they disintegrate as they detonate as supernovae.

Yellow Dwarf Stars – These are among the main sequence stars but are small in size. A good example of these stars is the sun. The sun is typically a yellow dwarf.

Blue Giant Star – This is a huge extremely hot blue star. It burns helium hence it color and it is post-main sequence stage. They are visible through the help of powerful scientific gadgets.

Pulsar – This is a rapidly rotating neutron star. This star emits energy in pulses that is the reason it is known as a pulsar.

Double Star – This is a combination of two stars that seem to be close to each other in the sky. They may be binaries or they just appear to be together from the earth.

Binary Stars – This is a system of 2 stars that go around each other or a common centre of mass cloud. True binaries revolve around one another. A good example of these stars is Polaris.

Eclipsing Binary – These are two stars that appear like one star that varies in brightness. The brightness varies because of the periodical obscuring of the two stars.

Cepheid Variable Stars – These are stars that frequently pulsate in size and vary in brightness. This occurs when the star increases in its size. When this happens, its brightness decreases and when the size decreases the brightness increases.

Mira Variable Star – This is a star whose size and brightness cycle for a very long period of time. It even takes months. They are pulsating stars that vary in magnitude. Their variations were revealed in 1596. They are among the red giant type of stars.


  1. Hi! Just a suggestion, but I think there’s something you should add to the description of the pulsar star. You have to admit, it was very vague. See, a pulsar is a neutron star as you said but with a rotation so rapid that light can only escape through the poles. From the sides, the star would appear black. When pulsars were first discovered they weren’t immediately recognized as stars because they were only visible when the poles – the light – flashed towards the Earth. It created a sort of beep-beep-beep of light which people originally mistook as some sort of signal. Also, the pulsar’s rotation is unsteady. It wobbles or see-saws so that the north and south poles are actually in motion.

  2. im still kind of confused on what a double star is is the star joint or are they really close binary stars.

  3. ok it was great and truu because i did my reserch and all of them said the same thing

  4. Hi. just want to say that coco I did the same thing for the research and I feel you this is okay and true.

  5. CLARISSE ALLYZA F. CABASAN June 26, 2015 at 8:06 am

    I like your page.Its so very useful because I am a contestant of science quizbee so it help me soooo much.

  6. Hay dude, love the article, but a quick suggestion. I think in the article you should include information about hyper giant stars, for they can be over 20 times as large as a super giant stars. also you should mention quasars, the massive pulse of energy that appears when super giant black hole, usually ones with baby galaxies, but full grown galaxies to, draw in to much energy and it over loads or the atoms start colliding near by it and creates a massive pulse almost a stream even of raw energy from its poles destroying everything in the way of the discharge, even stars!

  7. why dont you make kids reasearch about stars&space

  8. many different star and their classification

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