Why Do We See Stars Only At Night?

Hello young learners, this is Kiki, back again with yet another interesting lesson on Knowledge Corner. We have been learning together for many episodes now – about the human body and things around us. This time, let us learn about the stars! I am sure many of you have seen stars in the sky! Don’t they make the night sky look so beautiful?! Especially, when the sky is clear without any clouds!

While you look at the stars, have you ever wondered why we see them only at night? It’s as if they disappear during the day and magically reappear at night! Even though this sounds magical, the real reason is somewhat different. Do you know what it is?

Why do stars appear at night?

Here is one important piece of information: stars DON’T actually disappear, they are always there. It’s just us, people on Earth, who cannot see them during the day. That’s because the sky seems different to us during the day when compared to at night because of the absence of sunlight. That’s the reason why stars only appear at night, because during the day, the sun’s light is so bright that it prevents the light of the faraway stars from reaching our eyes!

The night sky with stars

So, because of the extremely bright light from the sun, there is a glare that prevents us from seeing the stars during the day. (Well, most of them!) Also, the light from the stars that we see is dimmer than the sun’s. As a result, the stars are masked from our view during the day. However, during the night, the sunlight fades away and the day turns into night. The absence of the sun’s light makes stars visible and our night sky lights up with twinkling lights. How fascinating, right?!

Did you know that the sun is a star too?

We just understood how most of the stars are not visible during the day. Are you thinking why I had mentioned the word ‘most’?  Well, there is one star that is visible during the day. That’s the Sun! 

Yes, the Sun is also a star! Stars are big heavenly bodies that emit heat and light. The Sun, too, emits heat and light and can be qualified as a star. However, the difference is that the sun is a lot nearer to the Earth. To understand better, the nearest star is at least one million times as distant as the sun! That’s really far away, right? And that’s the reason why it seems bigger and a lot brighter than other stars!

You can also study stars!

Now that you understand why stars are visible mostly at night, would you also like to look at them closely and study them? You can use the telescope and learn stargazing! It means that you study the stars and understand the night sky as well. 

But beware! Do not use the telescope to look at the Sun! It is harmful for your eyes!

you can study stars and observe constellations

You can also observe constellations (groups of stars) and identify some of them shaped like a bear too. 

Aren’t you curious to look at the stars and study them? Tonight, after we learn from this episode, please look at the night sky and tell us how many stars you saw in the comments.