Part one of term paper
A star is a large ball of hot gas, thousands to millions of kilometers in diameter, emitting large amounts of radiant energy from nuclear reactions in its interior. differ fundamentally from planets in that they are self-luminous, whereas planets shine by reflected sunlight. Except for the SUN, which is the nearest star, stars appear only as ...

Part two of term paper
... the North Star, has a Greek name; Betelgeuse, a bright red star, has an Arabic name. Modern astronomers designate the bright stars according to the CONSTELLATIONS they are in. Thus, the brightest star in the Big Dipper (part of the constellation Ursa Major) is called alpha Ursa Majoris. Polaris, in the Little Dipper (Ursa Minor), is gamma (designated by the Greek lower-case letter gamma) Ursa Minoris, and Betelgeuse, in Orion, is gamma Orionis. VARIABLE STARS (those which periodically change ...