Stars

Stars are huge luminous balls of hot gas that act like the chemical factories of the
universe. The closest star to Earth is the sun. Made up mainly of hydrogen and
helium atoms, stars are driven by nuclear fusion reactions, which give off the huge
amounts of energy that makes them shine. As the temperature of their core rises,
to the order of several million degrees celsius, some of their atoms fuse together to
form new elements - including the 92 elements that make up our bodies and
everything around us.
Planets
You would think that it was pretty easy to define a planet - a particularly large lump
of rock orbiting a star. But in recent years the definition of planets has courted
controversy, with the reclassification of Pluto from being the ninth planet of our
solar system to that of a mere "dwarf planet" (a large asteroid). This is because
although Pluto satisfies the requirements of being large enough to be pulled into a
sphere by the force of its own gravity, while simultaneously orbiting a star, it fails
on the last planetary requirement: it has not cleared the neighbourhood around its
orbit - it is not big enough to dominate the other celestial bodies in its path.

Galaxy
Just like planets, moons and satellites, stars orbit in collections around a common
centre of mass to form galaxies. The number of stars in a galaxy can range from as
few as tens of millions to more than a million million, and these can be anywhere
from 20,000 trillion to 20 quintillion (18 zeros) miles across. The term "galaxy"
stems from the Greek, meaning milky, hence the name of our own galaxy: the Milky
Way.
Red dwarfs

Red dwarfs are small stars that never really managed to get fired up. With masses
of about 40% that of our sun, they are relatively cool, with a surface temperature
of less than 3,200C, so they have a dimmer, reddish appearance. Red dwarfs
collectively make up the vast majority of all stars in the universe. Stars that are
smaller and dimmer still are known as brown dwarfs. These generally have a
mass of less than 7% of our sun, making them too small to sustain hydrogen-
burning fusion reactions at their core.
Asteroids and comets

Depending upon its size, any non-planetary lump of metal or rock that floats in orbit around a
star is known as either an asteroid or a meteoroid. The latter is anything from the size of a
boulder, while asteroids can be as large as minor or dwarf planets. Most of those that exist in our
solar system are within an orbit known as the asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and
Jupiter. In contrast, comets are loose collections of ice, dust or rock measuring just a few
kilometres across that have entered a solar system and orbit the star, often appearing to have a
forward-facing "tail" or coma when coming close to the sun.

Supernovae

If stars are the universe's factories then supernovae are the delivery trucks.
Depending upon their size, when some stars reach the end of their lives and their
nuclear fuel begins to run out, they start to lack sufficient outward forces to
counter their own gravity. Because of this they can start to implode. But before
they do so completely the atoms at their core are brought so close together that
the repulsive forces between them suddenly exceed the gravitational forces
pulling them together. In an instant it all recoils, exploding dramatically, spewing
out newly formed elements into space in the process.