• Question: what is the name of the smallest star?

    Asked by ramz555 to Adam, Catherine, Karen, Leila, Nazim on 15 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Leila Battison

      Leila Battison answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      The smallest star is just a little bit bigger than Jupiter, but it is a lot heavier, which is what makes it a star.

      It is called OGLE-TR-122b which is a horrible and difficult to remember name. When will astronomers start giving things nice names!

    • Photo: Adam Stevens

      Adam Stevens answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      Don’t know this one, but there is a limit on how small stars can be (at least in terms of mass) because otherwise they can’t ignite their cores.

    • Photo: Karen Masters

      Karen Masters answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      The smallest type of star (in mass) is called a brown dwarf I think. But neutron stars are smaller in radius – they can be the size of a city (and have the same mass or more than the Sun).

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