[Hot Tabasco]

But do the Sun and the stars also reflect some of the light that falls on them?

Wow, talk about coincidence. Me and my bowling team were discussing that very topic last Friday night in the bar after our bowling match........

[Larry Lucido]

Well, stars can’t absorb light. They’re full.

[BitWielder1]

Theoretically stars should reflect light, but completely drowned out and undetectable. Until now.

[Telepathic Intruder]

It’s called albedo. Every object in space except a black hole has one.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Question for those much smarter than me:

Are ALL ‘stars’ actually ‘suns’ like ours, with little planets around them?

If not, why not?

Discuss...

[Cold Heart]

One of the Freepers posted here that they had just been discussing this subject with his bowling team. I don’t bowl, but my 13 year old grandson does. I will bring this up with him.

Having said that, I have used Spica as a navigation star.

[dangerdoc]

I remember learning stars were almost perfect black body radiators, so much for that theory.

[Sacajaweau]

Which is how you get a suntan with a piece of aluminum foil.

[Conan the Librarian]

This is old news. If you study Algol (THE eclipsing binary) with detailed photometey, you can see the effects of the bright star being eclipsed by the dimmer, then they get brighter as the light from the brighter star reflects off the dimmer, then there is a dimming as the dimmer star goes into eclipse, cutting off the reflected light from the dimmer star.

[GOP Poet]

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[pjd]

This isn’t new at all. I’ve been teaching this in my astronomy class for years. It is a standard part of binary star light curve analysis. Has been for many years.