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In Good Company
Riddle
Riddles are little poems or phrases that pose a question that needs answering. Riddles frequently rhyme, but this is not a requirement.Riddle
Seemingly small and perhaps very old
My kind are a multitude untold
You may think that you understand me
But what I am now is not what you see
Despite my emission of tremendous light
Most of the time I'm obscured from your sight
My extreme heat may be a well-known trait
But if not too massive, cooling is my fate
What am I?
My kind are a multitude untold
You may think that you understand me
But what I am now is not what you see
Despite my emission of tremendous light
Most of the time I'm obscured from your sight
My extreme heat may be a well-known trait
But if not too massive, cooling is my fate
What am I?
Answer
a starThe following comments are with the exception of our sun, which is a star.
Lines 1-2: A star looks small from the Earth, but is simply very distant. There are innumerable stars in the universe.
Lines 3-4: Because the light from a star takes time to travel the enormous distance between it and the Earth, by the time the light reaches an observer on the Earth, they are seeing the way that star was in the past.
Lines 5-6: For an observer on the Earth, the light from a star can be seen only when there is a sufficient amount of darkness, and when there is no cloud cover to obscure it.
Lines 7-8: A star can give off heat for a very long time, but eventually it cools at the end of its existence, unless it is massive enough to explode in a supernova.
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