Joanne Volk, ago 11, of Peoria, Ill., for her question:

How big is a star?

The star nearest to us is big enough to swallow our whole world a million times and still have room for dessert. This star, of course, is our own glorious sun and it is an average sized star. Some of its dazzling brothers are larger and some are smaller. Tho smallest stars, called white dwarfs, may be no bigg«r than the planet Earth.

The biggest stars are called giants and super giants. They are big enough to swallow our sun many, many times. Ono of these monsters is the big rod star Betelguese in the constellation of Orion. If this star were to replace our sun, it would engulf the planets Mercury and Venus. It would cover the orbit of the earth and the orbit of Mars and sproad out far beyond into the Solar System.