Why do stars give off radio waves?

The sun and the stars pour out seething atomic energy in all directions. We can see their light and the sun is close enough for us to feel its heat. But these seething furnaces also radiate other kinds of energy, such as the electromagnetic energy we call radio waves.

The radio telescope is a giant receiving set which traps the invisible radio waves coming from the starry nuclear furnaces. It is a new invention for probing the distant skies and almost every day it reveals surprising new information from across the vast oceans of space.