Animating what seems like a zillion and one stars is not a desirable way to pass the day so I was so pleased to discover the magic animation time offset setting in Blender.
After animating one star I can now link to it from a duplicate, change the offset of the new one and wayhey  we have two stars animating from the same data block but at staggered times.

Simple things please simple minds and that’s cool with me as it’s saving me lots and lots and lots of time!

Ta da!!