A common SQL habit is to use SELECT * on a query, because it’s tedious to list all the columns you need. Plus, sometimes those columns may change over time, so why not just do things the easy way? But ...

I know in Oracle you can use DBA_TAB_COLUMNS (or ALL_TAB_COLUMNS). My SQL Server knowledge is very rusty, but can't you use the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS view?