What is star?

  • (noun): (astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior.
    See also — Additional definitions below

Star

A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on the planet. Other stars are visible from Earth during the night when they are not obscured by atmospheric phenomena, appearing as a multitude of fixed luminous points because of their immense distance. Historically, the most prominent stars on the celestial sphere were grouped together into constellations and asterisms, and the brightest stars gained proper names. Extensive catalogues of stars have been assembled by astronomers, which provide standardized star designations.

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Some articles on star:

Data (Star Trek)
... DAY-tə) is a character in the fictional Star Trek universe portrayed by actor Brent Spiner ... He appears in the television series Star Trek The Next Generation and the feature films Star Trek Generations, Star Trek First Contact, Star Trek ... Data is in many ways a successor to the original Star Trek's Spock (Leonard Nimoy), in that the character offers an "outsider's" perspective on humanity ...
Xi Geminorum
... Xi Geminorum (ξ Gem) is a star in the zodiac constellation Gemini with the traditional name Alzirr ... The star has an apparent visual magnitude of 3.35, which is bright enough for it to be seen with the naked eye ... has a stellar classification of F5 IV, which is subgiant star that is in the process of evolving away from the main sequence of stars like the Sun ...
Star - Nuclear Fusion Reaction Pathways
... fusion reactions take place inside the cores of stars, depending upon their mass and composition, as part of stellar nucleosynthesis ... As a result the core temperature of main sequence stars only varies from 4 million kelvin for a small M-class star to 40 million kelvin for a massive O-class star ... occur constantly, producing all the energy necessary to sustain the star's radiation output ...
Caelum - Notable Features
... See also List of stars in Caelum Caelum is a faint constellation, having no star brighter than fourth magnitude ... Its brightest star is the magnitude 4.45 α Caeli ... α Cae is a white-hued main sequence star of magnitude 4.4, 66 light-years from Earth ...
Fictional Universe - Scope
... Grossman's Fillory, are global in scope and some, like Star Wars, Honorverse, or the Lensman series, are galactic or even intergalactic ... The classic Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror" introduced the Mirror Universe, in which the crew members of the Starship Enterprise were brutal rather than compassionate ... The 2009 movie Star Trek created an "alternate reality" and freed the Star Trek franchise from continuity issues ...

More definitions of "star":

  • (verb): Feature as the star.
    Example: "The movie stars Dustin Hoffman as an autistic man"
  • (verb): Be the star in a performance.
  • (noun): A plane figure with 5 or more points; often used as an emblem.
  • (noun): A performer who receives prominent billing.
    Synonyms: headliner
  • (noun): A star-shaped character * used in printing.
    Synonyms: asterisk
  • (noun): The topology of a network whose components are connected to a hub.
    Synonyms: star topology
  • (noun): An actor who plays a principal role.
    Synonyms: principal, lead
  • (noun): Any celestial body visible (as a point of light) from the Earth at night.
  • (verb): Mark with an asterisk.
    Example: "Linguists star unacceptable sentences"
    Synonyms: asterisk

Famous quotes containing the word star:

    I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
    And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
    John Masefield (1878–1967)

    For a painter, the Mecca of the world, for study, for inspiration and for living is here on this star called Paris. Just look at it, no wonder so many artists have come here and called it home. Brother, if you can’t paint in Paris, you’d better give up and marry the boss’s daughter.
    Alan Jay Lerner (1918–1986)

    Exhaust them, wrestle with them, let them not go until their blessing be won, and, after a short season, the dismay will be overpast, the excess of influence withdrawn, and they will be no longer an alarming meteor, but one more brighter star shining serenely in your heaven, and blending its light with all your day.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)