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Stellar astronomy

Asteroseismology

Study of oscillations in stars

Asymptotic giant branch

Stars powered by fusion of hydrogen and helium in shell with an inactive core of carbon and oxygen

B-type star with distinctive forbidden neutral or low ionisation emission lines in its spectrum

In astronomy, a B-type star with emission lines

Pulsar with a binary companion, often a white dwarf or neutron star

Star system consisting of two stars

Cold stellar remnant

Giant star of early spectral type

A main sequence star that is more luminous and bluer than expected

Blue supergiant

Type of substellar object more massive than a planet

Star whose atmosphere contains more carbon than oxygen

Carbon-burning process

Nuclear fusion process in the cores of massive stars, combining carbon nuclei into heavier elements

Cataclysmic variable star

Stars which irregularly increase in brightness by a large factor, then drop back down to a quiescent state

Cepheid variable

Type of variable star

Chandrasekhar limit

Maximum mass of a stable white dwarf star

Chemically peculiar star

Stars with distinctly unusual metal abundances

Circumstellar disc

Torus, pancake or ring-shaped accumulation of matter in orbit around a star

Classical Cepheid variable

Type of variable star

Catalysed fusion reactions by which stars convert hydrogen to helium

Common envelope

Classification in astronomy

Convection zone

(of a star) layer which is unstable to convection. Energy is primarily or partially transported by convection in such a region

Circumstellar disk of dust and debris in orbit around a star

Science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein

A theoretical type of exotic star.

Hypothetical compact star composed of exotic matter

Fast radio burst

Astronomical high energy transient pulse

Type of variable star that can undergo unpredictable dramatic increases in brightness for a few minutes

Gamma-ray burst

Flashes of gamma rays from distant galaxies

Gamma-ray burst emission mechanisms

Gamma-ray burst progenitors

Types of celestial objects that can emit gamma-ray bursts

Type of star, larger and brighter than the Sun

Globular cluster

Spherical collection of stars

Luminosity-temperature relationship obeyed by infant stars

Brief thermal runaway nuclear fusion in the core of low mass stars

Herbig Ae/Be star

Young star of spectral types A and B

Hertzsprung–Russell diagram

A scatter plot of stars showing the relationship between the stars' absolute magnitudes or luminosities versus their stellar classifications

Horizontal branch

Stars powered by helium fusion

Rare star with tremendous luminosity and high rates of mass loss by stellar winds

A supernova that ejects a large mass at unusually high velocity

Initial mass function

Empirical function that describes the initial distribution of masses for a population of stars

Instability strip

Stellar classification

Intergalactic star

Star not gravitationally bound to any galaxy

Jeans instability

Mechanism by which the collapse of interstellar gas clouds causes star formation

Supernova formed from a neutron star merger

Luminous blue variable

Type of neutron star with a strong magnetic field

A continuous band of stars that appears on plots of stellar color versus brightness

Mass–luminosity relation

Equation in stellar astrophysics

Relative abundance of heavy elements in a star or other astronomical object

Type of variable star

Collapsed core of a massive star

Nuclear explosion in a white dwarf star

Group of "sibling" stars that are loosely gravitationally bound to one another

Pair-instability supernova

Type of high-energy supernova in very large stars

Planetary nebula

Type of emission nebula

Planetary system

Set of non-stellar objects in orbit around a star

Pre-main-sequence star

Star in the stage when it has not yet reached the main sequence

Pre-stellar core

An early phase in the formation of low-mass stars, before gravitational collapse produces a central protostar

Dust ring surrounding large stars thousands of solar radii wide

Proton–proton chain

One of the fusion reactions by which stars convert hydrogen to helium

Protoplanetary disk

Rotating circumstellar disk of dense gas surrounding a young newly formed star

Protoplanetary nebula

Nebula surrounding a dying star

Short-lived satellite company

Highly magnetized, rapidly rotating neutron star

Compact exotic star which forms matter consisting mostly of quarks

Radiative layer of stars

Radio-quiet neutron star

Neutron star that does not emit radio waves

British comedy programme

Type of large cool stars that have exhausted their core hydrogen

Stars with a supergiant luminosity class with a spectral type of K or M

Red-giant branch

Stars powered by fusion of hydrogen in shell with an inactive core of helium

Teardrop-shaped spacetime distortion near binary stars

Nucleosynthesis pathway

RR Lyrae variable

Type of variable star

Nucleosynthesis pathway

Process by which dense regions of molecular clouds in interstellar space collapse to form stars

Small number of stars that orbit each other

Starburst galaxy

A galaxy undergoing an exceptionally high rate of star formation

Starburst region

Region of faster than normal star formation

Stellar association

Astronomical object type

Stellar atmosphere

Outer region of the volume of a star

Stellar black hole

Black hole formed by a collapsed star

Stellar classification

Classification of stars based on spectral properties

The extremely hot, dense region at the center of a star

Stellar evolution

Changes to stars over their lifespans

Stellar kinematics

Study of the movement of stars

Stellar magnetic field

Magnetic field generated by the convective motion of conductive plasma inside a star

Mass of a star in astronomy

Stellar nucleosynthesis

Process by which the natural abundances of the chemical elements within stars change due to nuclear fusion reactions

Stellar rotation

Angular motion of a star about its axis

Stellar structure

Structure of stars

Flow of gas ejected from the upper atmosphere of a star

Steroidogenic acute regulatory protein

InterPro Family

A cool giant with approximately equal quantities of carbon and oxygen in its atmosphere

Sub-brown dwarf

Astronomical object of planetary mass that formed in the manner of stars

Star of luminosity class VI under the Yerkes spectral classification system

Type of star larger than main-sequence but smaller than a giant

Super star cluster

Astronomical object type

Superluminous supernova

A supernova at least ten times more luminous than a standard supernova

Star exploding at the end of its stellar evolution

Supernova nucleosynthesis

Production of the elements in a supernova explosion

Class of young variable star

Triple-alpha process

Nuclear fusion reaction chain converting helium to carbon

Type Ia supernova

Type of supernova in binary systems

Type Ib and Ic supernovae

Types of supernovae caused by a star collapsing

Type II Cepheid

Type II supernova

Explosion of a star 8 to 45 times the mass of the Sun

Book by Robert Heinlein and Spider Robinson

White dwarf (disambiguation)

Topics referred to by the same term

Wolf–Rayet star

Stars with unusual spectra showing prominent broad emission lines of highly ionised helium and nitrogen or carbon

Class of binary stars

Class of astronomical objects that are X-ray sources

Yellow supergiant

Supergiant with a temperature similar to the sun

Young stellar object

Star in its early stage of evolution