starlight
noun
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Definition of starlight
Examples of starlight in a Sentence
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The absorption of some wavelengths of starlight by a planetary atmosphere reveals its chemical composition, and possibly, a clue hinting at living organisms below. — Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, "NASA's Next Great Planet Hunter Has Arrived," 10 Apr. 2018 Normally with an ordinary exoplanet, these objects diminish starlight in a very routine way. — Loren Grush, The Verge, "Astronomers may have discovered the first moon ever found outside our Solar System," 3 Oct. 2018 This movement can be detected in a slight shift in the color of the starlight, via the Doppler effect. — William Herkewitz, Popular Mechanics, "Earth-Like Planet Found Orbiting the Nearest Star to the Sun," 24 Aug. 2016 Since exoplanets are drowned out by starlight, astronomers have to use clever, indirect ways to tease out the existence of a distant world. — Loren Grush, The Verge, "A cold ‘super-Earth’ may live around a nearby star," 14 Nov. 2018 This is necessary because stars are around a million times brighter than planets and even brighter than everything else in a system, so the only way to take photos is to block out the starlight. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "The First Picture of a Newborn Planet," 2 July 2018 The first starlight might have lit up the cosmos just 250 million years after the Big Bang—a blink of an eye in cosmic time. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "The First Stars May Have Formed Just 250 Million Years After the Big Bang," 17 May 2018 Detecting planets around distant stars can be incredibly difficult, as the starlight usually overpowers the much dimmer planet. — Loren Grush, The Verge, "Astronomers snap one of the best baby pics yet of a newborn planet," 2 July 2018 That's why the traditional methods that are used to find exoplanets, like looking for dips in starlight as planets pass in front of their star, don't work for planets that are still developing. — Ashley Strickland, CNN, "Three 'baby' planets found forming around newborn star," 13 June 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'starlight.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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starlight
noun
English Language Learners Definition of starlight
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