: a star whose brightness changes usually in more or less regular periods
Examples of variable star in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the WebPhotograph: Alamy Hubble in turn wrote up his variable star measurements and convinced everyone that Andromeda was indeed a separate galaxy.—WIRED, 12 Nov. 2023 Introduction Hubble in turn wrote up his variable star measurements and convinced everyone that Andromeda was indeed a separate galaxy.—Quanta Magazine, 28 Sep. 2023 Cosmic Shores Hubble’s study of Andromeda and its variable star stemmed from his fierce rivalry with another famed astronomer at Mount Wilson, Harlow Shapley.—Quanta Magazine, 28 Sep. 2023 So a variable star is one that changes its brightness over time in a regular cycle.—Lucy Evans, Scientific American, 22 June 2023 The Hubble Space Telescope captured a stunning new image of the bright variable star V 372 Orionis and a companion star.—Julia Musto, Fox News, 28 Jan. 2023 The variable star usually cycles from dim to bright over some 420 days, so astronomers say there’s still more to the mystery.—Eric Betz, Discover Magazine, 14 Dec. 2020 This type of system is called a cataclysmic variable star.—Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 9 Apr. 2012 The image from Hubble shows a nebula (a gas cloud) that happened during one of the larger outbursts from the variable star.—Elizabeth Howell, Forbes, 26 Apr. 2021 See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'variable star.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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