as in neutron star
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Recent Examples of variable star
As one of the largest, most luminous stars in our Milky Way Galaxy, the variable star VY Canis Majoris is a likely candidates for the next naked-eye core-collapse supernova, said Guinan.
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Bruce Dorminey, Forbes, 13 Jan. 2025
This region, about 8,000 light-years from Earth, is located adjacent to the famous explosive variable star Eta Carinae, which lies just outside the field of view toward the upper right.
—Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, 8 Dec. 2024
Stars that change in brightness, known as variable stars, get brighter and dimmer; supernovas burst into view and then gradually fade away; and thousands of objects too faint to see with the unaided eye, like asteroids, move steadily across the sky.
—Dan Falk, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 June 2024
Using these variable stars, scientists can measure the distances to galaxies up to about 100 million light-years from us.
—Quanta Magazine, 19 Jan. 2024
See All Example Sentences for variable star
Bruce Dorminey, Forbes, 13 Jan. 2025
This region, about 8,000 light-years from Earth, is located adjacent to the famous explosive variable star Eta Carinae, which lies just outside the field of view toward the upper right.
—Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, 8 Dec. 2024
Stars that change in brightness, known as variable stars, get brighter and dimmer; supernovas burst into view and then gradually fade away; and thousands of objects too faint to see with the unaided eye, like asteroids, move steadily across the sky.
—Dan Falk, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 June 2024
Using these variable stars, scientists can measure the distances to galaxies up to about 100 million light-years from us.
—Quanta Magazine, 19 Jan. 2024
See All Example Sentences for variable star
Recent Examples of Synonyms for variable star
Noun
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In this region, stellar populations are sparse, and stars with the necessary mass needed to go supernova and to birth a neutron star at the heart of a pulsar should be vanishingly rare.—
Robert Lea,
Space.com,
2 Sep. 2025
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But an unseen companion like a neutron star could be siphoning material away from the larger star — and that may have been enough to release a burst of radio waves, Blanchard said.—
Ashley Strickland,
CNN Money,
26 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Aldebaran, the red star that represents the 'right eye' of the bull, appears to be part of the cluster, but is actually located a mere 65 light-years from us.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
17 Aug. 2025
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Blue and red stars shine brightly, while nearby blue spiral galaxies and distant red galaxy groups can also be seen.—
Eric Lagatta,
USA Today,
25 June 2025
Noun
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Antares is, in reality, a binary star system, made up of a red supergiant star with a white main sequence companion, though the light of the red giant dominates the naked-eye view from Earth.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
29 Aug. 2025
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Detecting and analyzing these oddities can help Bédard, Sahu, and other researchers gain a more comprehensive understanding of the ultimate fate of many binary star systems.—
Andrew Paul Aug 6,
Popular Science,
6 Aug. 2025
Noun
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The other type of star that goes supernova is a giant star with a mass at least eight times greater than the sun.—
Keith Cooper,
Space.com,
19 Aug. 2025
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In the desert lands of the first century, a young boy catches the sight of a giant star.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
2 June 2025
Noun
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Instead, these stars leave behind a white dwarf.—
Robert Lea,
Space.com,
25 Aug. 2025
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What’s left behind is a massive white dwarf with a hydrogen-helium layer that’s 10 billion times thinner than usual, allowing detectable carbon to reach the surface.—
Andrew Paul Aug 6,
Popular Science,
6 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Armed with the knowledge that disks have these slight warps, theorists have a new variable to input into their simulations of how planets are assembled, to gain new insights into how our Earth and the other planets of the solar system came to be.—
Keith Cooper,
Space.com,
27 Aug. 2025
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That's what good engineering provides, repeatable processes that work regardless of the specific variables.—
Malana VanTyler,
USA Today,
27 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Variable star.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/variable%20star. Accessed 8 Sep. 2025.
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