variable star

Example Sentences

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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. 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
  • This theoretical limit concerns how much matter can be accreted to a compact body like a neutron star or black hole.
    Robert Lea, Space.com, 18 Sep. 2025
  • In the 10 years since then, scientists have detected hundreds of black holes coming together, as well as other extreme cosmic events like neutron stars colliding and black holes merging with a neutron star.
    Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR, 11 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • 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
  • Satellite map of the tsunami's leading edge (red), with the epicenter depicted by a red star.
    Maria Morava, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • Using artificial neutral networks, his tool allows astronomers to distinguish true binary star systems from chance alignments in massive data sets like the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission.
    Regina Elling, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Sep. 2025
  • The double stars of Albireo are considered a binary star system, just over 400 light-years away, with just one light-year equaling nearly 6 trillion miles.
    Mike Lynch, Twin Cities, 14 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • 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
  • All the stuff, really, enough to make a bona-fide, honest-to-God, true-blue spoof feature, the kind made by a studio and with a budget and giant stars and a full-fledged theatrical release.
    Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 1 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • Next up, the team hopes to use NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to study the white dwarf and the exo-Pluto in infrared light.
    Stefanie Waldek, Space.com, 23 Sep. 2025
  • Another potential cause is a white dwarf — a dead star as heavy as our sun but condensed to the size of Earth — being ripped apart by a rare intermediate-mass black hole.
    Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 22 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Adelman’s vision for Murray’s substitution pattern will be another variable.
    Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 24 Sep. 2025
  • Here, hot weather is the confounding variable leading to both outcomes.
    Erica Sloan, SELF, 23 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Variable star.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/variable%20star. Accessed 29 Sep. 2025.

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