variable star

Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of variable star 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 Henrietta Swan Leavitt developed a key method for measuring astronomical distances that is based on the pulsations of Cepheid variable stars. WIRED, 12 Nov. 2023 Photograph: Alamy Hubble in turn wrote up his variable star measurements and convinced everyone that Andromeda was indeed a separate galaxy. WIRED, 12 Nov. 2023 See All Example Sentences for variable star
Recent Examples of Synonyms for variable star
Noun
  • Overlaying Chandra's X-ray data (shown in bright blue) with the radio data reveals the likely cause of the fracture to be an impact from a pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star that sends out pulses of radiation at regular intervals.
    Stefanie Waldek, Space.com, 7 May 2025
  • Magnetars are neutron stars—the highly dense, collapsed cores of exploded stars—with powerful magnetic fields.
    Margherita Bassi, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 May 2025
Noun
  • According to Nine Planets, Uy Scuti is a supergiant red star that’s located in the constellation named Scutum.
    Michael Saponara, Billboard, 25 Apr. 2025
  • The tricolor has horizontal stripes of green, white, and black, with three red stars down the center stripe, which in the 1930s represented the three main states of Aleppo, Damascus, and Deir Ezzor.
    Taylor Luck, Christian Science Monitor, 10 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • Astronomers have theorized that supernovas such as these are caused by two white dwarfs orbiting each other in a binary star system, when one of them consumes the other.
    Margherita Bassi, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Apr. 2025
  • After converging, the binary star system will explode into a Type 1a supernova.
    Julian Dossett, Space.com, 7 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • Planetary nebulae like Kohoutek 4-55 are the finale at the end of a giant star’s life.
    Robert Z. Pearlman, Space.com, 15 Apr. 2025
  • Pollux is a single giant star, more than 10 times the diameter of our sun, and shining a little more than 34 light-years away, with one light-year equaling almost 6 trillion miles.
    Mike Lynch, Twin Cities, 6 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • This leaves behind a white dwarf as a gradually-cooling stellar ember.
    Robert Lea, Space.com, 25 Apr. 2025
  • The white dwarfs are currently orbiting around each other, with each orbit lasting over 14 hours.
    Margherita Bassi, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • With so many options and variables, Feldman said the choice comes down to individual needs and preferences.
    Nathan Diller, USA Today, 12 May 2025
  • The bonuses are also influenced by other variables, including in-game interviews with players and the TV ratings their games generate.
    Pol Ballús, New York Times, 11 May 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 21 May. 2025.

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