Wiktionary
n. (context star English) A star that is located in the main sequence in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram; fuses hydrogen into helium in its core.
Wikipedia
A dwarf star is a star of relatively small size and low luminosity. Most main sequence stars are dwarf stars. The term was originally coined in 1906 when the Danish astronomer Ejnar Hertzsprung noticed that the reddest stars—classified as K and M in the Harvard scheme—could be divided into two distinct groups. They are either much brighter than the Sun, or much fainter. To distinguish these groups, he called them "giant" and "dwarf" stars, the dwarf stars being fainter and the giants being brighter than the Sun. The scope of the term "dwarf" was later expanded to include the following:
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Dwarf star alone generally refers to any main-sequence star, a star of luminosity class V.
- Red dwarfs are low-mass main-sequence stars.
- Yellow dwarfs are main-sequence (dwarf) stars with masses comparable to that of the Sun.
- Orange dwarfs are K-type main-sequence stars.
- A blue dwarf is a hypothesized class of very-low-mass stars that increase in temperature as they near the end of their main-sequence lifetime.
- A white dwarf is a star composed of electron-degenerate matter, thought to be the final stage in the evolution of stars not massive enough to collapse into a neutron star or undergo a Type II supernova—stars less massive than roughly 9 solar masses.
- A black dwarf is a white dwarf that has cooled sufficiently such that it no longer emits any visible light.
- A brown dwarf is a substellar object not massive enough to ever fuse hydrogen into helium, but still massive enough to fuse deuterium—less than about 0.08 solar masses and more than about 13 Jupiter masses.
Usage examples of "dwarf star".
Jaina did not understand why the white dwarf star did not look like a big jewel, a huge diamond in space.
They try to blast out, but the Falcon is caught in the gravitational pull of the dwarf star the ships orbit.
A cold place, by all reportshe had packed enough warm clothes to stock a small arctic expeditionand a strange one: a little planet, light in gravity, with no decent sun to speak of, just a small yellow dwarf star that sounded very pallid and unwelcoming.
A cold place, by all reports-he had packed enough warm clothes to stock a small arctic expedition-and a strange one a little planet, light in gravity, with no decent sun to speak of, just a small yellow dwarf star that sounded very pallid and unwelcoming.
Finally both ships came to a relative dead standstill high above the orbital plane of the exploded red-dwarf star.
The first readings matched the data in its memory banks: one yellow dwarf star, attended by a family of planets.
The asteroid cluster came into visual range now, the flash of the Star Destroyer's sixty turbolaser batteries lighting up the interior like a tiny red dwarf star.
It was a Rendili Star Drive's design, from the Dwarf Star-class of freighter.