Astron. three or more stars forming one gravitational system that appear to be a single star or a binary star
multiple star
multiple starWebster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"multiple star." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/multiple-star>.
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multiple star. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/multiple-star
multiple star
noun
A system of three or more stars bound together by gravity and orbiting a common center of mass, appearing as a single star when visible to the unaided eye.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"multiple star." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/multiple-star>.
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multiple star. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/multiple-star
A system of three or more stars that are bound together by gravity and orbit a common center of mass. The group generally appears as a single star to the naked eye. Astronomers believe that most stars in the universe are part of multiple or binary systems. Alpha Centauri, the closest star to our Sun, is a multiple star system containing three bodies.
See also binary star
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MLA Style
"multiple star." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/multiple-star>.
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multiple star. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/multiple-star
Noun
(plural multiple stars)
- (astronomy) Multiple stars which form a stellar system, such that they orbit the point of equilibrium of their gravitational fields; a multiple star system.
- (astronomy) Multiple stars that appear to be one when seen with the naked eye, either because they orbit one another (multiple star systems) or happen to be in the same line of sight even though they are separated by a great distance.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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MLA Style
"multiple star." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/multiple-star>.
APA Style
multiple star. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/multiple-star
