The stars

Binary stars

two stars that revolve about each other

Brown dwarf

an object intermediate in size between a planet and a star

eclipsing binary

a binary star in which the plan of revolution of the two stars is nearly edge-on to our line of sight, so that the light of the star is periodically diminished by the other star passing it

H-R diagram

a plot of luminosity against surface temperature (or spectral type) for a group of stars

Main sequence

a sequence of stars on the HR diagram, containing the majority of the stars, that runs diagonally from the upper left to the lower right

mass luminosity relation

the observed relation between the masses and luminosities of many stars

selection effect

the selection of sample data in a nonrandom way, causing sample data to be unrepresentative of the entire data set

spectroscopic binary

a binary star in which the componenets are not resolved but whose binary nature is indicated by periodic variations in radial velocity, indicating orbital motion

visual binary

a binary star in which the two components are telescopically resolved

white dwarf

a low-mass star that has exhausted most or all of its nuclear fuel and has collapsed to. a very small size; such a star is near its final state of life