Degenerate Stars
In astronomy, the term compact star (sometimes compact object) is used to refer collectively to white dwarfs, neutron stars, other exotic dense stars, and black holes. These objects are all small for their mass. The term compact star is often used when the exact nature of the star is not known, but evidence suggests that it is very massive and has a small radius, thus implying one of the above-mentioned possibilities. A compact star which is not a black hole may be called a degenerate star.
Read more about Degenerate Stars: Compact Stars As The Endpoint of Stellar Evolution, Lifetime, Planets, White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars, Exotic Stars, Black Holes
Famous quotes containing the words degenerate and/or stars:
“James Bond in his Sean Connery days ... was the first well-known bachelor on the American scene who was not a drifter or a degenerate and did not eat out of cans.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“the gray filth of it:
the knowledge that humankind,
delicate Man, whose flesh
responds to a caress, whose eyes
are flowers that perceive the stars ...”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)