Glossary term: 恒星
Description: 恒星是由等离子体——与电子分离的原子核——构成的球体。恒星自身的引力将内部的等离子体束缚在一起，而恒星核心区域的核聚变过程产生的内压阻止了其自身的塌缩。天文学家对物理学术语的使用不太严格，通常将“气体”和“等离子体”互换使用，因此也将恒星称为气体球。在恒星的大气层中，等离子体可能只是部分电离的，甚至包含一些未电离的原子，这取决于恒星的温度。
离地球最近的恒星是太阳。
在更广泛的意义上，“恒星”一词包括核聚变尚未开始的原恒星，以及中子星或白矮星等恒星遗迹。这些恒星遗迹并不是简单的等离子体球——白矮星在冷却数十亿年后会结晶成一种不同寻常的固体，而中子星则与巨大的原子核非常相似。
无论是用肉眼还是通过光学望远镜观察，恒星都是夜空中最明显的天体。在宇宙中，恒星通常存在于星系中，每颗恒星一般都伴随着一颗或多颗行星。研究恒星如何形成和演化是天体物理学的一个重要分支领域。
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Term and definition status: The original definition of this term in English have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher The translation of this term and its definition is still awaiting approval
The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".
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引力透镜放大了一颗早期恒星
Credit: NASA, ESA, B. Welch (JHU), D. Coe (STScI), A. Pagan (STScI) credit link
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星空下的瞭望塔和稻田
Credit: Likai Lin/IAU OAU
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