Description: 恆星是由等離子體——與電子分離的原子核——構成的球體。恆星自身的引力將內部的等離子體束縛在一起，而恆星核心區域的核聚變過程產生的內壓阻止了其自身的塌縮。天文學家對物理學術語的使用不太嚴格，通常將“氣體”和“等離子體”互換使用，因此也將恆星稱為氣體球。在恆星的大氣層中，等離子體可能只是部分電離的，甚至包含一些未電離的原子，這取決於恆星的溫度。

離地球最近的恆星是太陽。

在更廣泛的意義上，“恆星”一詞包括核聚變尚未開始的原恆星，以及中子星或白矮星等恆星遺跡。這些恆星遺跡並不是簡單的等離子體球——白矮星在冷卻數十億年後會結晶成一種不同尋常的固體，而中子星則與巨大的原子核非常相似。

無論是用肉眼還是通過光學望遠鏡觀察，恆星都是夜空中最明顯的天體。在宇宙中，恆星通常存在於星系中，每顆恆星一般都伴隨著一顆或多顆行星。研究恆星如何形成和演化是天體物理學的一個重要分支領域。

Related Terms:

• 銀河系
• 中子星
• 核聚變
• 等離子體
• 恆星殘骸
• 白矮星

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

This is an automated transliteration of the simplified Chinese translation of this term

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