fixed star
1
9.8
- noun
- /fɪkst stɑr/
- Archaic
:
estrella fija
- Britain's Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne, had introduced a method called "lunar distances," which used the Moon's motion against the backdrop of fixed stars.
- sphere of the fixed stars
Examples
-
Together they studied the stars, and Malk showed him the fixed star that was always to the north—
Fiction book (1990) -
In the introduction, he wrote: "Also added are the declinations of many fixed stars around the south pole; never seen before today."
Academic text (1990) -
Jupiter was already classified as a planet, a "wanderer" whose position among the fixed stars followed no simple rule.
Academic text (2000) -
This eclipse will be exactly conjunct the fixed star.
Blog text (18) -
In ancient astronomy, sailors relied on the position of a fixed star to navigate the oceans.
-
Ancient scholars categorized constellations by their brightness and the location of each fixed star in the sky.
-
The bright fixed star that we see tonight is also known as Polaris, guiding travelers in the northern hemisphere.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'a star that remains stationary' is directly derivable from combining 'fixed' (not able to move) with 'star' (a celestial object), so the overall meaning follows straightforward compositional logic. This adjective+noun pattern is standard and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Fixed star comes from ancient sky watchers who saw some stars stay in the same place while planets moved. They called the star fixed because it did not move like the 'wandering' planets, so today fixed star means a star that seems not to move in the sky.