subdwarf

English

Etymology

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *upó
Proto-Italic *supo
Latin sub
Latin sub-der.
English sub-
Proto-Germanic *dwergaz
Proto-West Germanic *dwerg
Old English dweorg
Middle English dwergh
English dwarf
English subdwarf

    From sub- + dwarf.

    Noun

    subdwarf (plural subdwarfs)

    1. (astronomy) A star that is dimmer than a main-sequence star of same temperature; located below the main sequence on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.
      • 2024 August 21, Ashley Strickland, “An unusual object is moving so fast it could escape the Milky Way. Scientists aren’t certain what it is”, in CNN‎[1], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 24 September 2024:
        Data from the Keck Observatory’s Near-Infrared Echellette Spectrograph suggested the star was an L subdwarf, or a star with a much lower mass and cooler temperature than the sun. Cool subdwarfs are the oldest stars in the galaxy. […] Kremer carried out simulations and discovered that three-body interactions can knock a low-mass subdwarf star from a cluster and put it on a trajectory that is similar to that of J1249+36.

    Synonyms

    • subdwarf star

    Translations

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