Stimpunks Foundation · L★S · Field Guide No. 5

A Field Guide to
the Ways of Being a Star

Eight ways to be a star — slow or brilliant, solitary or paired, steady or pulsing, still burning or long past it. Astronomy's own names smuggle in verdicts ("failed star," "dwarf"). The sky doesn't grade. There is no standard star.

L★S
How to use this guide Each entry gives the kind of star, the trait a deficit label fixes on, what that trait actually is, key data, and full field notes. Click any entry to open its notes.
On the main sequence Most stars spend their fusing lives on a diagonal band astronomers call the main sequence. It's a phase, not a ranking — and plenty of real stars live on it, above it, below it, or entirely off it. There is no standard star.
On the diagrams Each diagram is the same star-map — the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, hot-to-cool across and dim-to-bright up — with this star's way of being lit on it. Same map every time; a different place to stand.