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Dwarf

Main Sequence Star

Comparative Size of a Dwarf

A typical dwarf star, such as our own Sun, compared with the giant and supergiant stars Aldebaran and Antares.

A star of roughly the same size as Earth's Sun, or smaller. 'Dwarf' is perhaps an unhappy term; it is used simply to distinguish these stars from 'giants', and doesn't imply that they are particularly small.

Altair in Aquila is one of the nearest dwarf stars to the Solar System, at a distance of just seventeen light years. Though a main sequence star like the Sun, Altair is considerably hotter and more luminous, and has a diameter nearly twice that of the Sun. Imagery provided by Aladin sky atlas

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