The fixed stars (from the Latin stellae fixae) are celestial objects that do not seem to move in relation to the other stars of the night sky. Hence, a fixed star is any star except for the Sun. A nebula or other starlike object may also be called a fixed star. People in many cultures have imagined that the stars form pictures in the sky called constellations. In ancient Greek astronomy, the stars were believed to exist on a giant celestial sphere, or firmament, that revolved around the Earth daily.
Read more about Fixed Stars: Origination of Name, The Fixed Stars Are not Fixed, The Fixed Stars in Classical Mechanics
Famous quotes containing the words fixed and/or stars:
“The permanence of all books is fixed by no effort friendly or hostile, but by their own specific gravity, or the intrinsic importance of their contents to the constant mind of man.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“From time to time there appear on the face of the earth men of rare and consummate excellence, who dazzle us by their virtue, and whose outstanding qualities shed a stupendous light. Like those extraordinary stars of whose origins we are ignorant, and of whose fate, once they have vanished, we know even less, such men have neither forebears nor descendants: they are the whole of their race.”
—Jean De La Bruyère (1645–1696)