The asterisk has nothing to do with indicating it is a star. > The name Sgr A\* ... | Hacker News

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		scentoni on Oct 31, 2018 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: Astronomers Creep Up to the Edge of the Milky Way’... The asterisk has nothing to do with indicating it is a star. > The name Sgr A* was coined by Brown in a 1982 paper because the radio source was "exciting", and excited states of atoms are denoted with asterisks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_A*

stephengillie on Oct 31, 2018 [3 more]

[flagged]

phs318u on Oct 31, 2018 | | [–]

Asterisk is derived from asteriskos, the Greek diminutive for star (aster) - hence "little star". In addition, a black hole is one of several possible lifecycle end-points of a star, so pronouncing A* as A-star is pretty accurate.

pc86 on Oct 31, 2018 | | [–]

You just quoted a source saying it wasn't, stop trolling.

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