English

Noun

starquake ‎(plural starquakes)

1. (astronomy) A violent tremor or quake that occurs on or near the surface of a star, especially a collapsed star.
   • 1985, Paul Murdin, Lesley Murdin, New Astronomy, page 131,

     Astronomers call the sudden changes in the neutron star starquakes. The energy released in a starquake is enormous and flows out from the star into the space surrounding it. After the 1969 starquake on the Crab pulsar, a wave of energy was seen to flow outwards, rippling through the centre of the Crab Nebula.

   • 2000, Richard I. Epstein, Bennett Link, Starquake-Induced Glitches in Pulsars, Kwong-Sang Cheng H, F, Chau, K. L. Chan, K. C. Leung (editors), Stellar Astrophysics: Proceedings of the Pacific Rim Conference, page 96,

     Starquakes in slowing neutron stars drive matter toward the magnetic poles, distort the star's shape, and excite precession.

   • 2000, Carl Sagan, Jerome Agel, Carl Sagan's Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective [new edition of 1973, The Cosmic Connection], page 260,

     Should the core be solid, starquakes are expected — a shifting of the matter under enormous stress in the interior of the star. Such starquakes should produce a discontinuous change in the period of rotation of the neutron star. Such changes, called "glitches," are observed.

Related terms

• corequake
• crustquake
• earthquake
• moonquake