A star is the kind of Urbit identity that sits between the galaxy and planets in the identity hierarchy. Stars act as infrastructure for the Arvo network, providing planets with Ames-related services, such as peer-to-peer routing and distributing over-the-air software updates. Stars rely on galaxies for these services in the way that planets rely on stars.
A star can be one of two related things:
A kind of Azimuth Urbit identity that sits between the galaxy and planets in the identity hierarchy. Stars, in this sense, have the power to issue planets, and are themselves are issued by galaxies.
A ship on the Arvo network whose identity is a star in the former definition. In this sense, stars act as infrastructure for the Arvo network, providing planets with Ames-related services, such as peer-to-peer routing and distributing over-the-air software updates. Stars rely on galaxies for these services in the way that planets rely on stars.
Stars have addresses that are representable by 16 bits. This means that there are 65,280 possible stars, and each of these stars is able to issue 65,535 planets. Stars have two-syllable names like ~taglux or ~hallet.