FIXED STARS — 2nd ed. (1778

FIXED STARS, are such as constantly retain the same position and distance with respect to each other*; by which they are contradistinguished from erratic or wandering stars, which are continually shifting their situa-

tion and distance.—The fixed stars are what we properly and absolutely call stars: the rest have their peculiar denominations of planet, and comet. See ASTRONOMY, n^o 40, 44, 46, &c.