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We have an explanation for all 3212 xkcd comics, and only 62 (1.9%) are incomplete. Help us finish them!
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| Binary Star |
Title text: The discovery of a fully typographical star system comes with a big asterisk. |
Explanation
While a "main sequence star" is a real celestial object, a five-pointed star is how stars are often drawn. The comic uses a drawn star shape to be a part of a celestial star system.
The title text similarly uses the * symbol (an asterisk - meaning little star), which is sometimes called a star, to be another real celestial star. A "big asterisk" is used as a metaphor for a rather large caveat, symbolizing a long footnote.
Transcript
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