Asterism (typography)
Template:Short description Template:Infobox symbol In typography, an asterism, Template:Char, is a typographic symbol consisting of three asterisks placed in a triangle, which is used for a variety of purposes. The name originates from the astronomical term for a group of stars.<ref name="Humez">From the Greek astēr (star) Alexander Humez, Nicholas D. Humez (2008). On the Dot: The Speck That Changed the World, p. 72 & 186n. Template:ISBN.</ref>
The asterism was originally used as a type of dinkus in typography, though increasingly rarely.<ref name="D13" /> It can also be used to mean "untitled" or author or title withheldTemplate:Snd as seen, for example, in some editions of Album for the Young by composer Robert Schumann (№ 21, 26, and 30).<ref>Taruskin, Richard (2005). The Oxford history of western music, Volume 3, p. 311. Template:ISBN.</ref>
In meteorology, an asterism in a station model plot indicates moderate snowfall.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
It is also used in generative artificial intelligence training, to mark separations in scene or source in a training dataset so that the evaluation model can recognize the transition between excerpts from different articles.Template:Cn
Dinkus
A dinkus is a typographical device to divide text, such as at section breaks. Its purpose is to "indicate minor breaks in text",<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> to call attention to a passage, or to separate sub-chapters in a book. An asterism used this way is thus a type of dinkus: nowadays this usage of the symbol is nearly obsolete.<ref name="D13">Radim Peško, Louis Lüthi (2007). Dot Dot Dot 13, p. 193. Stuart Bailey, Peter Bilak, eds. Template:ISBN.</ref> More commonly used dinkuses are three dots or three asterisks in a horizontal row.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Crystal>Template:Cite book</ref>
See also
- Asterism (disambiguation) (other uses of the word)
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