#asterism

• Asteria — A variety of precious gemstone (especially sapphire or ruby) which, due to fine acicular rutile inclusions in its structure, exhibits the optical phenomenon of asterism (a luminous six- or twelve-rayed star visible upon light reflection); in a historical zoological sense, it represents an ancient genus or reference to fossil starfish or marine radiate organisms of the Asteroidea class.
• Asterism — A remarkable optical phenomenon found in certain crystals and gemstones (such as star sapphires or star rubies), manifested by a star-shaped light reflection with multiple rays, caused by light refraction on geometrically oriented micro-inclusions; in astronomy, it denotes a small group of stars forming a recognized geometric figure in the night sky that is not an official constellation; in typography, it represents a group of three asterisks (⁂) used to separate text sections.