The process by which two stars combine into a single object, either through direct collision or gradual coalescence during binary evolution, often producing unusual stellar objects or explosive events.
From Latin 'stellaris' meaning 'of the stars' and 'mergere' meaning 'to plunge or immerse'. The astronomical usage became common in the late 20th century as stellar evolution models became more sophisticated.
Stellar mergers can create 'Frankenstein stars' with properties that don't match any normal stellar evolution path! The famous star V838 Monocerotis, which produced a spectacular light echo in 2002, is thought to be the result of such a merger.
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