A star schema is a type of database schema that consists of one fact table and multiple dimension tables. The fact table contains the measures or metrics of the business process, such as sales, orders, or transactions. The dimension tables contain the attributes or characteristics of the business entities, such as products, customers, or locations. The fact table is connected to the dimension tables by foreign keys that reference the primary keys of the dimension tables. The fact table is located at the center of the schema, while the dimension tables are located at the edges, forming a star-like shape1.
A star schema is an example of a denormalized schema, which means that the dimension tables are not normalized and may contain redundant or repeated data. This is done to improve the performance and simplicity of queries, as there are fewer joins and tables involved. A star schema is suitable for data warehouses and business intelligence applications that require fast and efficient data retrieval2.