An award star is a decoration issued by the United Federation of Planets military to denote multiple military awards issued to personnel of the Federation Starfleet, Federation Marine Corps, and Federation Starfighter Corps. Award stars are sometimes referred to as Gold Stars and Silver Stars (not to be confused with the Silver Star Medal). Silver award stars are issued in lieu of five gold, meaning that a silver star is provided for the 6th, 11th, 16th and so on, for subsequent awards of a decoration. There are no higher degrees of award stars authorized in lieu of five silver award stars.