Studying stars eating well, but missing out on starter (9)
I believe the answer is:
astronomy
'studying' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how one could define the other.
'stars eating well but missing out on starter' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'well' could be 'my' (both are expressions of surprise) and 'my' is located in the answer.
'on' is within the answer.
The remaining letters 'astro' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for astronomy that I've seen before include "Scientific study of the universe" , "Study of stars etc" , "branch of science" , "Scientific study of heavenly bodies" , "Scientific study of stars and planets" .)