Unfortunately there isn't more context. I study English philology and in our last exam we were given this exercise to do
Explain the meaning of the following examples: English/the English; wine table/table wine; golden eagle/gold eagle etc etc amongst them was 'the stars visible/the visible stars'
I said that that the first one refers to starts visible from earth and the second means stars visible now, at the time of speaking. The teacher said it is correct, nevertheless I think I was just lucky with my answer. Difference between them is not as clear as the other examples and it's still still puzzling me. I dare to say that they mean pretty much the same ;-)
*** NOT A TEACHER ***
Misiania,
(1) I most respectfully suggest that your teacher accidentally
made a mistake in telling you that your guess was correct.
According to
A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, written by Professor Randolph Quirk and colleagues:
The stars visible = stars that are visible at a particular time (for example, "now.")
The very popular
The Grammar Book (by Mesdames Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman)
might explain it this way:
The stars [
that are/were] visible at a particular time.
For example: The only stars visible last night were .... (NOTE: Those two sentences are only my idea -- based on what I read in that book.)
*****
The visible stars (says
A Comprehensive Grammar) refers to a
category of stars that can (at appropriate times) [always] be
seen. (I inserted the word "always.")
In other words:
visible stars = a permanent/usual situation.
stars visible = a temporary situation (depending on the circumstances).
Finally, let me end with one more example that I got from
The Grammar
Book:
The only navigable river. = usual fact about that river. It is always navigable.
The only river navigable. = temporary situation.
The book explains:
During the drought the only river [
that was] navigable was the Merced.
Thank you & Happy New Year
P.S.
The Grammar Book also gives credit for some of these ideas to
Professor D. Bolinger.