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The Mystery of the North Star: Astronomers baffled to find Polaris is getting BRIGHTER
Daily Mail ^ | UPDATED: 16:18 EST, 5 February 2014 | MARK PRIGG

Posted on 02/06/2014 12:11:57 AM PST by ApplegateRanch

Team found that Polaris is 2.5 times brighter today than in 137CE Experts say find is 'entirely unexpected'

Astronomers have discovered that Polaris, the north star, is getting brighter. They say the star has suddenly reversed two decades of dimming. It is expanding at more than 100 times the rate they expected - and nobody is sure why.

A team led by Scott Engle of Villanova University in Pennsylvania recalibrated historic measurements of Polaris by Ptolemy in 137 C.E., the Persian astronomer Al-Sufi in 964 C.E., and others. They investigated the fluctuations of the star over the course of several years, combing through historical records and utilising the Hubble Space Telescope. The team found that Polaris is 2.5 times brighter today than in Ptolemy's time, which they say is a remarkable rate of change.

'If they are real, these changes are 100 times larger than predicted by current theories of stellar evolution,' says Villanova astronomer Edward Guinan. The team's data also hint that the star's cyclic 4-day variation in brightness, although still weak, is once again growing more robust--but no one knows what's driving these flutterings or how long they will last. Engle and his team began to research the star around the beginning of 2000, when they found that the dropping brightness was on the rise again.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; catastrophism; edwardguinan; fauxiantrolls; godsgravesglyphs; haltonarp; polaris; ptolemy; stringtheory; xplanets
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To: Organic Panic

Must be another consequence of Global Warming...


21 posted on 02/06/2014 3:37:32 AM PST by Tallguy
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To: ApplegateRanch

Polaris is a Cepheid variable. It’s been getting dimmer and brighter for a long time. Its various sputterings has suggested that something interestingly unstable is going on. If I recall, it’s large enough (8-12 solar masses) that it could go supernova. But if it did, we won’t know about it for 600 years. So, whatever we’re seeing now is what it was doing 600 years ago. (Yawn...old news.)


22 posted on 02/06/2014 3:40:12 AM PST by Gen.Blather
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To: DannyTN
Very ysterious!

Very ysterious indeed!

23 posted on 02/06/2014 3:46:32 AM PST by Focault's Pendulum (I live in NJ....' Nuff said!)
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To: ApplegateRanch

The North Star Polaris Is Getting Brighter by Nola Taylor Redd, SPACE.com Contributor | January 28, 2014 06:41am ET Photo of Polaris, the North Star and close-up This long-exposure photo (left) shows how the North Star, Polaris, stays fixed in the night sky as other stars appear to move during the night due to Earth's rotation. At right, a close-up of the multi-star Polaris system. Credit: Left image: M. Menefee; Right: N. Carboni; Assembly: D. Majaess


24 posted on 02/06/2014 3:48:22 AM PST by JoeProBono (SOME IMAGES MAY BE DISTURBING VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED;-{)
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To: ApplegateRanch
Maybe it's headed this way!


25 posted on 02/06/2014 3:50:09 AM PST by P.O.E. (Pray for America)
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To: mn-bush-man

CE stand for Common Era, a substitute for “Anno Domini,” The Year of our Lord. It is used by miscreants who are offended by the terms AD and BC. It is still based on the birth of the Baby Jesus.


26 posted on 02/06/2014 3:52:32 AM PST by Vehmgericht
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To: fieldmarshaldj
‘Tis a ystery.

'Tis an ystery.

Remember that the indefinite article changes to "an" before vowels!

27 posted on 02/06/2014 4:21:41 AM PST by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
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To: exDemMom

I got yer dangling participle right ‘ere !


28 posted on 02/06/2014 4:23:00 AM PST by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: JoeProBono

Nice picture. I am glad that star motion is too slow to see; I’m getting dizzy just looking at the pic.


29 posted on 02/06/2014 4:23:56 AM PST by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
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To: exDemMom
aybe the REAL 'ystery' is: "OMG! What happened to the 'M'?"

:P

30 posted on 02/06/2014 4:24:43 AM PST by ZinGirl (kids in college....can't afford a tagline right now)
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To: ApplegateRanch
Interesting that the comments posted at the link are decidedly right leaning.

Lots of Freeper-like jokes.

31 posted on 02/06/2014 4:30:12 AM PST by airborne (MY HEROES DON'T WEAR CAPES. MY HEROES WEAR DOG TAGS ! ! !)
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To: ApplegateRanch
Astronomers have discovered that Polaris, the north star, is getting brighter.

My guess is that it's actually a headlight..........

Sorry but no, I am not an astrophysicist.....

32 posted on 02/06/2014 4:33:14 AM PST by Hot Tabasco (I think I've lost my mojo.....)
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To: exDemMom
Well just remember, the stars aren't in motion, we are.

You may puke now, if you like.

33 posted on 02/06/2014 4:35:29 AM PST by katana (Just my opinions)
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To: Ethan Clive Osgoode

I like to think of CE as Christian Era. :)


34 posted on 02/06/2014 4:52:27 AM PST by Library Lady (When little men cast long shadows, the day is almost ended. – Paul Harvey)
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To: exDemMom


35 posted on 02/06/2014 4:55:49 AM PST by JoeProBono (SOME IMAGES MAY BE DISTURBING VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED;-{)
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To: ApplegateRanch
Team found that Polaris is 2.5 times brighter today than in 137CE 

Funny number. It is the amount of one magnitude difference in modern notation. Ptolemy subdivided his stars into 15 brightness levels, so it is more precise than just by single magnitudes.

36 posted on 02/06/2014 5:04:05 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Republican amnesty supporters don't care whether their own homes are called mansions or haciendas.)
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To: ApplegateRanch

Thuban? Is that some new car company?


37 posted on 02/06/2014 5:10:34 AM PST by McGruff (I'm a Conservative. Not necessarily a Republican.)
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To: ApplegateRanch
Astronomers have discovered that Polaris, the north star, is getting brighter. They say the star has suddenly reversed two decades of dimming. It is expanding at more than 100 times the rate they expected - and nobody is sure why.

Two theories:

or


38 posted on 02/06/2014 5:38:39 AM PST by JRios1968 (I'm guttery and trashy, with a hint of lemon. - Laz)
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To: ApplegateRanch

if it is after 1 AD. I refer to it as the Christian Era.


39 posted on 02/06/2014 5:53:38 AM PST by Patriot365
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To: ApplegateRanch

Yes, Vega became tarnished by its oxidative nature and generally cast a poor reflection on Chevy. Not to worry however, Thuban will come back around again in a little over 18,000 years and all will be well again.


40 posted on 02/06/2014 6:01:59 AM PST by RC one
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