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 ...
Should be of interest tio you.
Bkmk
It's all perspective
So they are making this claim based on a 1100 year old observation compared to new intrumentation made just 14 years ago?
I think that explains it right there.
‘Tis a ystery.
partly; but the reversals and major brightening are from comparing 20th century measurements; the stuff going back centuries is a different issue. The article is a typical Daily Mail jumble.
Very ysterious!
Question from the ignorant here: what does CE stand for?
Key phrase to this article.
Yes it’s sort of like Global Warming. Trying to use modern measurements against estimated ancient measurements doesn’t necessarily work well. And it is Bush’s fault.
Common Era. PC way of saying AD, originated in at least mid 1800s.
IT WENT BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!
Polaris is such a quirky north star. Thuban was much more reliable.
It's an atheist thing. Their fingers just can't write AD or BC because God is in those abbreviations.
You’re right; Thuban is the logical choice.
I preferred Vega, but Chevy took it over and tarnished the name, and so now we’re stuck with Polaris, a wonky Dodge product.
We need to crank Thuban back into position.
Must be the reason for global warming here./s
I always read it as “Christian Era” when I come across it. Which is really what it means.
With what instrumentation. The first telescopes were made around 1608. The first photometers were made around 1861 and I imagine even those were not sensitive enough in a telescope for starlight measurements.
Comparisons were made by eye judging the light by comparing it to another one at least before 1608. So just how accurate that is the article does not say.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.