[neverdem]

PING

[ImaGraftedBranch]

THE deeper understanding of this article in the NY Slimes (and yes, one must ALWAYS try to find the deeper meaning between the lines in the Slimes) is an attack on objective truth.

Always trying to blur the lines, they are, in oh so deceptive ways.

[ScuzzyTerminator]

A change of a full magnitude would mean Polaris is 2.5 times as bright as it was 2,000 years ago
...His research indicates that Polaris is 310 light-years away. The current accepted distance to Polaris is 430 light-years

Obviously, Polaris is hurling toward us. DUCK!

[Verginius Rufus]

Hipparchus also discovered the precession of the equinoxes, so he should have realized that the point in the sky around which the stars seem to revolve is gradually shifting.

In classical times, the point on the ecliptic where the sun was at the time of the vernal equinox was in Aries; now it is in Pisces. No harm done, except to inspire some nonsense some years back about "the Age of Aquarius." Eventually there's a complete circuit; someday Thuban will again be the star closest to the North pole.

[JohnBovenmyer]

Given the general accuracy of modern day astronomy it is odd to see the NY Times reporting that scientists may have been off 120 light years on the distance to the North Star. What will they report next, that Bush actually won Florida?