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 ...
Well, it’s either Global Warming or Bush’s fault.
The libs want to substitute “common era” for “AD” (year of our Lord).
But, when you see “CE”, just say “Christian era”.
What does C.E. stand for?
really?
What is 137CE?
The star’s storage unit?
I expect to hear the following any time now from Jay Carney: “Not only will Obamacare improve people’s lives by incentivizing people to work less hours, or not work at all, but it makes the North Star shine brighter.”
Which raises the question - did it really make a sound in the vacuum of space? If so, did the gases that comprised the BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM provide the vehicle for the sound? If this is the case, did any trees in the woods hear the sound?
So many questions for the scientists to focus on and all they care about is how it didn't stop global warming...
So BC is now... what, UE?
Dang, I hate it when I don’t get those memos...
Love the Kardashian line too, LMAO
But it’s posted as Breaking News.
Or it’s getting closer.... OMG.... Bush is going to use the North Star to kill us all!!!
It’s a turbocharged mountain snowmobile coming at us.
Come on, everyone knows its stands for the common era. Nobody knows what the common era is.
“What year is it?”
“Why?”
hehe...
Thanks ApplegateRanch for the ping, and thanks null and void for the link in email. Extra to APoD members.
AR and NV... you two are stars! (get it?!!)
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... found that Polaris is 2.5 times brighter today than in Ptolemy's time, which they say is a remarkable rate of change.
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.
 |
||
| · join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe · | ||
| Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar · | ||
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.
