Posted on 05/08/2015 4:16:18 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: In only about 12,000 years Vega will be the North Star, the closest bright star to our fair planet's North Celestial Pole. By then, when you fix your camera to a tripod long exposures of the night sky will show the concentric arcs of star trails centered on a point near Vega as Earth rotates on its axis. Of course, presently the bright star conveniently near the North Celestial Pole is Polaris, but that will change as the Earth's axis of rotation precesses, like the wobble of a spinning top with a precession period of about 26,000 years. If your camera is ready now and you don't want to wait 12,000 years for Vega to be the North Star, consider this ingenious demonstration of contemporary star trails (left) versus star trails reminiscent of the year 14000 CE. Both were recorded this April at the Alqueva Dark Sky Reserve in Alentejo, Portugal. To produce the more Vega-centric star trails of the distant future, astronomer Miguel Claro combined the rotation of two startracking camera mounts to create the apparent shift in planet Earth's North Celestial Pole.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit and Copyright: Miguel Claro | Dark Sky Alqueva]
” In only about 12,000 years Vega will be the North Star”
Remind me in 11,500 years
Bet black.
Remind me in 11,500 years
ROFLOL!
:’)
12,000 short summers from now.
Viva North Vegas!
(and Elvis will STILL be sighted then ;-)
Ah, just in time for the Butlerian Jihad.
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