Hey, I love them! For the first time in my life I have access to the Internet at something better than dialup. But don't worry... they're in low Earth orbit. When civilization fails, they will all decay and burn up within a few decades.Except that Musk's damn Starlink satellites will still be shooting across our fields of view!Most stars are long-lived. Of course, many of the bright ones we appreciate are intrinsically bright, and therefore short-lived (although still for much longer than humans have existed). Likewise for constellations. But as stars move due to proper motion, and stars explode, new patterns are also coming into existence and new bright stars are being born.Is it only me who has paraeidolia that causes me to see a ruddy, warm Snowman waving his bright right hand to the planet, Earth?
Right, only me, then.![:)]( "Smile")
So, not only is the asterism temporary because Earth is moving past it and because the individual stars are moving relative to one another and so the pattern itself will change but the stars making up the main torso of the Hunter are all going to go boom to fashion either "planetary" nebulae with tiny White Dwarves or they might form collapsed singularities.
That's sad.
Though not totally unexpected. Stars are short-lived, temporary little things.
Happy New Year to everyone.
And, of course, as the world heads backwards, the remaining humans may again be sitting around fires at the mouths of caves, able to appreciate the new skies without any light pollution!
Statistics: Posted by Chris Peterson — Sat Dec 28, 2024 7:23 pm — Replies 8 — Views 385