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On Second Thought, Polaris Really Does Seem 434 Light Years Away

Posted by timothy on from the shaggy-dog-story dept.

sciencehabit writes with this excerpt from Science Magazine "Last November, astronomer David Turner made headlines by claiming that one of the sky's best known objects—the North Star, Polaris—was actually 111 light-years closer than thought. If true, the finding might have forced researchers to rethink how they calculate distances in the cosmos as well as what they know about some aspects of stellar physics. But a new study argues that distance measurements of the familiar star made some 2 decades ago by the European Space Agency's venerable Hipparcos satellite are still spot on."

9 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. Ooops! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Looks like another mixup between metric and imperial measurement systems. /jk

  2. Alas... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...eleventy-one light years is far too short a distance to travel among such excellent and admirable stellar phenomena.

  3. Good riddance, I say. by PacRim+Jim · · Score: 4, Funny

    Polaris is a sneaky, underhanded, deceitful star, not to be trusted. Fortunately, in about 15,000 years, it will no longer be the north star. Sir Alop

    1. Re:Good riddance, I say. by waTeim · · Score: 3, Funny

      Oh yea? and I suppose Vega is soooooo much better! She sends us a text to come to her party, but when we get there there are already 8 other dudes hanging out, and we're in the friend-zone!? Small moves? bullshit, that two-timing whore.

  4. Re:HOW LONG AT WARP 10 ?? by rusty0101 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Oddly enough, the old Russian maxim applies here. One does not travel at warp, warp travels you.

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    You never know...
  5. Metric Mixup by nephillim · · Score: 5, Funny

    Probably an error converting between metric light-years and American light-years.

    1. Re:Metric Mixup by Arancaytar · · Score: 4, Funny

      The Imperial system uses light fortnights (3.62628957 * 10^14 m), whereas the metric system uses light megaseconds (2.99792458 * 10^14 m).

      One light year contains 31.536 light megaseconds, but only 26.07 light fortnights.

      :-P

  6. They're both right. by Arancaytar · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Polarans solved FTL travel ages ago, and now use it to troll other civilisations by placing their star along some life-bearing planet's axis of rotation, waiting for people to develop advanced astronomy, then randomly feinting at them to mess with the scientists' heads.

  7. Re:The most important question... by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Dude if you wat Science Fiction, check out the History channel. Every single show is about aliens in one way or another.

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    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.