They investigated the fluctuations of the star over the course of several years, combing through historical records and utilizing 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.
Cephids all do that (of which Polaris is one). Which is very interesting to me because nobody knows why that happens.
ReplyDeleteAnd we probably never will know, although there will be plenty of theories.
DeleteAl Gore says it is because of Galactic Warming.
ReplyDeleteIt is because of Gallactic Warming! What else could it be you racist denier. The syence is settled.
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