“Aristotle taught that stars are made of a different matter than the four earthly elements — a quintessence — that also happens to be what the human psyche is made of. Which is why man’s spirit corresponds to the stars. Perhaps that’s not a very scientific view, but I do like the idea that there’s a little starlight in each of us.” –Lisa Kleypas
We like to think of the stars as fixed, as their position doesn’t perceptibly change from night-to-night or even year-to-year. Not only that, but their brightness and color doesn’t appear to change, either. But is that actually true, or is that only because we don’t have the capabilities — as humans — to view these stars on the sufficiently long timescales that they do evolve on?
Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team.
It’s very much the latter, as stars evolve in both color and brightness over time, with their life cycle absolutely predestined from the moment of the star’s birth.
Image credit: Wikipedia user Rursus.
Come learn about the evolution of starlight on today’s Throwback Thursday!
from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1MqVYL6
“Aristotle taught that stars are made of a different matter than the four earthly elements — a quintessence — that also happens to be what the human psyche is made of. Which is why man’s spirit corresponds to the stars. Perhaps that’s not a very scientific view, but I do like the idea that there’s a little starlight in each of us.” –Lisa Kleypas
We like to think of the stars as fixed, as their position doesn’t perceptibly change from night-to-night or even year-to-year. Not only that, but their brightness and color doesn’t appear to change, either. But is that actually true, or is that only because we don’t have the capabilities — as humans — to view these stars on the sufficiently long timescales that they do evolve on?
Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team.
It’s very much the latter, as stars evolve in both color and brightness over time, with their life cycle absolutely predestined from the moment of the star’s birth.
Image credit: Wikipedia user Rursus.
Come learn about the evolution of starlight on today’s Throwback Thursday!
from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1MqVYL6
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