Astronomers baffled to find Polaris is getting BRIGHTER

[DrLeftover]

5 February 2014
Astronomers have discovered that Polaris, the north star, is getting brighter.

They say the star has suddenly reversed two decades of dimming.

It is expanding at more than 100 times the rate they expected - and nobody is sure why.

A team led by Scott Engle of Villanova University in Pennsylvania recalibrated historic measurements of Polaris by Ptolemy in 137 C.E., the Persian astronomer Al-Sufi in 964 C.E., and others.

They investigated the fluctuations of the star over the course of several years, combing through historical records and utilising 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.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2552530/The-mystery-North-Star-Astronomers-baffled-Polaris-getting-BRIGHTER.html#ixzz2sUGgKaA5

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Good job Polaris, shine on!
I need my sun glasses

 

[DrLeftover]

You could think about it like this:

If Polaris exploded on the day the US Declaration of Independence was signed,

we still wouldn't know about it.

The star is somewhere in the range of over 300 light years away. The exact distance is still being argued about.