stars
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:11 am

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was just outside having a smoke and was gazing at the stars and a few questions popped into my head.

1. What makes stars twinkle

2. Why do we draw stars with the 5 points? I mean, come on look at them....they're dots

RE: stars
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:38 am

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1. They twinkle due to refraction of light through the earth's atmosphere. Air is constantly moving around up there, so it makes the twinkling effect. If you were standing on the moon or floating in space (with no atmosphere) then they wouldn't twinkle.

2. My guess is because sometimes when you look at a star, you see diffraction "spikes" coming from it, which look like points.

RE: stars
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 3:08 pm

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Dam, as soon as I saw



I thought this was a chance to share some knowledge, but Kraven bet me to it.

RE: stars
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 3:20 pm

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Yeah ditto.

Also I guess with all the debri and interfering gravities, the light of the stars gets pretty munted between them and us.

If you see one that ISN'T flickering/sparkling, it's a planet.

RE: stars
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 3:39 pm

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If you see one that's a raging ball of fire heading right towards you... RUN!!!

Also consider that those stars you see are really, really far away. The closest is about 4 light years away, which means you're seeing the light it emitted 4 years ago when you're sitting there looking up.

Others are hundreds or thousands of light years away. Some could even had died at this point in time, but we'll still see their light for a long, long time.

The universe really is massive! I love astrology, it reminds you just how insignificant you really are in the grand scheme of things.

RE: stars
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 4:04 pm

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it is an amazing thing, innit

RE: stars
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 4:38 pm

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*astronomy



But yeah, most fascinating subject ever for me.

I remember laying on the jetty at Lake Rotoroa in the South Island, looking at the moon and stars... I picked a solid non-moving point, and could ever-so-slightly see the movement of the moon across the sky. I felt REALLY small then.

RE: stars
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 4:51 pm

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Has anyone watched the Lion King?

K well I'll tell you a little secret if you promise not to pay me out for it?

When I was a kid mum brought me the Lion King - and theres a part on there when they're talking about what stars are and (I can't remember the characters names) one of them said they're balls of flaming gas millions of miles away - and I believed it up until I went to High School... I was most dissapointed when I found out the TV had lied to me.

RE: stars
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:19 pm

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Yes, of course (I did mean to say astronomy)! Either way, both involve star gazing.



There's nothing wrong with that description, it's just a basic way of explaining what a star is. If I could talk to animals, that's how I would explain it!

RE: stars
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:27 pm

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i'd tell them the sky resembles a black canvas with holes punched in it and light is seeping through

RE: stars
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:18 pm

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Where does the light come from? What holds the canvas up? Why does the canvas turn blue during the day?

RE: stars
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:52 pm

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i odnt know ask incubus i stole it from one of their songs hehehe

RE: stars
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:00 pm

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haha. and god is urinating when it is raining.

RE: stars
Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:44 pm

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