2 years ago
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Posted On: May 19th 2024, 09:02 am
The Dance of the Stars: Earth's Axial Precession and the Shifting North Celestial Pole
As we gaze up at the night sky, the stars seem eternal and unchanging. But over millennia, their positions shift in a slow cosmic dance, thanks to a phenomenon known as Earth's axial precession.
Imagine Earth not as a perfect spinner but as a slightly wobbly top. This wobble is caused by the gravitational pull of the Sun and the Moon on Earth's equatorial bulge. Over a period of about 26,000 years, this wobble makes Earth's axis trace out a cone shape in space, altering the position of the poles in the sky.
For our ancestors, Thuban in the constellation Draco was the North Star around 3000 BCE. Today, it's Polaris in Ursa Minor. But don't get too attached to Polaris; due to this precessional motion, Vega in the constellation Lyra will take over as the North Star in about 12,000 years.
#northstar #precession #vega #polaris
As we gaze up at the night sky, the stars seem eternal and unchanging. But over millennia, their positions shift in a slow cosmic dance, thanks to a phenomenon known as Earth's axial precession.
Imagine Earth not as a perfect spinner but as a slightly wobbly top. This wobble is caused by the gravitational pull of the Sun and the Moon on Earth's equatorial bulge. Over a period of about 26,000 years, this wobble makes Earth's axis trace out a cone shape in space, altering the position of the poles in the sky.
For our ancestors, Thuban in the constellation Draco was the North Star around 3000 BCE. Today, it's Polaris in Ursa Minor. But don't get too attached to Polaris; due to this precessional motion, Vega in the constellation Lyra will take over as the North Star in about 12,000 years.
#northstar #precession #vega #polaris
Comments (32)
2 years agoreinhardvonlohengram
Good Demonstration! The speed of rotation and precession are not too fast so the audience can follow easily!
2 years agoadriandimetriou
that is why mainstream astrology is in the wrong...Because also detected by Hipparchus in the 3rd century B.C. ,it is not considered ,and it is "off" with regards to the actual placements...
2 years agothecatch91
But.... But.... Flat earth.. And.... 6,000 year old earth... Space is lizzard... Something something something
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