Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

Birthday stars

  • 21-05-2004 1:37pm
    #1
    albertw
    Closed Accounts Posts: 395 ✭✭


    If you doubt the immensity of space, then look for your birthday star at:
    http://outreach.jach.hawaii.edu/birthstars/

    Thanks to Dr. Ian Elliott in Dunsink for this.

    Cheers,
    ~Al


Comments

  • #2
    BEAT
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 5,945 ✭✭✭BEAT


    This is amazing, is it true? I mean, in a matter of a second it finds "my" birthday star out of billions of stars, if this is infact accurate I think it is the best thread in this forum. Couldnt there be more than just one star though? how does it find that one star in particular?
    Well done :-)

    ahhh, I clicked on the corresponding links and found some wonderful information...thatnks for posting this!


  • #3
    albertw
    Closed Accounts Posts: 395 ✭✭albertw


    Originally posted by BEAT
    This is amazing, is it true? I mean, in a matter of a second it finds "my" birthday star out of billions of stars, if this is infact accurate I think it is the best thread in this forum. Couldnt there be more than just one star though? how does it find that one star in particular?
    Well done :-)

    Thanks to the HIPPARCOS satellite that was launched a few years ago we now have (reasonably) accurate distances to many thousands of stars.

    All this program does is works out your age, say 27, and then find a star that is 27 light years away and plots it on the screen. The idea being that the light now reaching us from the star actually left the star when you were born. There could indeed be several stars the same distance from earth, but the program just picks one, any more would just be greedy :)

    Cheers,
    ~Al


  • #4
    ambasite
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 599 ✭✭✭ambasite


    pretty mind blowing alright, was set for another uneventful afternoon in the office, now my head is melted. such distances - mind blowing. :cool:


  • #5
    Seanie M
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,795 ✭✭✭Seanie M


    mine is Vega...

    ...always knew I'd grow up to be a big bright shining star... or so my mom kept saying...

    :D


  • #6
    BEAT
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 5,945 ✭✭✭BEAT


    ¥î (Xi) Ursae Majoris in Johann Bayer's Uranometria star catalog. It is also called 53 Ursae Majoris in the Historia C©«lestis Britannica of John Flamsteed and Edmund Halley. It is called NS 1118+3133 A in the NStars database.

    It has visual magnitude 4.32 meaning that you could see this star with the naked eye in good viewing conditions. It is marked in the center of this star chart, at celestial coordinates (J2000 equinox):


  • Advertisement
  • #7
    BEAT
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 5,945 ✭✭✭BEAT


    Hey arthur, do you have any other links along the lines of this one?


Advertisement