Podcast: North Star Special

By Michael on October 4, 2009 at 6:13 pm | In Audio Podcasts | 2 Comments

We have a new podcast on the feed! It’s been a while since our last show but we made up for it with a nice, long and informative show about Polaris, also known as The North Star.

The podcast features the usual crew — Michael Koppelman, Doug Welch and Mike Simonsen and includes an interview with Dr. Edward Guinan and Scott Engle from Villanova University.

A quick summary of Polaris facts:

  1. Polaris is not the brightest star in the sky.
  2. Polaris is in the north.
  3. Polaris hasn’t always been and won’t always be the north star.
  4. Polaris is a variable star of a type known as Cepheids, which have been important stars in understanding cosmic distance scales.

Subscribe to the feed or listen now using the player below.

 

Download

UPDATE: Mike Simonsen has a nice photo of Ed Guinan and a link to more discussion on Polaris.

2 Comments »

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  1. You wondered why our star Bears have long tails. Well actually, according to the legend, Zeus resqued Callisto from her son by grabbing her tail and pulling her up into the sky, away from the deadly arrow. Because of that her tail stretched.

    Comment by Trulialia — August 13, 2010 #

  2. By the way, Ursa Minor rarely symbolizes Callisto’s son. He is usually represented by the constellation of Bootes, who holds back Canes Venatici not to attack his mother. Ursa Minor instead is Callisto’s faithful servant, who followed her to the sky.

    Comment by Trulialia — August 13, 2010 #

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