North Star

A spot of clear sky happened.

From our driveway you can see the Big Dipper (Ursa Major) and the North Star (Polaris). Can you see it?

The North Star is reported to be 431 light years away. Hmmmm..... I wonder how that was determined. There is no measuring tape that long.

So we are looking at light that left that star 431 years ago. We are looking into the past 431 years when we are looking at the North Star.

I wonder how many light years away other stars are? If they are light years away too then what we are looking at in the sky is tens, or hundreds, or thousands of years old, and all different ages.

Are all of those stars still there? Are there new stars out there such that their light has not reached us yet so that we cannot see them?

I think someone is playing a trick on us.

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Yikes!
Flower Respect
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What's playing tonight: Beautiful Day by U2