Have you hugged a red dwarf lately?

Doug O'Neal wrote in message ...
gswork wrote:

You all probably know this but... big stars use fuel faster than
little ones and using our sun as a base you can quickly estimate the
longevity of other stars if you know their mass as a proportion of the
sun's mass. The calculations are findable via google.

I make that a lifetime of roughly over 4,000,000,000,000 years!
getting on for 400 times longer than our sun!

At a professional conference once, I saw an interesting poster paper
(stellar astronomy is my broad area of research interest) about how M
dwarf stars end their lives. My first thought: Gee, what a great paper
to write, since NO ONE can prove you wrong since none have died yet!

Great idea! Even geologists can get caught out when something
unexpected happens, but solar astronomers - especially those
researching dwarf stars - will never see their projections
countered.... actually that's a little sad!

David Knisely wrote in message . ..
gswork posted:

It's a fascinating universe out there, so now to something closer to
home - what's the best dwarf class star to view in the northern
hemisphere if you have a modest scope?

How about the nice double Eta Cassiopeiae? It has a primary very similar to
our sun (spectral class G0V, magnitde 3.4) and a red-dwarf companion
(magnitude 7.5, spectral class dM0) only about 12 arc seconds away. The color
contrast is quite striking in a ten inch with the primary looking off-white
and the companion a very dim reddish-orange. Clear skies to you.

That sounds like a good target, but i think i'd struggle in my short
tube 80mm refractor to get anything like you describe.

seeing a contrast between two close stars would bring home the very
real differences out there though.

David Knisely wrote in message . ..
gswork posted:

It's a fascinating universe out there, so now to something closer to
home - what's the best dwarf class star to view in the northern
hemisphere if you have a modest scope?

How about the nice double Eta Cassiopeiae? It has a primary very similar to
our sun (spectral class G0V, magnitde 3.4) and a red-dwarf companion
(magnitude 7.5, spectral class dM0) only about 12 arc seconds away. The color
contrast is quite striking in a ten inch with the primary looking off-white
and the companion a very dim reddish-orange. Clear skies to you.

That sounds like a good target, but i think i'd struggle in my short
tube 80mm refractor to get anything like you describe.

seeing a contrast between two close stars would bring home the very
real differences out there though.

"Doug O'Neal" wrote

At a professional conference once, I saw an interesting poster paper
(stellar astronomy is my broad area of research interest) about how M
dwarf stars end their lives. My first thought: Gee, what a great paper
to write, since NO ONE can prove you wrong since none have died yet!

Doug

I hope your second thought was, "But my science had better be good or the
referees will tear it to shreds!"

Howard Lester

"Doug O'Neal" wrote

At a professional conference once, I saw an interesting poster paper
(stellar astronomy is my broad area of research interest) about how M
dwarf stars end their lives. My first thought: Gee, what a great paper
to write, since NO ONE can prove you wrong since none have died yet!

Doug

I hope your second thought was, "But my science had better be good or the
referees will tear it to shreds!"

Howard Lester

gswork nous a écrit :


I should have thought of Barnard's star! That's the one coming vaigly
in our direction isn't it?

Yes it is.
The Barnard's star is approching the Earth at the speed of 0.036 light year
each century.
In 10.000 years, it should be nearer of the Earth than Proxima Centauri.

--
Norbert. (no X for the answer)
======================================
knowing the universe - stellar and galaxies evolution
http://nrumiano.free.fr
images of the sky http://images.ciel.free.fr
======================================

gswork nous a écrit :


I should have thought of Barnard's star! That's the one coming vaigly
in our direction isn't it?

Yes it is.
The Barnard's star is approching the Earth at the speed of 0.036 light year
each century.
In 10.000 years, it should be nearer of the Earth than Proxima Centauri.

--
Norbert. (no X for the answer)
======================================
knowing the universe - stellar and galaxies evolution
http://nrumiano.free.fr
images of the sky http://images.ciel.free.fr
======================================

"David Knisely" wrote in message
...
gswork posted:

It's a fascinating universe out there, so now to something closer to
home - what's the best dwarf class star to view in the northern
hemisphere if you have a modest scope?

How about the nice double Eta Cassiopeiae? It has a primary very similar
to
our sun (spectral class G0V, magnitde 3.4) and a red-dwarf companion
(magnitude 7.5, spectral class dM0) only about 12 arc seconds away. The
color
contrast is quite striking in a ten inch with the primary looking
off-white
and the companion a very dim reddish-orange. Clear skies to you.

One of my favorites to show to kids at star parties. Although I would lean
closer to pink than reddish-orange. We even call it the "pink buddy."

"David Knisely" wrote in message
...
gswork posted:

It's a fascinating universe out there, so now to something closer to
home - what's the best dwarf class star to view in the northern
hemisphere if you have a modest scope?

How about the nice double Eta Cassiopeiae? It has a primary very similar
to
our sun (spectral class G0V, magnitde 3.4) and a red-dwarf companion
(magnitude 7.5, spectral class dM0) only about 12 arc seconds away. The
color
contrast is quite striking in a ten inch with the primary looking
off-white
and the companion a very dim reddish-orange. Clear skies to you.

One of my favorites to show to kids at star parties. Although I would lean
closer to pink than reddish-orange. We even call it the "pink buddy."

Norbert wrote:

gswork nous a écrit :


I should have thought of Barnard's star! That's the one coming vaigly
in our direction isn't it?

Yes it is.
The Barnard's star is approching the Earth at the speed of 0.036 light year
each century.
In 10.000 years, it should be nearer of the Earth than Proxima Centauri.

Maybe we'll have a binary solar system some day. :-)


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