The Aldebaran Mystery

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuHJz...eature=related

Any input would be appreciated!

On 6/28/11 10:09 PM, StarDust wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuHJz...eature=related

Any input would be appreciated!

"ALDEBARAN (Alpha Tauri). Aldebaran is by far the brightest, and
therefore the Alpha, star of the constellation Taurus. The ancient name,
from Arabic, means "the Follower," as the star seems to follow the
Pleiades, or Seven Sisters star cluster, across the sky. Aldebaran, 67
light years away, is positioned in front of the sprawling Hyades star
cluster (in mythology, half-sisters to the Pleiades) that make the head
of Taurus the Bull, but is not a part of it, the cluster (at 150 light
years) over twice as far away. Nevertheless, it makes a fine guide to
it. In most renderings of the constellation, Aldebaran makes the
celestial Bull's eye. As part of a constellation of the Zodiac,
Aldebaran is close to the Sun's path, the Sun passing to the north of it
about June 1, the star also regularly covered, or occulted, by the Moon.
This class K (K5) giant star, of first magnitude (0.85) and 14th
brightest in the sky, is a low-level irregular variable star that
fluctuates erratically and to the eye unnoticeably by about two-tenths
of a magnitude. Aldebaran's surface temperature of 4010 degrees Kelvin
(compared to the Sun's 5780 degree temperature) gives it a distinct
orangy color not all that dissimilar to that of Mars, which commonly
passes it. Allowance for infrared radiation reveals the star to have a
fairly high luminosity 425 times that of the Sun, which leads to a
radius of 43 times solar. A projected equatorial rotation velocity of
5.2 kilometers per second gives the star a rotation period that could be
as long as 400 days. The duration of disappearance in lunar
occultations, as well as direct measure of angular diameter through
interferometry, give an angular diameter of 0.01996 second of arc (the
apparent size of a US nickel seen at a distance of about 50 kilometers),
the star a leader in the number of such measures. That combined with
distance gives a physical diameter of 44 times solar, in excellent
agreement with the one found from luminosity and temperature. From the
theory of stellar structure and evolution, Aldebaran carries a mass of
around 1.7 times that of the Sun. Most class K giants are quietly fusing
their internal helium cores into carbon and oxygen. Aldebaran, on the
other hand, seems to be in a preliminary state in which a still-dead
helium core is contracting and heating, causing the star as a whole to
continue to expand and brighten. Consistent with its large size and
luminosity, it's also known for a strong wind, through which it's
beginning to lose mass, which surrounds it out to about 100 Astronomical
Units. Within only another few million years, the star will top out at
around 800 solar luminosities as it fires its helium, then shrinks and
dims some to become one of the usual K-giant crowd. If Aldebaran were in
our Solar System, it would extend halfway to the planet Mercury and
would appear 20 degrees across in our sky, its great luminosity making
life on Earth quite impossible. For a time, Aldebaran was thought to
harbor its own planet (discovered through shifts in the star's
velocity), *but it has never been confirmed*. Such would be counter to
the usual finding that stars with planets tend toward high metal
abundances, as Aldebaran's iron content (relative to hydrogen) is about
half that of the Sun's.
-- Ref: http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/aldebaran.html

On Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:09:53 -0700 (PDT), StarDust
wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuHJz...eature=related

Any input would be appreciated!

This just supports the fact that there are a lot of crazy people out
there. This kind of nonsense is nothing more than snake-oil: a con man
invents a wild story, and the credulous pay money for his books and
other media. Occasionally we get lucky and they all kill themselves
waiting for a comet to collect them, but mostly they just continue to
foul the human gene pool.

While this silly stuff is relatively harmless in its own right, the
mind set that allows people to fall for it isn't- these are the same
sort of people who are convinced that vaccines cause autism or that
global warming is a hoax. In other words, people who think in a way
that genuinely leads to damage in our society.

"Chris L Peterson" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:09:53 -0700 (PDT), StarDust
wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuHJz...eature=related

Any input would be appreciated!

This just supports the fact that there are a lot of crazy people out
there. This kind of nonsense is nothing more than snake-oil: a con man
invents a wild story, and the credulous pay money for his books and
other media. Occasionally we get lucky and they all kill themselves
waiting for a comet to collect them, but mostly they just continue to
foul the human gene pool.

While this silly stuff is relatively harmless in its own right, the
mind set that allows people to fall for it isn't- these are the same
sort of people who are convinced that vaccines cause autism or that
global warming is a hoax. In other words, people who think in a way
that genuinely leads to damage in our society.

How does people thinking Global Warming is a hoax lead to damage to our
society?

On 6/28/11 10:48 PM, Peter Webb wrote:


How does people thinking Global Warming is a hoax lead to damage to our
society?


Political inaction in planning.

"Sam Wormley" wrote in message
...
On 6/28/11 10:48 PM, Peter Webb wrote:


How does people thinking Global Warming is a hoax lead to damage to our
society?


Political inaction in planning.

Huh?

Wouldn't this only be a problem if *politicians* think it is a hoax (rather
than the general public)?

On Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:48:24 +1000, "Peter Webb"
wrote:

How does people thinking Global Warming is a hoax lead to damage to our
society?

Because there are enough credulous people, incapable of critical
thinking, that conservative think tanks and politicians can lead them
around by their noses, and further induce other politicians to avoid
taking action.

The result is that we are putting our very civilization at risk by not
taking mitigating action. If we had a population more able to think
rationally, this would not be happening. Indeed, most of our major
problems, not just AGW, are the product of a population unable to
think critically.

"Chris L Peterson" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:48:24 +1000, "Peter Webb"
wrote:

How does people thinking Global Warming is a hoax lead to damage to our
society?

Because there are enough credulous people, incapable of critical
thinking, that conservative think tanks and politicians can lead them
around by their noses, and further induce other politicians to avoid
taking action.


So it is a political thing.

The result is that we are putting our very civilization at risk by not
taking mitigating action. If we had a population more able to think
rationally, this would not be happening. Indeed, most of our major
problems, not just AGW, are the product of a population unable to
think critically.

So its similar to people who (say) disapprove of the war in Afghanistan and
hence lead to damage to our society through the risk of terrorism? (or vice
versa)

Or similar to people who want to re-regulate banking and hence lead to
damage to our society from having a less flexible banking system? (or vice
versa)

In short, there is no direct harm done (unlike the other example you gave of
autism), and you could have just as easily used any other political decision
that you happen to think is wrong as your example of a belief that causes
society harm?

How is this relevant to the Aldebaran belief? That doesn't involve any
political changes causing harm, does it? Is this just an example of you
picking an extremely poor analogy?

On Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:48:24 +1000, "Peter Webb"
wrote, in part:

How does people thinking Global Warming is a hoax lead to damage to our
society?

Well, they vote for politicians who don't do anything about it, so the
weather does get warmer, and people starve in tropical countries.

John Savard
http://www.quadibloc.com/index.html

On Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:36:15 +1000, "Peter Webb"
wrote, in part:

How is this relevant to the Aldebaran belief? That doesn't involve any
political changes causing harm, does it? Is this just an example of you
picking an extremely poor analogy?

What damages society is not so much that people do believe funny sturr
about Aldebaran, but that they're stupid enough that they *can* believe
funny stuff about Aldebaran.

With people like that lying around, some person is going to take
advantage of them, and so they can be manipulated to vote in ways
harmful to our society and so on. An intelligent and rational electorate
would lead to a better class of politician.

John Savard
http://www.quadibloc.com/index.html