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There are some details in the article. Primarily insights about composition of all three stars stars the stability of formation of planets. I'm not an astronom
by jfoutz 10y ago
There are some details in the article. Primarily insights about composition of all three stars stars the stability of formation of planets.
I'm not an astronomer. But i'd encourage you to think about where Jupiter is right now. Where will it be in an hour? Where will it be in 10,000 years? It's not particularly important to know where Jupiter is. It doesn't really affect tides, or seasons. But fine discrepancies in Jupiter's orbit can only be explained with relativity. Careful measurement leads to great forecasts, new theories, new science.
Now we know where Proxima Centauri will be in 550,000 years, and where it was 550,000 years ago. Right where it is now. Because it's actually in orbit. It's not a stray merrily zipping by, like some asteroid flying past earth. It's locked into orbit with the other two. It's like our moon.
It's probably not a big deal, just another note on some map. But people gather up tens of thousands of those notes, look for little discrepancies, and find new science. Which i think is pretty cool.
- andrewflnr 10y agoGreat way to put it, especially the last paragraph. They say that the most exciting phrase in science is "hey, that's funny...". Sometimes you have to gather a lot of data before that can happen.