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"This is incredible: Due to a quirk of cosmic geometry, astronomers have detected the light from the farthest individual star ever seen." That is perhaps the l
by d_theorist 9y ago
"This is incredible: Due to a quirk of cosmic geometry, astronomers have detected the light from the farthest individual star ever seen."
That is perhaps the least incredible thing I have ever heard. In fact, it's very nearly a tautology.
The overall writing style of this article is very poor and distracting.
- Tepix 9y agoYour quote is incomplete, the next two sentences are an important part of it: " How far away is it? Over nine billion light-years away." To see the light of a star that far away is indeed "incredible" as in "so extraordinary as to seem impossible". The following paragraphs then explain why it appears to be legit (" Then I read the paper, played with the math a little, and, sure enough, this appears legit.").
- em3rgent0rdr 9y ago> "The overall writing style of this article is very poor and distracting." at least the article didn't resort to converting astronomical numbers into trips from NYC to LA...
- michaelcampbell 9y agoIt's Phil Plait; he's been writing like this for a long time. I generally like his stuff, but his "look how clever and in tune with the kids I am" overuse of "embiggen" makes me eye-roll every time.