10 ms·
I was going to ask if perhaps ancient humans saw this new red star and if it drove them to an elevated state of being superstitious and chaos but: >When Scholz
by 24gttghh 9y ago
I was going to ask if perhaps ancient humans saw this new red star and if it drove them to an elevated state of being superstitious and chaos but:
>When Scholz’s Star was in the neighborhood, it would have been a 10th magnitude star (red dwarfs are very dim). That’s about 50 times fainter than what can be seen with the naked eye at night. Under normal circumstances, it would be invisible. But because red dwarfs are magnetically active, it could have briefly “flared-up” (i.e., V-band flares) to become thousands of times brighter. The astronomers say it’s possible that the star was visible to our paleolithic ancestors for a few minutes or hours if this rare flaring event transpired at the time.
- acobster 9y agoI was drawn to that passage as well. The author goes on: > Sadly, this star’s passing likely went unnoticed by our ancestors. I mean, I get it, but why is it sad? Is it because it feels like a "missed connection" with our ancestors? Tangential, but I feel like the answer to this question connects with why people study astronomy in the first place, and I'm just curious if others relate to this sentiment. :)
- Heliosmaster 9y agoSadly because our ancestors missed the opportunity to see such an event, as rare as we think it to be.
- d33 9y agoActually perhaps it's better that way. Otherwise they could base some superstitious thinking on it that would stick if we were unlucky enough and there'd be yet another case of irrational thinking to be undone.
- alex_duf 9y agoI would chose a belief about a moving star in a heart beat compared to a talking bush and a dude walking on water. Edit: my point being, humans are superstitious in unpredictable way; A moving star wouldn't be more surprising than an eclipse. I'm sure our cultures and religions would have been roughly the same
- vanattab 9y agoI have never been able to understand why so many other scientists and "rationalist" look back on humans early "superstitious" ideas with contempt. To my mind these superstitious ideas are the beginning of the rationalist mindset. These ideas are people's attempts to explain and understand how the world works. I am certain that some of the ideas that many of us hold now will be thought quite silly in a few hundred years.
- rhapsodic 9y ago> am certain that some of the ideas that many of us hold now will be thought quite silly in a few hundred years. Yes, like the theory that we're actually living in a simulation, espoused by Elon Musk and other respected, ostensibly science-minded people. It's basically Creationism in modern form.
- tskaiser 9y agoIt is an interest idea and a great starter for philosophical thinking, but no-one is treating it like literal gospel.
- rhapsodic 9y ago>It is an interest idea and a great starter for philosophical thinking, but no-one is treating it like literal gospel. Of course not. "Gospel" is a religious concept. They're claiming that it's a plausible, scientifically-supportable theory. I don't think it's an interesting idea at all, nor do I think it's a good starter for philosophical thinking. I think it's Creationist nonsense.
- tskaiser 9y agoOkay.
- torstenvl 9y agoA "scientifically-supportable theory"* is one that describes a phenomenon that can be observed sufficiently to form a hypothesis and then test that hypothesis by experiment. In what way would you propose to test the simulation hypothesis by experiment? (* I'm assuming you're using the word "theory" loosely here.)
- 24gttghh 9y agoWell astronomy is very much time travel in the search for knowledge. There's all this stuff going on/has been going on out in the multiverse, but it is just so damn far away most of the time. Some people figured out that a star visited our solar neighborhood only 70K y/a and at that time there were proto-humans on the cusp of grasping a better understanding of themselves and eventually the universe. It puts into perspective our fragile existence.
- mavhc 9y ago"Artist’s depiction of a spear-wielding human gazing up at Scholz’s Star — a scene that probably never happened, given the red dwarf’s low luminosity."
- andrewflnr 9y agoIf humans then were anything like us, they were looking up at night. If it happened at night, I bet someone saw it.
- JKCalhoun 9y agoThought this might be Nemesis: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(hypothetical_star) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(hypothetical_star)) ....but the dinosaurs died much, much earlier than this dawrf star passed by.