2006-06-17 10:58:31 · 16 answers · asked by kamchak 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
the reason i say this is, the sun is a star, and it is huge, and it is close, but when you look at it, it is only so big and bright, now other stars are about the same size or so, and if the same amount of light were coming from them as our sun, and they are as far away as everyone says, using the ratio of our suns light/size/distance=what we see, and apply it to other stars, we could never see them.
2006-06-20 18:40:12 · update #1
No, because the speed of light is constant and the distance to stars can be accurately calculated by measuring the time it takes their light to reach us.
2006-06-17 11:18:29 · answer #1 · answered by wefields@swbell.net 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
it may be possible, but more likely that they are actually further away, The distance stars are away from the earth is measured by sending radio waves that reach and bouce back to earth(much like an echo). knowing the speed of sound through various mediums, the distance can be calculated approximately as the time it takes these waves to return to the source. We do not know how radio or light energy reacts beyond a certain point in space and therefore can only estimate the distances involved based on the facts relevant to our constants ie. the constant speed of sound/light etc. So yes, the stars could be closer or, further away.
2006-06-17 18:20:00 · answer #2 · answered by teaghee 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We do not bounce radio waves off of stars to determin the distance.
There are many methods to estimate the distance to another star (and it is an estimate). One of the ways to do this is to use something called stellar paralax.
Basically, the Earth is moving in space. You may have noticed that when you are moving, things farther away from you appear to be moving slower than things closer to you, and thus seem to move a lot less. The same is true for stars. After observing how much the star appears to move, and taking other types of measurements of it, equations can be used to estimate it's distance. It isn't likely that any nearby stars are a lot closer than we think they are, but there is always some degree of error in science.
2006-06-18 01:00:17 · answer #3 · answered by minuteblue 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. We can measure the distance to the stars directly, using a technique called parallax.
We take two photos of the stars six months apart, and note the very small shift in their positions due to the movement of the Earth around the Sun. Since we know the size of Earth's orbit, we can determine the distance to the star by measuring this parallax shift.
2006-06-17 19:33:44 · answer #4 · answered by Keith P 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the distance from earth to any particular star is arrived at by triangulation.
the angles are measured precicely at two different points in the earths orbit. By knowing the distance between the points where the measurements were taken and the angle of the stars from those perspectives.
These measurements are checked and doublechecked, then confirmed by other observatories who repeat the process.
If you've ever read through an actual scientific paper, not just a news article, you'd see that most of any paper details the methods of measurement and the precautions taken to eliminate error.
2006-06-17 21:56:49 · answer #5 · answered by corvis_9 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes actually this is very possible. As you may now black holes are strong enough to pull in light. so if there is a star and a black hole somewhere around it it can curve the stars light so it has not moved but seen in a totally different area making it closer or farther away. this has been proven by Einstein if you want to research on it.
2006-06-17 18:12:38 · answer #6 · answered by Dummaker 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is possible. In fact there's one star that's only 93 million miles away from Earth.... The Sun =)
2006-06-17 18:04:59 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the mathematical rules of trigonometry are all wrong and if our knowledge about how light behaves is all wrong, then it's possible that the stars aren't as far from Earth as thought.
2006-06-17 19:35:10 · answer #8 · answered by Chug-a-Lug 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No it is not possible. However, the distance should be everly increasing as the universe is expanding and galaxies are moving apart from each other. Stars from other galaxies are getting further away from us this very moment.
2006-06-17 21:43:18 · answer #9 · answered by vs1h 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
NOPE, they're farther. The speed of light,speed of the object you're viewing, all depend. Everything you see in the sky, has already happened, hence the speed of light.
2006-06-24 12:47:19 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋