We all know that from time to time stars cease to exist. My question is what happens to the constellation if one of its major stars were to disappear? Say for instance one of the stars of Orion's belt.
2007-09-06 03:19:09 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
If Orion lost lost one of the stars in his belt, his pants would fall down. ;-)
(Sorry, I couln't resist)
2007-09-06 04:07:34 · answer #1 · answered by RationalThinker 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
A Constellation is more than just the dot-to-dot picture. It is the "county lines" of the sky. All stars fall inside the boundaries of a constellation whether or not they look like part of the picture.
It is important to know that stars are designated by their relative brightness in their constellation. The brightest star in Canis major is Sirius; it is called alpha-canis majorus. The second brightest is beta, third brightest is gamma and so on.
If a bright star dies, then the alpha-omega designation system would have to be revised for that constellation. Also lots of press conferences and photos would be happening.
The international astronomical union (i don't know the official name) would meet around the table and maybe decide on a new "picture".
2007-09-06 05:29:19 · answer #2 · answered by luvlaketahoe 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The lifetimes of stars are much much longer than human lifetimes, so the odds of a constellation "losing" a star are close to zero.
Many stars are variable in brightness, which may change the appearance of a constellation from time to time. For example, the variable star Mira in Cetus was unusually bright last year, changing the appearance of Cetus slightly.
Constellations are merely arbitrary patterns of stars as seen from Earth, and not real physical groupings of stars, so a change in one star would have no effect on other stars in the constellation.
2007-09-06 03:38:04 · answer #3 · answered by GeoffG 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's a belter of a question.
I am sure that the International Astronomical Union would know exactly what to do, just as they did with Pluto that disappeared as well
2007-09-06 04:11:23 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Stars in a constellation are not physically connected, or even located close together in space. Nothing would happen to them.
2007-09-06 03:25:00 · answer #5 · answered by ZikZak 6 · 5⤊ 1⤋
If this happened it would look a bit different, but this wouldn't really have any effect. Anyway one of them could be burned out now for all we know - we wouldn't know it happened until thousands or even millions of years later depending on the distance.
2007-09-06 03:27:52 · answer #6 · answered by mattgo64 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
absolutely nothing because of tradition. our kids might be concerned with why the big dipper is missing a star off its ladle but thats about it.
2007-09-06 10:42:31 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
When the time comes, we'll know. I;m sure there will be debates ragin all over the world on how to handle it.
2007-09-06 03:25:26 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋