The Luhman 16 twins: Why brown dwarfs are cool
Dan WildIf you’ve heard of Luhman 16AB then I salute you. And if you haven’t, then I despair at the state of astronomy education in schools today. What? They don’t teach astronomy at school? Well, if they did, how would your teacher explain Luhman 16AB? “Today we’re going to talk about brown dwarfs, stellar objects that …
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You can’t be Sirius? Actually, I’m Sirius B
Dan WildSirius is really two stars. A faint white dwarf, Sirius B, is locked in a dance with Sirius A, and it takes 50 years for them to orbit each other. Sirius B used to be a big guy: it was once a red giant. Except it doesn’t have quite the same mass as Betelgeuse, a …
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Betelgeuse: Life as a Red Supergiant
Dan WildYou’ve heard of Betelgeuse if you’re an amateur astronomer. It’s that flickering red star at the bottom right corner of the constellation of Orion, as viewed in the southern hemisphere, and top left viewed from the northern hemisphere. Those born in the 1980s would have heard of it via the surreal Tim Burton film, Beetlejuice. …