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A Visiting Star Jostled Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

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Re: A Visiting Star Jostled Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

#11
post #4
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does that mean?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck ?

This is the coolest part of that page:

"A 2005 study from Rutgers University theorized that the pre-1492 native populations of the Americas are the descendants of only 70 individuals who crossed the land bridge between Asia and North America."

https://www.livescience.com/289-north-america-settled-70-peo...

Re: A Visiting Star Jostled Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

#12
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the article mostly about how it did influence Oort cloud object orbits? Thirty-six identified.

It also discusses how there was almost certainly no impact on Earth's surface or our ancestors. Apparently the star was unlikely to even have been visible in the night sky.

...except for the potential Oort object impacts? I'm not sure they discounted that. And further: we can't track the objects that did impact something because, well, they're gone now. Statistics doesn't work well for them.

Re: A Visiting Star Jostled Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

#14
post #9

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 m…

I 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. :)

Re: A Visiting Star Jostled Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

#15
post #9

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 m…

I 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. :)

Sadly because our ancestors missed the opportunity to see such an event, as rare as we think it to be.

Re: A Visiting Star Jostled Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

#17
post #9

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 m…

I 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. :)

Well 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.

Re: A Visiting Star Jostled Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

#18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I 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. :)

Sadly because our ancestors missed the opportunity to see such an event, as rare as we think it to be.

Actually 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.

Re: A Visiting Star Jostled Our Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

#20

Isn't that around the time of the Homo Sapiens genetic bottleneck?

Even thinking about all the sci-fi plots that could link these events is so exciting. Reminds me of a lot of different stories, from Pern to Chrono Trigger.

Too bad that in our dull and rational reality it's just a coincidence.

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