Latest news with #PoleStar
India.com
6 days ago
- General
- India.com
8 Unique Indian Baby Names You've Never Heard Before
Muskan Kalra May 29, 2025 It means Immovable part, constant, like the Pole Star (Dhruva). In Indian mythology, Dhruva was a devoted prince whose steadfastness made him the Pole Star, symbolizing stability and guidance. It means Superior, mastery, wealth. A popular name reflecting ambition and excellence, Ishita represents someone who aims for mastery and success in life. It means grace of God, ancient. A modern yet traditional name, Kiaan carries a spiritual essence, often chosen for its blend of contemporary appeal and timeless roots. It means Understood, absorbed, knowledgeable. Derived from Sanskrit, Anvitha symbolizes wisdom and comprehension, ideal for a child destined to be thoughtful and insightful. It means part of Lord Shiva (Rudra). This powerful name signifies a connection with Lord Shiva, representing strength, transformation, and spiritual energy. It means Gracious gift of God; also means 'forest'. Vanya is a nature-inspired name that conveys purity, generosity, and a deep connection to the natural world. It means a part of a brave warrior. From 'Veer' meaning brave and 'Ansh' meaning part, this name celebrates courage and valor—qualities admired in Indian culture. It means star of the eyes, beautiful eyes. Combining 'Nayan' (eyes) and 'Tara' (star), this poetic name evokes imagery of someone whose eyes shine brightly like stars, symbolizing beauty and vision. Read Next Story
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Has Polaris always been the North Star? How Earth's 26,000 year cycle changes the 'pole star'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Polaris, also known as the 'Pole Star' or 'North Star', is arguably the most famous stellar body to hang in the western hemisphere's night sky. For centuries it has served as a vital waypoint for explorers navigating both Earth's physical oceans and the celestial starfield above. Its apparent importance is reflected in the fact that the entire night sky appears to revolve around it. This happens because Polaris' location happens to be closely aligned with Earth's north rotational axis, which is known as the celestial pole when projected outwards into space. However, Polaris isn't the first North Star to shine down on humanity, nor will it be the last. Earth is engaged in a constant gravitational tug of war with the moon and sun, which over time has created a bulge at our planet's equator, according to NASA. As a result, Earth's axis of rotation has developed a distinct wobble - known to scientists as axial precession - which sees the celestial pole trace a wide, lazy circle over a roughly 26,000 year period, coming close to several other prominent stars besides Polaris. Read on to discover more about the past, present and future North Stars, including how to find them for yourself in the night sky in the northern hemisphere. Amateur stargazers new to the night sky may want to make use of our guide to the best stargazing apps available in 2025, many of which have free functionality, and make use of augmented reality tech to help you find Polaris and navigate the stars. Polaris is the logical starting point for any North Star tour, given that it is the reigning title holder and a key waypoint for many attempting to find their way around the night sky. The current North Star can be found easily by locating the Big Dipper asterism in Ursa Minor, which is high overhead this time of year. Draw an imaginary line from the magnitude 2.3 star Merak, which forms the outer base of the 'bowl', through Dubhe, the star positioned as the 'pouring tip' of the asterism. Follow that line outward and the next similarly bright star you find on this path will be Polaris. This bright point of light is in fact a triple star system, though only two of the stars are visible through a backyard telescope. The largest of the stellar trio is a supergiant star that burns over 2,000 times brighter than our sun, according to NASA. Polaris will continue to be the pole star for a few thousand years to come, until Earth's rotational axis wanders inexorably away on its 26,000-year wobble. Jumping back in time, Thuban was positioned as a North Star some 4,700 years ago, as early civilizations thrived in Mesopotamia and Egypt, according to NASA. Thuban is located some 270 light-years from Earth in the constellation Draco - hence its official name of Alpha Draconis - and is comprised of a pair of stars known as an 'eclipsing binary.' In 2020, a team of scientists revealed that these two ancient stars regularly eclipse one another over the course of their 51-day orbital period from the perspective of Earth, leading to periodic dips in brightness based on data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. A good way to find Thuban is to locate the bright stars Phecda and Megrez that form part of the 'bowl' of the famous Big Dipper asterism in the constellation Ursa Major, which is located high overhead at this time of year. Draw a line from Phecda through Megrez out into space continuing for twice the distance separating the two guide stars and you will find the patch of sky containing Thuban. Both Kochab and Pherkad were close to the celestial pole around 3,00 years ago, granting them the moniker of 'Guardians of the Pole', according to stargazing website Kochab came particularly close to the celestial pole between 1700 BCE-300 CE, and may even have been referred to as "Polaris" by some in antiquity, according to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The stellar duo are particularly easy to find once you know the location of Polaris, as all three belong to the same constellation of Ursa Minor, or the 'Little Bear'. Ursa Minor boasts a pan-like outline featuring a 'bowl' and 'handle', with Polaris is located at the end of the handle, while Kochab and Pherkad form the outer edge of the 'bowl'. Some archaeologists believe that the Ancient Egyptians may have orientated the Great Pyramids of Giza to face an alignment of the stars Kochab and Mizar - a star in the Big Dipper asterism - which were on opposite sides of the celestial pole around that era. However, there is contention as to which stars were used to orientate the pyramids - an important distinction as it has a direct bearing of our understanding of when exactly they were built, per the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. The K-type star Errai - or Gamma Cephei to give it its official name - is the first future North Star on our list. In just 2,200 years Errai will be situated a mere 3 degrees from the north celestial pole in the night sky, according to The University of Virginia, putting an end to Polaris reign. Gamma Cephei is actually two stars, a binary star system located some 45 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cepheus. Its primary star plays host to a Jupiter-like gas giant, the discovery of which was first announced in 1988, before being swiftly withdrawn due to a lack of confidence in the data, according to NASA. Its existence was confirmed by a later study, and had it not been withdrawn, the planet - named Gamma Cephei A b would have been forever known as the first exoplanet ever discovered beyond our solar system. Errai can be found using the same trick used to locate Polaris. Simply draw an imaginary line from Dubhe - the tip of the bowl in the Big Dipper asterism - through and past Polaris. The next bright star on that path will be Errai. In around 5,000 years, Alderamin - another star in the constellation Cepheus - will be crowned the North Star, per the Royal Museums Greenwich website. Many observers have likened the five stars of Cepheus to a child's drawing of a house. Following that visualization, Errai marks the top of the roof, while the magnitude 1.5 star Alderamin forms the lower right foundation. It can be found by locating the stars Shedar and Caph in the 'W' shaped constellation Cassiopeia. Draw a line from Shedar through Caph and beyond, and Alderamin will be directly on this path. The magnitude 1.2 star Deneb passed close to the celestial north pole 18,000 years ago according to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and will again around the year 9,800 CE, at which point it will be around seven degrees from the pole. To spot it, simply look to the Eastern sky after sunset during spring, where you will see the trio of bright stars that form the Summer Triangle asterism. Deneb will form the lower left point of the triangle relative to the horizon. The celestial north pole pointed to the bright star Vega some 14,000 years ago, at a time when our hunter-gathering ancestors roamed the Earth. NASA has estimated that Vega will become the north star once again in around 12,000 years from now, as Earth's rotational axis continues its lazy wobble through the stars. Vega is one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere, whose claim to scientific fame came in 1984, when scientists discovered the first evidence of what turned out to be an almost 100-billion-mile-diameter disk of dusty planet-forming matter in orbit around the star. Vega is the fifth brightest star visible in the northern hemisphere. Vega forms the top point of the famous Summer Triangle. Night sky lovers hoping to get a closer look at the night sky should check our guides for the best binoculars deals and the best telescope deals available in 2025. Our guides on the best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography can also help immortalize your stargazing sessions! Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@
Time of India
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Kahanii Ghar Ghar Ki actor Chaitannya Choudhry changes his name to Dhruv: There will be some hiccups
Actor , known for his work across television, films, and digital platforms, has officially adopted a new name: . The change, he says, is the result of deep introspection. 'This name came to me on its own somewhere from my deep subconscious, and it kept popping up in front of me again and again in different situations and scenarios over a period of time. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Thinking it to be a sign from a higher place, I internally started addressing myself as Dhruv and i could see some very positive things happening with me , that's when I gave it a serious thought to change my name. This name is not as per astrology but yes I did get it checked numerology wise with dear friend of mine who is an expert, and luckily there was not much to change," the Kahanii Ghar Ghar Ki actor shared. Dhruv most recently appeared in the film Sukhee , opposite , and is part of the upcoming Netflix series Shaque . "There will be some hiccups as everyone knows me as Chaitannya, but I have complete conviction in my decision and I'm sure the name Dhruv will catch on. The soul behind the new name remains the same. I am still devoted to storytelling and will always aspire to take it to new heights," he added. The name Dhruv—inspired by the Pole Star—carries connotations of steadiness and direction. 'It felt like home,' he said. 'It reflects where I am now, both personally and creatively. '
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
The next ice age is coming in 10,000 years — unless climate change prevents it
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A pattern of encroaching and retreating ice sheets during and between ice ages has been shown to match certain orbital parameters of Earth around the sun, leading to researchers being able to predict that the next ice age will take place 10,000 years from now. "The pattern we found is so reproducible that we were able to make an accurate prediction of when each interglacial period of the past million years or so would occur and how long each would last," said Stephen Barker of Cardiff University in Wales, who led the study, in a statement. "This is important because it confirms the natural climate change cycles we observe on Earth over tens of thousands of years are largely predictable and not random or chaotic." However, don't rush for your woolly hat and scarf just yet, because the long-term effects of human-made climate change could prevent the next ice age from ever happening. Our planet has always undergone cycles of warm and cold, ice ages and interglacials. These cycles are quite separate from human-induced climate change, which is well documented, incontrovertible and is largely overriding Earth's natural climate cycles. Related: How many ice ages has the Earth had, and could humans live through one? Those natural cycles are caused by changes in three properties of Earth and its orbit around the sun. Together, they are referred to as Milankovitch cycles, after the early 20th century Serbian physicist Milutin Milankovitch. The key players in these cycles are Earth's obliquity, the precession of its rotational axis and the shape of Earth's orbit around the sun. Obliquity refers to Earth's tilt. Imagine drawing a straight line through Earth, along its rotational axis around which the planet spins every 24 hours. The angle this line makes to the ecliptic plane, which is the plane of the solar system in which all the planets orbit, is the obliquity. Currently, Earth's obliquity is 23.4 degrees, but over history it has varied between 22.1 and 24.5 degrees approximately every 40,000 years. Precession refers to the "wobble" of this rotational axis. Let's go back to that imaginary line extending through Earth's rotational axis and picture ourselves looking down on one of Earth's poles. Across a cycle of about 21,000 years, we would see that imaginary line draw out a circle. It is an effect analogous to a spinning top wobbling as it whirls around. Precession is why the Pole Star changes over time. Currently Earth's rotational axis is pointed toward Polaris in Ursa Minor, but in the past it has pointed at different stars, and will do so again in the future. Finally, the shape of Earth's orbit can change slightly, from more elongated to less elongated (our average distance from the sun doesn't change). This can lead to Earth's orbit precessing around the sun. Currently, southern hemisphere summer takes place when Earth is at its closest point to the sun and northern hemisphere summer takes place when Earth is farther away. However, this changes, with two cycles of periods of 100,000 and 400,000 years. In the future, northern hemisphere summer will take place when Earth is closer to the sun, as Earth's orbital elongation, or eccentricity, varies. The Milankovitch cycles are all caused by the combined gravitational effects of the sun, Jupiter and to a lesser extent the other planets acting on Earth. That the Milankovitch cycles cause climate variations is not controversial, but matching specific effects to either glaciations or the onset of interglacials has been tricky because it is difficult to accurately date when these happened in the geological record going back millions of years. However, the new research has modeled a million-year record of ice sheets and deep ocean temperatures with a fidelity good enough to start matching them to specific phases in the Milankovitch cycles. "We found a predictable pattern over the past million years for the timing of when the Earth's climate changes between glacial 'ice ages' and mild warm periods like today, called interglacials," said paleoclimatologist Lorraine Lisiecki, who is a professor of the University of California, Santa Barbara and a member of Barker's team. "We were amazed to find such a clear imprint of the different orbital parameters on the climate record," said Barker. "It is quite hard to believe that the pattern has not been seen before." Specifically, they found that the end of any given ice age, the last of which was 11,700 years ago, is brought about by a combination of changes in precession of Earth's axis, which affects peak summer heating in the northern hemisphere, and variances in obliquity, which affects the total solar energy received at high latitudes. They also discovered that obliquity seems to be the sole driver behind starting a new ice age. With this knowledge, Barker's team predicted that the next ice age would ordinarily take place in 10,000 years' time. Related: An interstellar cloud may have caused an ice age on Earth. Here's how Related Stories: — Our warming Earth: 2024 was hottest year on record, NASA says — Climate change: Causes and effects — We could be 16 years into a methane-fueled 'termination' event significant enough to end an ice age However, the effects of human-made climate change will be so long-lasting that they could prevent the next ice age from ever happening. "Such a transition to a glacial state in 10,000 years' time is very unlikely to happen because human emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere have already diverted the climate from its natural course, with longer-term impacts into the future," said Gregor Knorr of the Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Germany. The predictability of the pattern that Barker's team found allows them to generate a baseline of how Earth's long-term climate would unfold over the next 20,000 years if human-made greenhouse emissions were not a factor. The next step is to look at how human-made climate change is deviating from that baseline so that the effects of industrial global warming long into the future can be better quantified. "Now that we know that climate is largely predictable over these long timescales, we can actually use past changes to inform us about what could happen in the future," said Barker. "This is vital for better informing decisions we make now about greenhouse gas emissions, which will determine future climate changes." The findings were published on Feb. 28 in the journal Science.
