Cedric: Hey We Shouldn't Have Won That Quidditch Match, Potter Was Being Attacked, We Need To Replay

The Stellar Buddy System

Our Sun has an entourage of planets, moons, and smaller objects to keep it company as it traverses the galaxy. But it’s still lonely compared to many of the other stars out there, which often come in pairs. These cosmic couples, called binary stars, are very important in astronomy because they can easily reveal things that are much harder to learn from stars that are on their own. And some of them could even host habitable planets!

The birth of a stellar duo

New stars emerge from swirling clouds of gas and dust that are peppered throughout the galaxy. Scientists still aren’t sure about all the details, but turbulence deep within these clouds may give rise to knots that are denser than their surroundings. The knots have stronger gravity, so they can pull in more material and the cloud may begin to collapse.

The material at the center heats up. Known as a protostar, it is this hot core that will one day become a star. Sometimes these spinning clouds of collapsing gas and dust may break up into two, three, or even more blobs that eventually become stars. That would explain why the majority of the stars in the Milky Way are born with at least one sibling.

Seeing stars

We can’t always tell if we’re looking at binary stars using just our eyes. They’re often so close together in the sky that we see them as a single star. For example, Sirius, the brightest star we can see at night, is actually a binary system (see if you can spot both stars in the photo above). But no one knew that until the 1800s.

Precise observations showed that Sirius was swaying back and forth like it was at a middle school dance. In 1862, astronomer Alvan Graham Clark used a telescope to see that Sirius is actually two stars that orbit each other.

But even through our most powerful telescopes, some binary systems still masquerade as a single star. Fortunately there are a couple of tricks we can use to spot these pairs too.

Since binary stars orbit each other, there’s a chance that we’ll see some stars moving toward and away from us as they go around each other. We just need to have an edge-on view of their orbits. Astronomers can detect this movement because it changes the color of the star’s light – a phenomenon known as the Doppler effect.

Stars we can find this way are called spectroscopic binaries because we have to look at their spectra, which are basically charts or graphs that show the intensity of light being emitted over a range of energies. We can spot these star pairs because light travels in waves. When a star moves toward us, the waves of its light arrive closer together, which makes its light bluer. When a star moves away, the waves are lengthened, reddening its light.

Sometimes we can see binary stars when one of the stars moves in front of the other. Astronomers find these systems, called eclipsing binaries, by measuring the amount of light coming from stars over time. We receive less light than usual when the stars pass in front of each other, because the one in front will block some of the farther star’s light.

Sibling rivalry

Twin stars don’t always get along with each other – their relationship may be explosive! Type Ia supernovae happen in some binary systems in which a white dwarf – the small, hot core left over when a Sun-like star runs out of fuel and ejects its outer layers – is stealing material away from its companion star. This results in a runaway reaction that ultimately detonates the thieving star. The same type of explosion may also happen when two white dwarfs spiral toward each other and collide. Yikes!

Scientists know how to determine how bright these explosions should truly be at their peak, making Type Ia supernovae so-called standard candles. That means astronomers can determine how far away they are by seeing how bright they look from Earth. The farther they are, the dimmer they appear. Astronomers can also look at the wavelengths of light coming from the supernovae to find out how fast the dying stars are moving away from us.

Studying these supernovae led to the discovery that the expansion of the universe is speeding up. Our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will scan the skies for these exploding stars when it launches in the mid-2020s to help us figure out what’s causing the expansion to accelerate – a mystery known as dark energy.

Spilling stellar secrets

Astronomers like finding binary systems because it’s a lot easier to learn more about stars that are in pairs than ones that are on their own. That’s because the stars affect each other in ways we can measure. For example, by paying attention to how the stars orbit each other, we can determine how massive they are. Since heavier stars burn hotter and use up their fuel more quickly than lighter ones, knowing a star’s mass reveals other interesting things too.

By studying how the light changes in eclipsing binaries when the stars cross in front of each other, we can learn even more! We can figure out their sizes, masses, how fast they’re each spinning, how hot they are, and even how far away they are. All of that helps us understand more about the universe.

Tatooine worlds

Thanks to observatories such as our Kepler Space Telescope, we know that worlds like Luke Skywalker’s home planet Tatooine in “Star Wars” exist in real life. And if a planet orbits at the right distance from the two stars, it could even be habitable (and stay that way for a long time).

In 2019, our Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) found a planet, known as TOI-1338 b, orbiting a pair of stars. These worlds are tricker to find than planets with only one host star, but TESS is expected to find several more!

Want to learn more about the relationships between stellar couples? Check out this Tumblr post: https://nasa.tumblr.com/post/190824389279/cosmic-couples-and-devastating-breakups

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

THE SCENE WHERE FRED AND GEORGE ARE CHEERING UP A YOUNGER STUDENT AFTER DEALING WITH UMBRIDGE IS UNDERAPPRECIATED

Moth Of The Day #222

Madagascan Sunset Moth

Chrysiridia rhipheus

From the uraniidae family. They have a wingspan of 7-11 cm. They inhabit a wide variety of habitatsd, from deciduous forests to rain forest regions. They are endemic to Masagascar.

Image sources: [1] [2]

It's not selfish to feel bad about yourself it's selfish if you dismiss it and shove your problems and emotions away telling yourself others have it worse

Excerpt from the novel “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky

nobody could have played eustace scrubb the same way that will poulter did thanks for ur attention

This was requested by @luwinaforna24 I made some alterations to your request and thank you for being so patient I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed reading it

Edmund

Warnings: none

“On no, you won’t be fighting me! You’ll be fighting him” Our high king Peter says to me while handing us our fence ing gear lucky for me I’ve been the best since I was a child so our kings need for proofing my ability will sadly be thrown in his face

“I don’t know if you’ll want that as she’s well she’s amazing” Caspian adds for me as it was him I followed into the forest to probably our deaths as we defy his father and Edmund just smirks at me standing in the ready and on the mark of Lucy we begin and it’s a back and forth for almost an hour when suddenly my sword is out of my hand and I’m against a tree with a point against my throat

“Again” I snap and we start again, and again and again and again and I lose again and again and again and I huff

“Seems your abilities are lower than we would have guessed” it seems Edmund begins to joke and o start walking over at him “it seems your foot is farther up your own-“ and that’s when my mouth is covered and Edmund just looks smug look smiling at me and oh do I want to smack it off his adorable face. No, wait no not adorable, annoying is the word I meant. We get back to the cave and I’ve calmed down and rested and I begin training again with those around me one after another falling at my sword but I couldn’t beat that stupid king child and it’s because of him that I’m not allowed to fight beside my best friend in this battle against our home because I couldn’t beat one man.

Little did I know he was standing in the corner watching me as I took down any who dared fight me, staring at me, little did I know I had a king who fancied me, who’s only want past the war was to kiss me, all I knew was that I was cast to the background for not being skilled enough and suddenly there was no one left to fight

“Come on no one else wants to fight me?” I scream begging for the ability to release my rage

“I will” and I look to the voice and I seeking Edmund and I nod

“Alright grab a sword stand your ground,” I say and he struts over to the swords

“Let’s make a wager shall we?” He asks and I nod as he continues

“If you win you fight alongside me, my brother, Caspian no questions asked,” he says and I nod before thinking

“And if you win?” I ask and he smirks at me

“You kiss me” and my eyes widen before I nod and get in position and we begin as I take the first swing

“So tell me, why is it you are so determined to fight with us?” He asks swinging for my legs which I jump over

“I do not wish to fight with you I wish to fight with Caspian” I snap and stab tword him and he dodged

“So you and he are together I wonder how he’d feel about our little bet” he jokes and I feel the wall against my back

“No I am not with him he’s my best friend and my king, I just wish to win” I snap grabbing his arm with one hand twisting his sword out of his hand, and flipping him against the wall with the sword against his neck and his hands go up

“You win! You will be in the front with us” he winks and I smile dropping the sword grabbing his face and kissing him as his hands rest on my waist and once I’ve pulled away I smile up at him

“You’ll learn I’m quite giving when I win” I wink before walking away to Inform Caspian of my battle plans for the war!

I was literally JUST having this conversation with my sister but I think one of the most difficult aspects of committed long term relationships is that there will be times when your partner is not okay and you just gotta drop everything and show up for them, no matter how inconvenient the timing might be for you, no matter how HARD and not-fun it is to steadfastly sit with someone in depression and anxiety and grief. that’s what for richer for poorer in sickness and in health means. and in a balanced relationship those roles reverse bc you both do that for each other

Butterfly Repopulation Station in Portland

Free seeds, information and also a patch of milkweed for Monarch Butterflies