What is the brightest star in the night sky? Detailed answer

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What is the brightest star in the night sky? Detailed answer

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What is the brightest star in the night sky?

The brightest star in the earth's night sky is Alpha Canis Major, better known as Sirius (Greek for sparkling). Located at a distance of 8,6 light years from us (one of the closest stars to us, the seventh in order of distance from the Sun), Sirius has an apparent magnitude of minus 1,46. The diameter of Sirius is almost twice that of the sun, its mass is 2,35 masses of our star, the temperature on its surface is about 10 thousand degrees (on the visible surface of the Sun it is approximately 6000 kelvins). At the same time, the luminosity of Sirius is 24 times greater than the solar one.

Due to the relative proximity of Sirius to us, its movement in the celestial sphere is much more noticeable than that of other stars: over the past two thousand years, it has changed its position in the sky by about 44 arc minutes, which is one and a half diameters of the moon on a full moon. In its movement in the direction of the observer's line of sight, Sirius is approaching us at a speed of about 8 kilometers per second.

Based on the observed "wobbles" of Sirius in its movement across the celestial sphere, the German astronomer and mathematician Friedrich Bessel predicted the presence of an invisible satellite in Sirius, circulating with Sirius around a common center of mass with a period of 50 years. This prediction of Bessel was brilliantly confirmed in 1862 during tests of a new telescope by the American optician Alvan Clark.

Thus, Sirius is a double star, the second component of which is a white dwarf, known as Sirius B. It has a much lower luminosity (8,5th magnitude), and therefore is difficult to distinguish next to the radiance of Sirius itself.

Author: Kondrashov A.P.

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Bamboo will increase the strength of composite materials 27.03.2022

Scientists at the University of British Columbia have come up with a way to increase the strength of biocomposite materials using plastination.

Canadian researchers have shown that adding 10% plastic bamboo to a fiberglass composite improves its ability to absorb impact energy. At the same time, the elastic properties of the material are preserved.

"Bamboo is almost as strong as steel, but more flexible," says Abbas Milani, one of the co-authors of the study. "Due to its lightness, price and availability, this material has great potential for industry. Until then, it had only one big drawback."

Biocomposite materials actively absorb moisture, which leads to rapid destruction. Scientists used plastination, traditionally used to preserve animal and human remains. This method preserves perishable biological samples. As a result of the treatment, water and fat in the tissues are replaced by a polymer.

"The laminated bamboo composite has been blended with glass and polymer fibers to create a material that is lighter and stronger than its counterparts," says researcher Daanvir Dhir. "Our work is unique. No one has previously explored the possibility of using laminated natural fibers in biocomposites."

Scientists will continue to work on optimizing the created material. According to Dhir, plastination now takes a long time, but the process can be improved.

The discovery of the correct composition of plated fibers will lead to a significant reduction in non-degradable waste in many industries.

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