How far is the nearest fixed star? Detailed answer

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How far is the nearest fixed star? Detailed answer

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How far is the nearest fixed star?

The closest star to the solar system is called Proxima Centauri (in Greek, proxima means closest).

It is at a distance of 4,249 light years, that is, so far that the light emitted by it takes more than four years to reach us (recall that the speed of light is 300 kilometers per second).

In order to visualize this distance more clearly, let us turn to the model of the solar system given by IS Shklovsky in the book "The Universe, Life, Mind". If we imagine the Sun as a billiard ball with a diameter of 7 centimeters, then Pluto (its diameter in this case will be about 0,1 millimeters) will be 300 meters away from this ball, and the star Proxima Centauri (on the same scale) will be approximately 2000 kilometers !

Author: Kondrashov A.P.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

Why does the appearance of the starry sky change throughout the year?

At different times of the year, different constellations can be observed in the evenings. Why is this happening?

The sun, as observations show, not only moves along with all the stars during the day, rising in the east and setting in the west, but also slowly moves among the stars in the opposite direction, i.e. from west to east, moving from constellation to constellation . We cannot observe the constellation in which the Sun is currently located, since it rises with the Sun and moves across the sky during the day, when the stars are not visible. The path along which the Sun moves among the stars throughout the year is called the ecliptic. It passes through twelve so-called zodiac constellations, each of which the Sun visits for approximately one month each year.

The annual motion of the Sun among the stars is apparent. In fact, the observer himself moves along with the Earth around the Sun, which is why it seems that the Sun moves from one constellation to another.

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The stylus automatically slides out of the smartphone body 15.06.2015

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has published Samsung's patent application for "Electronic Device Having Automatically Ejectable Input Pen".

We are talking about a digital pen like the S Pen, which is used in devices such as the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge phablets. As planned by Samsung, to remove the stylus from the body of the gadget, the user will need to say a certain voice command and (or) draw a predefined pattern on the touch screen with his finger.

To automatically eject the pen, it is proposed to use a special system of small electromagnets with different polarities: this will allow the stylus to be pushed out of the device body. And to hold the pen inside the gadget, a locking mechanism can be used, clinging to the groove in the tip area.

As conceived by Samsung, the presence of a system for automatically ejecting the pen in certain situations will increase the convenience of working with phablets and tablet computers.

Samsung is also patenting an original zoom system for the digital pen: it is proposed to activate the zoom tools by holding the stylus a short distance from the display. By pressing a special button on the pen body, the user will see a zoom menu, after which it will be enough to perform the required action.

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