Your Birthday Star

Now, you are going to find a star, whose light has taken as long to get here as your age is in years. In other words, a star that is as distant as your age,

took that many years to reach you. Go to this site:

Look at the 10th column on the list that comes up (Dist. Ly) and see what star is your birthday star. If there isn’t a star as distant as your age, pick the

star that is closest to your age.

Questions:

1. Fill out the data on your star:

Catalog Name:

What proper name, if any, does this star have?

Constellation

Visual Magnitude

Distance

1. Why would your birthday star change if you were one year older?
2. Imagine that you are one year older. Go back to the same site, and find your new birthday star. Fill out the data on your new star:

Catalog Name:

What proper name, if any, does this star have?

Constellation

Visual Magnitude

Distance

What have you learned in this lab?

Sample Solution