There is a belief that if you make your most cherished wish while looking at the falling stars, it will definitely come true. However, in American folklore, every star that twinkles in the night sky is suitable for making wishes. There is even a separate expression, “When You Wish Upon a Star,” gaining additional popularity from the Pinocchio cartoon from the firefly Jiminy’s song, “When You Wish Upon a Star.” However, the idea has been circulating on social media lately that this isn’t really true: “the stars we make wishes on are already dead, as are our hopes.” Is this really true?
We’re ready to reassure you: the stars we see in the night sky are, for the most part, still alive. It is very unlikely that you will make a wish while looking at a star that has already gone out. The stars we can see with the naked eye are much closer than they appear, and their life cycles are much longer.
Stars are closer than you think
There is a misconception that the stars we are looking at are “millions of light years away” and therefore the light from them has traveled for millions of years. And when we made a wish, as the saying goes, it would not come true because the star exploded or went out long ago.
But all the stars we see in the sky with the naked eye are located almost “side by side” in our galaxy, the Milky Way. The Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years in diameter, and our solar system is 26,000 light-years away from its center. However, the most distant stars we can see with our own eyes are up to 10,000 light-years away, not millions.
How long do stars live?
The life cycle of stars depends on their mass. Most visible stars are giants or main-sequence stars. Giants, even the most massive, exist for millions of years. And main sequence stars, like our Sun, are billions of years old. That is, the light of a star that is 10,000 light years away from us can still shine and is not going to fade away. Unless it’s Betelgeuse, which is a candidate for a supernova, but scientists are still debating the likelihood of that event happening anytime soon.
Brightest stars in the sky
Wishes can be made for the nearest stars, which will definitely shine in the night sky for a long time.
- Alpha Centauri (α Centauri) is the closest star system to Earth, at a distance of only 4 light years. It is actually a triple star system that will remain stable for millions more years.
- Sirius (α Canis Majoris), the brightest star in the night sky, is 8.6 light-years away. It is a main-sequence star with hundreds of millions of years to burn.
- Epsilon Eridani (ε Eridani) is located about 10 light-years away and is about a billion years old. It is “young” by stellar standards.
The safest star for wishes
Our Sun is the most reliable choice for making wishes. Its light takes 8 minutes to reach us, and it will remain a main sequence star for about 5 billion years. So you can safely make a wish – none of your dreams will definitely be “late” for the Sun. However, there is a problem – you can’t look directly at the Sun during the day because of the risk of damaging your eyesight, except during its sunset, when it will be barely above the horizon.
Thus, when you make a wish, almost all visible stars are alive and will continue to exist for a very long time. So bravely trust your dreams to the night sky – they have all chances to come true.
Earlier we reported on how an astronaut spotted the “shooting star” of the Geminid meteor shower from the ISS.
Provided by theconversation.com
