Next-door neighbors.Scientists have long suspected that the brilliant star Polaris, or the North Star North Star: see Polaris., is part of a triple star system. But until recently, researchers had only spotted one of Polaris's neighbors, which is clearly visible through a high-powered telescope. The third star couldn't be seen because it is too faint and too close to Polaris, says Nancy Evans, an astronomer at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics astrophysics, application of the theories and methods of physics to the study of stellar structure, stellar evolution, the origin of the solar system, and related problems of cosmology. The distinction between astrophysics and modern astronomy is disappearing in scientific usage.. Researchers finally caught sight of the companion using images collected by the Hubble Space Telescope. |
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