Are All the Stars We See Actually Dead?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the question of whether all the stars visible from Earth are actually dead or near death, exploring the implications of light travel time and the visibility of stars from different distances. The conversation touches on concepts related to astronomy and the nature of light from stars.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Debate/contested, Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that all stars we see are either dead or near death due to the time it takes for their light to reach us, proposing that newly formed stars take around 200 years for their light to be visible.
  • Another participant agrees partially, noting that for very distant galaxies, the light could be billions of years old, implying those stars may no longer exist, while stars within a few hundred to a few thousand light years are likely unchanged.
  • A different viewpoint asserts that almost all visible stars are still alive, indicating that only stars in distant galaxies have a significant chance of being dead, and those galaxies are typically only observable with large telescopes.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the status of visible stars, with some suggesting that most stars are likely still alive while others emphasize the possibility of distant stars being dead. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the overall status of visible stars.

Contextual Notes

There are assumptions about the distances of stars and the implications of light travel time that are not fully explored, as well as the definitions of "dead" and "alive" in the context of stars.

Maroc
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All the stars are Dead !??!

My physics teacher says all the stars we see today are ones that are either dead or near death. All this is due to light. When a star is first created we don't see it take around 200 light years for the light of the star to reach us.

Is that amazing or what?

is any of it true ?
 
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Partly,
We see stars at the time the light left them so for very distant galaxies seen by a large telescope that light could be billions of years old and the stars no longer exist.
Most of the stars you see with your eye are within a few 100 to a few 1000 light years so they probably haven't changed much
 


Every star that you can see, even with a large telescope, is almost certainly still alive. Only the stars in distant galaxies have a good chance of being dead, but those galaxies are so far away that only the largest telescopes on Earth can pick them out.
 


Ah okay. Thanks for the clear up.
 

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