“The sun used to be yellow once,” Aunty said. “Do any of you lot remember when it was yellow?”
Franchette looked unwell. Her hands were never far from her face. “I'm not sure. Perhaps.”
Aunty leaned forward in her chair, sticking her chin out and gazing about her, to make it clear to everyone she was about to address them all. “That's why the sun was always painted as yellow, you know?”
Stella looked around the faces and nodded her head. “And when you see it these days it's white!”
Michael stood up and stretched his arms out above his head. “Yes. Sunlight appears more yellow at dawn and dusk. That’s when there is the greatest quantity of atmosphere to pass through, filtering out the blue wavelength. So, once higher in the sky it appears white. …show more content…
That's what we’ve got here. The past couple of years the Inuit in Greenland and in Alaska say the Earth is wobbling. Their sky has changed. The stars, the moon, the sun are not where they used to be before the wobble. Any change to that extreme and fragile environment impacts their way of life. Now they have longer days and warmer temperatures. The jet air streams high above the Earth don’t circulate like they used to, and so we have extreme weather events. It’s hard to miss, right? The sun has begun to flash, and our magnetosphere protecting us from space radiation has been acting increasingly odd these past few years—I could go on.” He looked around the room, his brow deeply creased. “There’s been so much change in such a very short …show more content…
“What she said—well, it was almost unbelievable at the time. I set about verifying it for myself immediately, and it soon became a project that consumed all my time. Of course, I had to explain to my colleagues what was going on. That's why I put together a presentation—”
“For God's sake, Michael! Get to the point!”
“Okay—Project Southern Hemisphere was all about identifying this object. At the time, it was located in the constellation of Aquarius, which ironically has very few bright stars. They concluded it was a star, but it was one of a type we had not encountered before.”
“If it wasn't affecting us before, why is it now?” Penny asked her father.
“The thing—whatever it is—is on the move, and its orbit takes it right into our solar system. This is what Caterina told me they confirmed during their mission.”
“We are going to have two suns?” Storm asked.
“We were never a single star system. Binary suns are the most common star system observed in the universe, and the orbit of this one shows it’s been through our solar system many times before.”
Franchette rubbed at her face. “This is nuts. How come you never mentioned any of this
Franchette looked unwell. Her hands were never far from her face. “I'm not sure. Perhaps.”
Aunty leaned forward in her chair, sticking her chin out and gazing about her, to make it clear to everyone she was about to address them all. “That's why the sun was always painted as yellow, you know?”
Stella looked around the faces and nodded her head. “And when you see it these days it's white!”
Michael stood up and stretched his arms out above his head. “Yes. Sunlight appears more yellow at dawn and dusk. That’s when there is the greatest quantity of atmosphere to pass through, filtering out the blue wavelength. So, once higher in the sky it appears white. …show more content…
That's what we’ve got here. The past couple of years the Inuit in Greenland and in Alaska say the Earth is wobbling. Their sky has changed. The stars, the moon, the sun are not where they used to be before the wobble. Any change to that extreme and fragile environment impacts their way of life. Now they have longer days and warmer temperatures. The jet air streams high above the Earth don’t circulate like they used to, and so we have extreme weather events. It’s hard to miss, right? The sun has begun to flash, and our magnetosphere protecting us from space radiation has been acting increasingly odd these past few years—I could go on.” He looked around the room, his brow deeply creased. “There’s been so much change in such a very short …show more content…
“What she said—well, it was almost unbelievable at the time. I set about verifying it for myself immediately, and it soon became a project that consumed all my time. Of course, I had to explain to my colleagues what was going on. That's why I put together a presentation—”
“For God's sake, Michael! Get to the point!”
“Okay—Project Southern Hemisphere was all about identifying this object. At the time, it was located in the constellation of Aquarius, which ironically has very few bright stars. They concluded it was a star, but it was one of a type we had not encountered before.”
“If it wasn't affecting us before, why is it now?” Penny asked her father.
“The thing—whatever it is—is on the move, and its orbit takes it right into our solar system. This is what Caterina told me they confirmed during their mission.”
“We are going to have two suns?” Storm asked.
“We were never a single star system. Binary suns are the most common star system observed in the universe, and the orbit of this one shows it’s been through our solar system many times before.”
Franchette rubbed at her face. “This is nuts. How come you never mentioned any of this