Abstract

The talk addresses several questions: How far away are those points of light in the sky? How far is "nearby"? What are the closest stars like and what can we learn from them? Some of the most interesting stars within 12 parsecs are used to elicidate the meaning of star color, star size, star mass, multiple stellar systems, and star motion. Specific stars include Arcturus, the star that taught us that the fixed firmament is not; Barnard's star, the fastest star in our sky; Sirius and its mysterious, invisible companion.

equipment: overhead projector

Note: Some familiarity with stellar evolution makes this talk even more interesting. Your local astronomy professor should be able to present you all with a very good talk on this subject, since it is a standard topic for introductory astronomy courses.