• neatchee@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    174
    ·
    18 hours ago

    This is only sort of true, unfortunately. Polaris is a two-star system: Polaris Aa and Polaris B.

    Polaris B is much older than sharks, by several billion years.

    Polaris Aa appears to be younger than sharks, at a measley 50 million years old, compared to sharks’ 420 million years

    HOWEVER it is unclear whether Polaris Aa is actually that young. Scientists believe that, based on some contradictory findings, that measurement may be inaccurate if Polaris Aa is formed from two different stars that merged. In that scenario, the model we use to calculate star age would no longer work and could give wildly inaccurate estimates of the star’s true age

    TMYK