How Do We Measure the Distance to a Star?

Re:How Do We Measure the Distance to a Star? by shove on Monday August 20, 2018 @02:39PM (#17802587)

It's a huge pet peeve of mine when the science part of this kind of edutainment media is either wrong, or (as in this case) dumbed down to the point of uselessness. The triangle diagram here is completely wrong, and yeah, it uses high-school trig, but c'mon--if it's something we all supposedly learned in high-school and your audience is high-school educated... Show the actual diagram and the actual math!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Do We Measure the Distance to a Star? by selimthegrim on Monday August 20, 2018 @04:08PM (#17803459)

Scientific American isn’t aimed at professional scientists or STEM majors. Think bright middle class high school kids.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Do We Measure the Distance to a Star? by jhayward on Monday August 20, 2018 @07:45PM (#17805245)

Back in the 1960's my grandfather, who didn't have a high school education (farm raised, 1903-1994) had a subscription to Scientific American and would read them cover to cover.

Starting when I was 7 or 8 he would talk about the articles with me while we were working on things, either in his shop or cutting timber or repairing things around the farm. He would ask probing questions about the subjects, look for implications, make connections to other things he knew, all the kinds of things you want a scientific mind to do. Despite a lack of formal education and wearing a pair of blue jean overalls and muddy wellington boots, with tools in his hands, he was a smart and erudite for his circumstances.

He gave me his entire library when I was in my early teens. The first program I ever wrote, Conway's Life, was taken after a Martin Gardner article I read there. I credit those talks with my grandfather, and the articles I read, with a large portion of my being drawn to STEM and seeing it as "something for me".

SciAm was once a great institution trying to spread knowledge of the explosion of scientific understanding that was happening at the time. I miss those days.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Do We Measure the Distance to a Star? by selimthegrim on Monday August 20, 2018 @10:37PM (#17806439)

I used to read the Connections column by James Burke regularly but he quit writing it shortly after my family actually sprung for a subscription :(

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Do We Measure the Distance to a Star? by brink on Monday August 20, 2018 @03:58PM (#17803365)

Idk, there is some value in making the concept as accessible as possible. It makes the concept more believable to even the lowest common denominator. The more cognitive energy you have to spend on something, the harder it is to consume and believe.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Do We Measure the Distance to a Star? by jinushaun on Monday August 20, 2018 @10:59PM (#17806549)

With an attitude like that, I don’t know why any kid would be inspired to learn math and science.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Do We Measure the Distance to a Star? by joneston on Monday August 20, 2018 @08:03PM (#17805433)

Gell-Mann Amnesia in full force. [0] But, consider that there's an animation budget at work here.

[0] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/65213-briefly-stated-the-ge...

[ Parent | on HN ]