this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] essteeyou@lemmy.world 266 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Polaris is 45-67 million years old.

The oldest total-group chondrichthyans, known as acanthodians or "spiny sharks", appeared during the Early Silurian, around 439 million years ago.

It's not even close.

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 71 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Dinosaurs died off 65 MYA. Dinosaurs were most likely gone before Polaris formed.

[–] i_stole_ur_taco@lemmy.ca 68 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

They probably died off because they couldn’t use Polaris for navigation!

[–] mkwt@lemmy.world 25 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Polaris goes in and out of North Star status on the 26,000 year precession cycle. So for the duration of humanity (let's say 100,000 years), there have been decent chunks of time where it's not in use.

[–] sorrybookbroke@sh.itjust.works 13 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

You gotta rest up man, that's a pretty big job for one star

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago

Can you imagine having to give directions to a bunch of illiterate primates? Ugg. I’d have quite after the first thousand years.

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 weeks ago

They trade off. There are other stars that make for good pole star candidates

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I’m now sad that dinosaurs could never look up and see Polaris.

[–] ZeffSyde@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

Eh, they got to see the thousands of other stars that are now obscured by light/atmospheric pollution.

[–] toynbee@lemmy.world 29 points 3 weeks ago

I came here to question whether that claim is true, saw your post, and thought something like "well, that settles that." Then I scrolled down and saw neatchee's (great username) post and now my whole world is uncertain.

[–] LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

Appalachian mountains are even older