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Question was:
From our perspective, what is the correct description of a star:
A. a point in the sky
B. a dot in the sky

 

Sent a message.

 

Oh, I'm bored.
May as well do this. Anyways, I feel like the answer can differ based on what you mean by "our perspective" and what you mean by a "star" (i.e. the light emitted or the star itself)? Just a tip: next time you do something like this, define these subjective terms.

 

Elric won the competition, congratulations!

Elric's answer:

A star, from our perspective, is a dot. It is not a point. A point is infinitesimally small; it is in the "0th dimension". However, even with a primitive view of the night sky, you would describe it as two dimensional.
It of course finds itself in a 3 dimensional space, from our perspective that is. An easy proof that the night sky is 3 dimensional would be planets being visible at different magnitudes throughout the year while they are orbiting the sun with us.

A "dot" is not infinitesimally small, and a "dot" or "spot" (i prefer dot) would be a correct description for a star from our perspective. The star, which exists within all of the first 3 spatial dimensions can therefore impossibly be a point.

A lot of answers pointed out that in constellations a star is referred to as a point, and therefore it must be a point in the sky. However you must note that these constellations are only a representative work that uses the night sky. They use stars, which are not points, as points for a 2-dimensional constellation.

If you are very interested, search the web for "spatial dimensions explained" or ask me a question in private message.
VonArnout also had a correct answer with a good explanation, however Elric's is more accurate and significantly longer. (EDIT: The content being important here though, not especially the length. The longer length encompassed more good content)
Thanks for participating!

Another question coming up soon, same prize.




Laini Southwark BertBerry 52Phenomenon Agent
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