hertzsprung-russell

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shares a truly wonderful tale about how scientific perspective evolves with new understanding and how curiosity has proven essential in reaching new heights that afford greater vistas.
The accidental story about the chain of collateral anomalies captured when observing another astronomical target in 1917 is a really resounding endorsement to aspire to the occasion no matter what one’s background is. With hindsight, we can see that the oddities noted a century ago are pretty solid evidence that a white dwarf (the stellar remnant of an imploded red dwarf) had recently ate and was still digesting its solar system. Though many projects are made of more mundane stuff than suggesting the existence of exo-planets decades ahead of the generally accepted thinking, there are numerous collaborative, citizen science endeavours achieving breakthroughs all the time. Do read the whole riveting re-telling at the link up top.  This is also your cue to dive into whatever archives at hand and be grateful for good record-keeping.