Mahabharata Quiz - 104

 

Question – 104

Why couldn’t Arundhati change her position temporarily?

Answer:

Arundhati cannot change her position temporarily because she (the star Alcor) is in gravitational coupling with the Vasishtha (Mizar). As seen from the earth, the two stars appear as a binary. They are found to be in gravitational coupling with each other such that they move around each other once in 7,50,000 years. This gives no scope for seeing any change in their location with respect to each other for thousands of years.

In fact, there are not two, but six stars found in this so-called binary of Arundhati and Vashishta. Initially, it was thought that Mizar (Vasishtha) is a binary and Alcor is a companion at 0.5 to 1.5 light years away from it.

But recent studies in 2009 showed that Alcor (Arundhati) is also a binary. The companion star of Alocr is a red-dwarf.

This red dwarf is going round Alcor or both Alcor and the Dwarf may be moving around each other. Anyway, whenever the red dwarf comes in front of Alcor facing earthward, it will dim the light of Alcor as seen from the earth.

The ancestral Bharatheeyas have noticed this dimming of light and reddishness on those occasions. But those times do not last long because the dwarf keeps moving away making Alcor appear bright again.

In the background of this scientific information, it is certain that change in Arundhati’s position cannot be real. That it was not real was also known to Vyasa and that is why an appearance of a change caused fear in him that he characterized it as a nimitta.