Why don’t all our cars have a speed warning function? On the highway, I usually try to maintain a speed between the speed limit and five miles per hour over (never more than that), and I’d like to have a button on my steering wheel that I can push (like cruise control) at any particular speed so that if that speed is exceeded, I get a soft audible “beep” every few seconds until my speed has fallen below the set point.
And, like cruise control (which I never use anymore for safety reasons), you would be able to change the set point as often as you like while driving.
Having this speed warning function would improve safety because you’d be less likely to inadvertently drive too fast, and you wouldn’t have to take your eyes off the road as often to look at the speedometer.
I can’t understand why this isn’t standard equipment on all motor vehicles.
HIP 56948 (HD 101364)—an 8.7 magnitude star in Draco—is more like our Sun than any other star yet discovered. It is 194 light years away and located at α2000 = 11h 40m 28s and δ2000 = +69° 00′ 31″, near Gianfar (λ Draconis) and the Draco-Ursa Major border, above the Big Dipper’s bowl.
With the exception of lithium, the elemental abundances are identical to that found in the Sun, within the observational uncertainties. As expected, lithium is severely depleted in HIP 56948, but not as much as in the Sun. This is to be expected for a solar twin about 1 Gyr younger than the Sun.
The temperature, luminosity, mass, and rotation of HIP 56948 almost exactly match that of the Sun. For example, HIP 56948 is only 17 ± 7 K hotter than the Sun, and its mass is 1.02 ± 0.02 M☉. Given all these similarities, it appears its most recently determined (1993) spectral type of G5 is incorrect. Or is it the spectral type of our Sun that is wrong (G2V)? Actually, it is quite difficult to make measurements of our Sun “as a star” because it is so incredibly close and bright.
HIP 56948 harbors no giant planets or “hot Jupiters” within or interior to its habitable zone, so there remains the enticing possibility that it may host a planetary system similar to our own, though no planets have yet been detected.
Incidentally, the next time you’ve got a good view of the Head of Draco and the “box” of Cepheus, cast your eyes toward a point halfway between the two. You’re looking towards where the rotational axis of the Sun points north. Like HIP 56948, it’s in Draco.