4 ms·

Betelgeuse to supernova - could be any day

13 points by ra 16y ago

beoba 16y ago
"it could also happen in a million years." Yeah, any day now!
Twisol 16y ago
> Some experts have speculated Betelgeuse's explosion may cause a neutron star or result in the formation of a black hole approximately 1300 light years from Earth, but Dr Carter says it could go either way. > "There's a reasonably even chance of a neutron star or a black hole", he says. ...Is that supposed to sound reassuring? >_<
- CamperBob 16y ago
  The gravitational effects of either will be no greater than those of the star that it came from, so it's no big deal either way as far as we're concerned.
InclinedPlane 16y ago
Phil Plait had a lot of excellent comments about this recurring speculation 6 months ago: http://mblogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/01/is-betelgeuse-about-to-blow/ http://mblogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/01/i...
harshpotatoes 16y ago
I think if Betelgeuse were about to explode any day now, we would be hearing a lot more from the major astronomy organizations, as Betelgeuse's supernova will be bright and fantastic. Six months ago there was another rumor about Betelgeuse being close to supernova which Phil Plait also talked about. He doesn't seem to optimistic it will be blowing very soon, also based on the evidence that none of the higher powers are talking about it. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/01/is-betelgeuse-about-to-blow/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/01/is...
btipling 16y ago
And by any day they mean any day 520 years ago.
bartman 16y ago
"The important thing is, one day, night will become day for several weeks on Earth." According to Wikipedia[1] the expected visible magnitude of the supernova is around -12mag. The full moon's apparent magnitude is around -12.74mag[2]. So we'd more likely have "another moon" for some time instead of a second sun. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_magnitude http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_magnitude
- marbu 16y ago
  A nice visualization has been made: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1397751 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1397751
freyrs3 16y ago
So if we see it tomorrow, it went supernova in ~1371 AD.

13 points by ra 16y ago

beoba 16y ago

"it could also happen in a million years." Yeah, any day now!

> Some experts have speculated Betelgeuse's explosion may cause a neutron star or result in the formation of a black hole approximately 1300 light years from Earth, but Dr Carter says it could go either way. > "There's a reasonably even chance of a neutron star or a black hole", he says. ...Is that supposed to sound reassuring? >_<

CamperBob 16y ago
The gravitational effects of either will be no greater than those of the star that it came from, so it's no big deal either way as far as we're concerned.

InclinedPlane 16y ago

Phil Plait had a lot of excellent comments about this recurring speculation 6 months ago: http://mblogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/01/is-betelgeuse-about-to-blow/ http://mblogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/01/i...

harshpotatoes 16y ago

I think if Betelgeuse were about to explode any day now, we would be hearing a lot more from the major astronomy organizations, as Betelgeuse's supernova will be bright and fantastic. Six months ago there was another rumor about Betelgeuse being close to supernova which Phil Plait also talked about. He doesn't seem to optimistic it will be blowing very soon, also based on the evidence that none of the higher powers are talking about it. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/01/is-betelgeuse-about-to-blow/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/01/is...

btipling 16y ago

And by any day they mean any day 520 years ago.

bartman 16y ago

"The important thing is, one day, night will become day for several weeks on Earth." According to Wikipedia[1] the expected visible magnitude of the supernova is around -12mag. The full moon's apparent magnitude is around -12.74mag[2]. So we'd more likely have "another moon" for some time instead of a second sun. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_magnitude http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_magnitude

marbu 16y ago
A nice visualization has been made: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1397751 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1397751

freyrs3 16y ago

So if we see it tomorrow, it went supernova in ~1371 AD.