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Will Bright Star Betelgeuse Supernova?
- Sharlin 7y agoIn defiance of Betteridge's law on headlines, technically the answer to this one is, yes, with an approximately 100% certainty. The question is not "if" but "when". However, the answer to "when" is unlikely to be anytime soon, from the point of view of an individual human being.
- cevn 7y agoI would feel so, so fortunate to witness a supernova in my lifetime were it to occur..
- brewdad 7y agoUnless it were our Sun. Then we might not feel so fortunate. :-)
- theandrewbailey 7y agoIf only it were big enough.
- theandrewbailey 7y agoYou're in luck, they happen all the time: https://sne.space/ https://sne.space/
- Patient0 7y agoOTOH: https://earthsky.org/space/ligo-gravitational-wave-burst-near-betelgeuse https://earthsky.org/space/ligo-gravitational-wave-burst-nea...
- me_me_me 7y agoImagine being alive when it goes supernova (relatively to us on earth). That would be a spectacular thing to witness.
- mongol 7y agoI am sure it will be cloudy where I am.
- ceejayoz 7y agoBetelgeuse would be visible for weeks, and be at its brightest point (as bright as the full moon) for several days.
- sixstringtheory 7y agoEven if you live in the tropics and it’s during the rainy season, you still have a good chance of seeing one. It’s not like a solar eclipse where you have very short time period to view it, it could last weeks to years (of course the peak would be shorter, but probably still on the order of days to weeks, at least long enough to travel to a clear location): > Supernova SN 1054 was another widely observed event, with Arab, Chinese, and Japanese astronomers recording the star's appearance in 1054 AD. It may also have been recorded by the Anasazi as a petroglyph. This explosion appeared in the constellation of Taurus, where it produced the Crab Nebula remnant. At its peak, the luminosity of SN 1054 may have been four times as bright as Venus, and it remained visible in daylight for 23 days and was visible in the night sky for 653 days. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_supernova_observation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_supernova_observati...
- proactivesvcs 7y agoIf you're anywhere near Pete from the UK's The Sky At Night programme, when a camera is on him, you can be guaranteed to be clouded out!
- sktrdie 7y agoI am surprised it didn't happen. I think it's 1 star that goes supernova per galaxy every 100 years. Why didn't we see any yet? Reference: https://www.space.com/6638-supernova.html https://www.space.com/6638-supernova.html "On average, a supernova will occur about once every 50 years in a galaxy the size of the Milky Way" Why don't we see them with the naked eye?
- NotSammyHagar 7y agoHonest title would be: It's probably a natural dimming cycle and the star will not be blowing up right now. If it did, not to worry, it's ~650 light years away, and it shouldn't hurt us (don't they always say that ;-)). It would be as bright as the moon if it went nova for a while.
- cgh 7y agoPhil Plait of Bad Astronomy fame agrees with you: https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/dont-panic-betelgeuse-is-almost-certainly-not-about-to-explode https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/dont-panic-betelgeuse-is-almos... This guy is consistently entertaining and I recommend his stuff, even if it is hosted on the somewhat obnoxious SyFy site (that name...)
- skykooler 7y agoIf it were as bright as the moon but visually a point source, would it be safe to look at with the naked eye?
- ncmncm 7y agoYes.
- sambroner 7y agoThey mention it in the article, but it's really fascinating how we've documented previous nearby (relatively) supernovae. Modern scientists have identified that the Crab Nebula (6k light years away) was created by a supernovae. Historians then recognized that Chinese astronomers had actually seen that supernovae in 1054 AD. This was corroborated by historical records from Islamic astronomers as well. Similar attempts have been made to identify the Star of Bethlehem, but I don't believe there's consensus on that one. (Some of the above may be inaccurate, I just love how long people have been studying the night sky.)
- lisper 7y agoJust FYI, supernovae (with an e at the end) is plural. The singular is supernova.
- ropiwqefjnpoa 7y agoMan this would be awesome to observe. Hopefully it's not the 100,000 year estimate.
- dreamcompiler 7y agoI'll save you some time: Yes. When? Nobody knows. Might have already happened.
- red75prime 7y agoChecks the sky. No it hasn't happened. So it's either not happened yet or events of your post and Betelgeuse going supernova are separated by spacelike interval and as such they do not belong in before-after relation. "It hasn't happened" = it's not in our past light cone. "It's not happened yet" = it's in our future light cone.
- theandrewbailey 7y agoThe speed of light sucks.
- dreamcompiler 7y agoFair enough. There's no such thing as a universal now. I should have said "No information about a supernova event has reached us."
- zabzonk 7y agoIf it does go, it will remove the left shoulder of Orion, a constellation has been with us for all human history. A bit of a loss.
- dmead 7y agoand bladerunner will make no sense.
- AnimalMuppet 7y agoWe'll have to update our myths. Artemis shot it off in a hunting accident, maybe?
- jobseeker990 7y agoThat would be a shame. Write to your congress person and let them know.
- cloudking 7y agoWhat would it look like, a really bright star? Or would we actually see something that resembles an explosion
- jrjarrett 7y agoOut of curiosity, I wonder what the closest star to Sol system is that is large enough to supernova?
- mikhailfranco 7y agoMaybe Gacrux (Gamma Crucis), a red giant 88 light years away: https://www.space.com/23710-gacrux-gamma-crucis.html https://www.space.com/23710-gacrux-gamma-crucis.html
- eps 7y agoMods, can you add "Go" before Supernova in the title? Supernova is not a verb.
- yesenadam 7y ago>Supernova is not a verb. Well, people use it as one, so apparently it is. (source: I googled around a bit) I think in a language with, say "He's podiumed in five of his past six races" and "She medaled in three of four races", to supernova isn't a particularly bad offender. Anyway, why problem verbing?
- timoth3y 7y agoIt is now. It's been verbed.
- eps 7y agoSource? It sounds like one of those "how to summer" bastardizations.
- cmarschner 7y agoI presume this will be then the Great Collapsing Hrung Disaster of Gal./Sid./Year 03758, which Ford Prefect‘s father was the only person to survive