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> When the brightness of the star Betelgeuse dropped dramatically a few months ago, some observers suspected an impending supernova—a stellar explosion that cou
by princekolt 6y ago
> When the brightness of the star Betelgeuse dropped dramatically a few months ago, some observers suspected an impending supernova—a stellar explosion that could also cause damage on Earth.
Why do people keep fretting about Betelgeuse?? No, it's extremely unlikely it will harm earth when it goes nova: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1406.3143v2.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/1406.3143v2.pdf
- sillyquiet 6y agoHeh remember the panic about CERN creating mini black holes? Science reporting is so very bad.
- taneq 6y agoI'm not saying the LHC did create a mini black hole and suck the Earth into a parallel pocket universe on a dark dystopian timeline, but... gestures vaguely at everything
- rob74 6y agoAnd since then we are all trapped in... the Twilight Zone! (cue spooky music)
- Loughla 6y agoI mean, that's a good philosophical premise for a book, I think. Would we know if we were sucked into an alternate timeline via that kind of science? Would it matter to us? Could we change it? I'm sure there's a YA novel in there somewhere.
- dylan604 6y agoEvery single SciFi show uses a shimmering effect when that happens, and I never saw that effect. So, it either happened when I was sleeping or otherwise wasn't looking, or it didn't happen. Or maybe it happened the night I took all of those mushrooms. Never can tell if I'm seeing something or just seeing something.
- taneq 6y agoI'm pretty sure going through a micro black hole involves everything being spaghettified and... waaait a minute, now that you mention it I've been eating a LOT of spaghetti these last few months.
- jkinudsjknds 6y agoIt's cool. Some dude fixed it with a tv and a microwave.
- karatinversion 6y agoAnd don’t even get me started on Project Z!
- rthomas6 6y agoIn the good timeline, KitKat had a dash in its name, Fruit of the Loom had a cornucopia in its logo, Pikachu had black on the end of its tail, C3PO didn't have a silver leg, and you could go up in the torch of the Statue of Liberty.
- beervirus 6y agoIt ain't just science reporting. > Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them. > In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know. – Michael Crichton (1942-2008) https://www.epsilontheory.com/gell-mann-amnesia/ https://www.epsilontheory.com/gell-mann-amnesia/
- reso 6y agoActually, I remember reading at the time that the "We promise it won't create black-holes" narrative came from the PR department of the lab itself to draw attention to their work. It was very successful.
- marcosdumay 6y agoBut it will look amazing. > When this supernova explodes it will be closer than any known supernova observed to date, and about 19 times closer than Kepler’s supernova. Assuming it explodes as an average Type II super-nova, the optical luminosity will be approximately -12.4, becoming brighter than the full moon.
- TacticalTable 6y agoDo we have any idea how long that light would last, and how long it would take to get to full brightness?
- jandrese 6y agoTypically 3-5 months I think. It's not like it just turns on and off either, it flares up then slowly fades over time.
- rob74 6y agoAnother quote from later in the article: > a very close supernova could inflict massive harm to life on Earth ...but they fail to mention how close this "very close" is. I assume 700 light years (Betelgeuse) is a little bit far away to qualify? As a total amateur in astronomy/astrophysics, I would assume that if there were any "very close" stars that are massive enough to go supernova, they would already be known?!
- speakeron 6y ago50 light years is the generally accepted distance that would cause problems. There are no candidates this close that could cause a type II supernova (this is when a massive old star, like Betelgeuse, collapses), but there could be potential type I supernovae lurking closer. These are binary pairs of a white dwarf and another star where the white dwarf is accreting mass from the companion and reaches a limit (the Chandrasekhar mass) where runaway nuclear fusion spontaneously occurs.
- SamBam 6y agoWas the "could also cause damage on Earth" theory a widespread worry? I never heard that in any of the reporting of the issue. My "worry" was based only on losing one of the nicest stars in the Heavens, although a certain excitement of the idea at the same time.
- uCantCauseUCant 6y agoEh, the supernova if it is impending for us- has already happened in the lightcone
- vorticalbox 6y agoSide question do we know why it dipped in brightness?
- macintux 6y agoMass ejection. Updating with link: https://phys.org/news/2020-08-hubble-betelgeuse-mysterious-dimming-due.html https://phys.org/news/2020-08-hubble-betelgeuse-mysterious-d...
- dredmorbius 6y ago1. Sensationalism sells advertising. Don't overlook media dynamics. 2. Reasonably solid understanding and low risk notwithstanding (Beteleuse, at 300 light years, is well outside the 50 l.y. danger zone), some people will harbour some uncertainty, warranted or not. 3. It'll still be the biggest pop in the neighbourhood for a while.