Huge red star might explode soon and next few weeks are critical [Betelgeuse update]

CNET ^ | February 10, 2020 | Eric Mack

[BenLurkin]

Supergiant star Betelgeuse has been getting dimmer at an unprecedented pace over the past few months, leading some astronomers to wonder if it might be in the process of the collapse that precedes a supernova explosion. But there are other possible explanations, and we should have a better idea of what's happening to the massive star by the end of the month.

Betelgeuse has no more than about 100,000 years left to burn and could start its death throes just about anytime between now and then. When it does go supernova, it's expected to result in a dramatic light show that could be visible in daylight and appear brighter than the full moon for a few weeks. The last time humans were treated to such a sight was the 17th century.

…

Betelgeuse is a well-known variable star that pulsates over a variety of time periods.

"This whole episode might just be a deeper-than-average pulsation, and perhaps the supernova watch can be called off,"

The most recent data from Guinan's team shows that Betelgeuse could be going through an extended 430-day pulsation. If this is the case, then it should reach its dimmest point on Feb. 21 (with a margin of error of about a week on either side).

However, Guinan and colleagues note that Betelgeuse still appears to be even dimmer than it should be during such an extended pulsation. This could mean that there are multiple factors at work in the great fainting of the giant star.

"So something very unusual is going on,"

[Louis Foxwell]

If something is traveling towards you at the speed of light, you won’t see it coming.

THAT is amazing. So the faster something is moving the less we can see it, huh?

Can we see it if it is not moving? If it is moving at half the speed of light do we see half of it?

[Telepathic Intruder]

Betelgeuse is too far away for it to be a danger. The real danger from a type II supernova, anyway, is the shock wave, not the radiation front, and that travels much slower.

[BobL]

“I’d just like to see it exploding and lighting up the sky. That would be very cool.”

I agree, considering how close this star is to us and the size of supernova pops (we can see them in other galaxies), it’s not much different than living on a nearby island when we were testing our H-Bombs. In other words, we may get a bit more than just a bright spot in the sky.

[ExGeeEye]

I’m not the only one :)

[Political Junkie Too]

the Gama Ray burst will fry us even at 700 light years.

Won't it just turn us all into incredible Hulks?

-PJ

[MountainWalker]

The red communist star however is alive and well in the Democrat race.

[HighSierra5]

It’ll probably happen when Orion is behind the Sun and we’ll miss it unless the new Parker Sun probe would be in position to take pictures.

[Telepathic Intruder]

Betelgeuse isn't the right type of star to produce a GRB, as far as we know. That happens with Wolf-Rayet or other stripped-core supergiants when they run out of fuel (producing type Ib and Ic supernovae). For a while it was thought that WR 104 was one of these, pointed right at us and ready to explode. But it turns out it's off by 30 or so degrees.



The distance to one of these actually doesn't matter that much. They're deadly as long as you're within the beam.

[eartick]

has no more than about 100,000 years left to burn and could start its death throes

Well, I will not hold my breath on seeing this one.

[piytar]

Yup. If one iof it’s poles is pointed directly at us, it will be an extinction level event. Not even bacteria will survive. However, the odds of that are extraordinarily low. Given the distance involved, about 1 in 18,000,000,000,000,000 (seriously roughing the math). If not, it will just be a good light show.

[NonValueAdded]

Foil hat? I’m thinking lead codpiece.

[PIF]

Betelgeuse’s distance was initially measured by the parallax effect it had on Earth. Two observations, taken on either end of Earth’s orbit, would subtend an angle that can yield the distance. It started in 1920, when the first interferometric studies were performed, the star’s distance equated to 180 light-years. A lot of other measurements have estimated its distance to be as high as 1300 light-years. In the 1990s there were two conflicting measurements. One, where the parallax was determined to be π=9.8±4.7 mas and the other, where the parallax was determined to be π=5±4 mas . The first one suggested a distance of 330 light-years; whereas, the second one suggested a distance of 650 light-years. In 2008, the VLA[1] produced a solution of 643±146 ly ; although this value has a 22% error, the accepted distance is approximately 642 light-years.

[equaviator]

There’s nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.

[trebb]

Yes

[Deplorable American1776]

A star exploded 700 years ago. Trump's fault!! 😋

700 years liberals on a planet called for higher taxes to combat the star exploding...like American liberals they failed...

[BraveMan]

“Other wise the Gama Ray burst will fry us even at 700 light years.”

[wally_bert]

Apparently the great Hrung collapse was the final straw.

[ExSafecracker]

Neutrino. Is that a small Mexican neutron?

[Bi-ped Carbon Unit]

If your traveling at the speed of light, and you turn your headlights on, does anything happen?
-Steven Wright-

[gnarledmaw]

A. Its not going to collapse into a pulsar and start hosing us down with a cosmic flashlight of radiation, its going to detonate like a grenade far too far away to really effect us.

B. There could be a planet killer around the next corner.

C. Most likely to implode though it will be spectacular to see.

D. Already died back when the military realized that Kolomoisky effectively owned the industrialized state that the pipeline will go under that links the Russian port to the BRI rail and that the Bidens were profiting from it. The light from that explosion hasnt reached the masses yet.