[therightliveswithus]

I don't buy it

[ClearCase_guy]

The year is young, but I think this is the dumbest thing I’ve heard all year.

[jessduntno]

Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse ...

[mnehring]

Betelgeuse is expected to go super-nova very soon. If this happens, the sky that we look at could have two stars in it, even though Betelgeuse is 1,300 light years away.

Which means it either went supernova 1,300 years ago OR we won't have a 'new sun' until 1,300 years from now.

[linear]

“If this happens, the sky that we look at could have two stars in it”

Two stars? I thought we could see a few more than that...

[massmike]

[Fido969]

I think what he said was it could explode between now and a million tears from now.

Cr@ppy reporting.

[GreenHornet]

On the bright side, Carter assures us that we won't all die

Ever?

[kbennkc]

Good, cuz this one is freezing my assets.

[raybbr]

...even though Betelgeuse is 1,300 light years away.

What an idiot. If Betelgeuse goes nova tomorrow we won't know it for 1300 years...

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Orion would never be the same with his shoulder missing. I can’t get my grandson (6 next month) to stand still long enough to see him. I saw the Old Man in the Mountain only about a year before he fell apart. He’s still on NH license plates, though.

[KarlInOhio]

If this happens, the sky that we look at could have two stars in it, even though Betelgeuse is 1,300 light years away.

Most estimates I've seen have it around 600 LY away.

"When a star goes bang, the first we will observe of it is a rain of tiny particles called nuetrinos.

I have more confidence in someone who can spell "neutrinos" correctly. Would you trust a cardiologist who wanted to talk to you about haert surgery?

I don't know how Mr. Carter knows that the Earth is safe, but I'd like something a little more concrete.

Gamma ray bursts are the killers and they follow the poles of the supernova. Betelgeuse's pole isn't pointing at us.

In the year 1006 there was another supernova, SN 1006 that was visible on earth for two days. It was called a "guest star."

A lot longer than that. The original author was probably confused by the wikipedia entry "First appearing in the constellation of Lupus between April 30 and May 1 of that year," which simply tells the first night it showed up on, not its total duration of visibility. Later in the same article it states "There appear to have been two distinct phases in the early evolution of this supernova. There was first a three-month period at which it was at its brightest; after this period it diminished, then returned for a period of about eighteen months."

As for a "second sun", Betelgeuse's supernova would likely be about half as bright as the full moon. Impressive? Yes, very. But not a second sun.

[Bubba_Leroy]

It’s Bush’s fault.

Womyn and minorities will be hardest hit.

[Ellendra]

There’s no way to pin down when a star will go kablooey, it could be in 5 minutes, it could be thousands of years from now.

Even when it does, I find it hard to take those “second sun” claims seriously.

[Political Junkie Too]

Carter assures us that we won't all die

Obamacare will take credit for that.

-PJ

[6SJ7]

I would imagine by now, they’re all out of sunblock at the local drug store on Betelgeuse 3.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

BTW, according to Wikipedia, the best current estimate of the distance to Betelgeuse is 643 ± 146 light years. 1300 light years is a very upper bound. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse

It is also fairly young, only about 12 million years old. Massive stars like Betelgeuse, at least 10 million times the sun’s mass, burn very quickly and die in Type II super nova events.

[Hardraade]

I wouldn’t buy anything from someone named Carter. Even if he throws in a rabbit and a top hat.

[Allegra]

If you're lucky you get to ride in a gold meteorite
If you're not, you get a mouth, a mouthful of red Kryptonite
You better move over
Here comes a Super-nova
Kryptonite- - -
Destination moon
If you're in outer space
Don't feel out of place
'cause there are thousands of others like you
Others like you

[blam]

"On the bright side, Carter assures us that we won't all die."

I'm hoarding rice just in case.

[83Vet4Life]

Of course it will have exploded in the past, that is obvious, but irrelevent.