Giant star Betelgeuse mysteriously shrinking: study

AFP on Yahoo ^ | 6/9/09 | AFP

[TASMANIANRED]

Someone is turning the light out.

[SoldierDad]

Not making this easy for me at all, are you?

[Salamander]

Nobody said it was gonna be easy.....;-D

[Boiling Pots]

I have read for years that this star ebbs and flows in brightness.

[SoldierDad]

And, you never promised a rose garden either.

[Crazieman]

Huh? What the hell are you talking about? Your statement made no sense, was contradictory, and if I interpret correctly, not even CLOSE to the working theory of how star lifecycles function.

I don’t call myself an evolutionist, I think it has lots of holes, but when those who actively oppose it can’t even refute a theory by restating the most basic aspects of it, it makes you look like a friggin’ idiot and does your position a disservice.

[MHGinTN]

Not even close! Want to try again?

[prismsinc]

Well, how does it work then Einstein? I have a basic understanding of the nuclear fusion process, hydrogen is the fuel and helium is the by-product.

What is the name of the woman that proved Einstein’s theory of relativity, genius? Since you’re so smart...

[prismsinc]

Instead of ridiculing me for going by 35 year old elementary school memory, why don’t you correct me then, and be productive in the process, genius?

[prismsinc]

What’s the name of the woman that proved Einstein’s theory of relativity?

[MHGinTN]

I’m not deriding you. But you have confused the forming of a white dwarf with the process which a much larger star goes through to form a black hole. Our star will likely eventually become a white dwarf, but is not massive enough to collapse into/become a black hole. And the phrasing regarding ‘taking in helium’ is, well, cryptic at best.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

What we are seeing now was 527 light years ago....
So we should be able to see this star go super nova...

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Would the gamma rays travel faster than light ?

[prismsinc]

It’s cryptic, yes, but it’s cryptic based on a 35 year old recollection.

Also, while nuclear fusion is complex, the fuel and by-product aren’t. Hydrogen in, helium out. That’s all most of us need to know, really.

Sorry, but the previous poster got a bit smarmy about it and you got caught in the crossfire.

Do you her name, BTW?

[PeaceBeWithYou]

Before Sir Arthur Eddington did it in 1920?

[prismsinc]

Apologies. I meant the mass-energy equivalence formula

[prismsinc]

Actually, I was right the first time. Eddington evidenced it, but he never actually physically mathematically proved it.

It was a woman. What was her name?

[PeaceBeWithYou]

Are you thinking of Emmy Noether?

[Salamander]

Arrrgh!

I’ll be humming that wretched song in my head all day!

[prismsinc]

Nope. You give up yet?