Astronomers Detect a Burst of Gravitational Waves From The Direction of Betelgeuse

www.sciencealert.com ^ | 20 JAN 2020 | EVAN GOUGH, UNIVERSE TODAY

[hanamizu]

I never did trust the Betelgeuse. Sure, they make a fine chocolate but after the Congo thing I gave up on them.

---

But their beer...

[JimRed]

The star that has been exhibiting some dimming behaviour recently, and is expected to go supernova at some point in...

That dimming occurred a long time ago; the light is only just now reaching our neighborhood.

[Red Badger]

It is 642 LY away, but has been fluctuating for a long time.

We do not know when it will blow!................

[Boogieman]

I’m just here for the Beetlejuice memes.

[Tallguy]

“Recently, Betelgeuse dimmed. That set off all kinds of speculation that it might be getting ready to go supernova.”

At these interstellar distances whatever may happen... already happened. We’re just waiting for the light to get here.

[Tallguy]

“it’s estimated that Betelgeuse won’t go supernova for another 100,000 years.”

Don’t tell Greta Thunberg... She’ll start a countdown more annoying that “100 Bottle of Beer on the Wall”

[AFreeBird]

As I understand it; when a star starts making iron, the shows over. You’re just waiting for the fat lady to sing.

[Hammerhead]

lol

[M Kehoe]

Nine posts, not bad.

5.56mm

[Vaduz]

About that global warming thing cancel it wait for flash.

[outofsalt]

"None of us will be alive to see the light from that supernova arrive here"

It's so far away we are seeing it as it was. It takes 724 years for light to travel that distance. If it went supernova 723 years and ten months ago we will see it in the sky in 2 months.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

That was my other thought. If the gravitational waves are real and they move at the speed of light AND they precede the supernova by a short time frame...we all could be in for a helluva show.

Wasn't it posited that the Star of Bethlehem was a very distant or smaller size supernova? Things that make you go...Hmmmm.

[Redcitizen]

Now we know why the attack ships are on fire on the shoulder of Orion.

[Red Badger]

That is true, but Betelgeuse is HUGE!

It’s the size of the Mars orbit!.............

[Red Badger]

That is true, but Betelgeuse is HUGE!

It’s the size of the Mars orbit!.............

[Nateman]

I have a theory about the Gravity wave blip recently detected. First of all I suspect it is from something relatively close . This is because after years of operation this is the first time something like this has been noticed. If something could cause a blip from millions of lights years away you have plenty of places in the Universe which could have set it off. However if it’s something that could only be detected if it was close, somewhere within a thousand light years , that is a much smaller sample of objects . This is why we see supernovas in other galaxies quite often but very rarely in our own galaxy. Lots more galaxies out there . Trillions even.

Since this blip seems to have happened somewhere near the direction of the super giant red star Betelgeuse and Betelgeuse has been very dim lately it's not too much of a stretch to conclude it’s something happening there. Betelgeuse is 640 lights years away. This is relatively close to Earth and minor gravity bumps could actually be detected here.

Giant stars like Betelgeuse are like an onion in the way light elements are fused into heavier ones. This is because deeper down you have more pressure and heat. Some elements which might not fuse near the surface, like carbon , will be lit up deeper down.

My theory is what we saw was Betelgeuse starting up a new layer in the core. Since the star dimmed that means it must of contracted which would heat everything up and add to the pressure in the core. That in turn would push the core past the point where a heavier element could be detonated. Perhaps it was not hot enough to make silicon from nitrogen and now it can. Such an event would spread quickly because the new fusion reaction now provides the heat to spread this new reaction throughout the core. With all this mass slashing around from this chain reaction you get that blip but the star does not explode because it’s merely shifting into a new equilibrium.

In the image above notice how it says 'last day' . That is because once the core starts making iron it's no longer generating heat. In fact it is now using up energy to make iron or any element heavier than that. Obviously you can't maintain the balance between gravity pushing down and heat pushing up if it's now gravity pushing down and cooling contracting down. That collapse is what causes the rebound shock wave which detonates the whole star into a supernova.

[Nateman]

Since the blip was only 14 milliseconds long and the new shell chain reaction could not spread faster than light that suggests the initial volume in the core lit up was about the same volume as our moon, (around 2000 miles in diameter). Different elements would give resulting different times to the blip so it should be possible to calculate what new element is being formed in the core.

[AFreeBird]

Yea, and someday, Sol will be too and Earth won’t exist anymore.

[Red Badger]

That’s what I tell the Global Warming Eco-nuts..................

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Nateman.

What is larger, the Sun or Betelgeuse?