Betelgeuse Is Neither as Far Nor as Large as We Thought, And It's a Total Bummer

www.sciencealert.com ^ | MIKE MCRAE 16 OCTOBER 2020

[Verginius Rufus]

If Betelgeuse is 530 light years away, it could have exploded in 1492 and we will find out about it in a couple of years.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Army Air Corps. I won't try posting one of the common jokes without checking the thread first. ;^)

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[angmo]

“For whatever passes for a scientist in 100,000 CE, these front row seats will certainly be an opportunity.”

Future Al Gore is excited.

[Red Badger]

It’s also an 1930’s-50’s antique car from Australia...................

[Getready]

Ah...the sure results of science...

[smokingfrog]

The diameter fluctuates with the brightness.

[Red Badger]

[Savage Beast]

Wow! The light we’re seeing now was leaving Betelgeuse just as Columbus was getting his luggage together so he could go discover America!

[Pontiac]

Ford Prefect lives practically around the corner.

Not where I want to be when a big red giant collapses.

I would be waiting in the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

[dfwgator]

Don’t Panic!

[Red Badger]

How do you know that it’s not vice versa?................

[Pontiac]

Too late

I forgot my towel.

[Dead Corpse]

"We could be looking at around 100,000 years before an explosion happens."

So... I should hold off on popping the popcorn?

[gundog]

More like the beginning of the Black Plague. I tell stoners that the light they see from Antares left around the time Columbus left for America. Blows their minds.

[qam1]

In 100,000 AD the news will still be reporting that we have just 12 years to save the planet from Global Warming, and in just 5 years Flying Cars, the Cure for Cancer, Cure for Baldness, the Arctic will be ice free and re-newables will be competitive with fossil fuels all will happen!!

[gundog]

It’s a star. Pretty toasty.

[Interesting Times]

"Our results say Betelgeuse only extends out to two thirds of that, with a radius 750 times the radius of the Sun."

Poor little thing.

[PerConPat]

Well, them’s the breaks...I've always preferred Antares.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

Now I’m depressed.

[Egon]

Among other gems...

Since then there have been many more attempts to drag a metaphorical measuring tape around Betelgeuse's butt.