Posted on 10/17/2020 7:36:31 AM PDT by BenLurkin
“It’s burning helium in its core at the moment, which means it’s nowhere near exploding,” Dr. Joyce said.
“We could be looking at around 100,000 years before an explosion happens.”
Co-author Dr. László Molnár from the Konkoly Observatory?in Budapest says the study also revealed how big Betelgeuse is, and its distance from Earth.
“The actual physical size of Betelgeuse has been a bit of a mystery — earlier studies suggested it could be bigger than the orbit of Jupiter. Our results say Betelgeuse only extends out to two thirds of that, with a radius 750 times the radius of the sun,” Dr. Molnár said.
“Once we had the physical size of the star, we were able to determine the distance from Earth. Our results show it’s a mere 530 light years from us — 25 percent closer than previously thought.”
The good news is Betelgeuse is still too far from Earth for the eventual explosion to have a significant impact here.
(Excerpt) Read more at scitechdaily.com ...
Once it starts cranking out Iron......bang-zoom.
530 light years for something that big is still a little close when it super-novas. A radius of 324 million miles still would put all planets from Mercury to Mars inside it...
There’s a fun 3d VR show-place in Roswell, NM that has visual of being on a spaceship looking at a Betelguese like star that’s worth the price of admisdion.
I guess that drives a final nail through the coffin of my hopes of seeing a supernova in my lifetime.
Yes because they always get it right......RIGHT?
It’s 2020, so don’t give up hope yet.
Some argue that as our Sun crosses the galactic current sheet it goes micronova, it's not a supernova, but it is a LOT closer!
It's periodic, with a periodicity of about 12,000 to 13,000 years...
I find this puzzling as we can actually see Betelgeuse as a disc, not a point source. You would think that Hipparcos data would have nailed this down years ago.
I did a little searching and found that the estimated distance has fluctuated between 400 and 600 ly for years. Hipparcos has it at 425.
Will be waiting for more information on this one!
Yeah, what else could happen???
They happen quite frequently actually. Now they may not be visual except with a telescope, but, they are visible. Then there was 1987a in the SMC. Don’t give up! Keep an eye out in www.skyandtelescope.com or spaceweather.com. They post when someone finds a supernova in a neighboring galaxy. Then use your scope, or, find someone with one, to look at it.
“Yes because they always get it right......RIGHT?”
Exactly. So much of what we see in the these press releases is speculation.
Yes, especially about Kohoutek.
Well I saw Hale-Bopp in 1997 and a total solar eclipse in 2017, so I’m not too disappointed in the celestial circus. That and three other comets, a few dozen meteors, one during the day, and one hitting the roof and holding in my hand later. Several lunar eclipses, and so on. I don’t expect to see everything that can happen since a human lifetime is less than a blink of an eye in the cosmological reference frame.
If you saw Hale-Bopp, you saw one of the best comets ever. I have seen a few Great Comets. West, Halley, Hyakutake, Hale-Bopp, and Neowise 2020. Hale-Bopp went on forever.
Isn’t astronomy Fun!
On the other hand, Hale bop was brilliant. Not so much “Heavens Gate” though.
I don’t associate them together. Like you said.
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