Betelgeuse 'not likely to explode in 2012'

News.com.australia ^ | 01-22-201 | Staff

[Red Badger]

THE super-giant red star Betelgeuse in the constellation of Orion is destined to explode, but maybe not next year as some recent news reports have suggested and will not be as bright as some predicted FoxNews.com reported Betelgeuse has already become a red giant, which indicates it wil explode and become a supernova. But experts say it is not likely to happen soon and it will happen far enough away that it wil not hurt Earth US astronomer Phil Plait noted on his blog that a supernova would have to be no farther than 25 light years away to "fry us with light or anything else and Betelgeuse is 25 times that distance" The story at www.news.com.au predicted that a giant explosion will occur, tens of millions of times brighter than the sun, and suggested the event could happen before 2012. The story quoted a physics lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland, Brad Carter, who predicted that when Betelgeuse blows, night time will turn to day for several weeks on Earth“This is the final hurrah for the star,” Dr Carter told www.news.com.au.“It goes bang, it explodes, it lights up - we’ll have incredible brightness for a brief period of time for a couple of weeks and then over the coming months it begins to fade and then eventually it will be very hard to see at all.” That story is helping fuel internet rumors and doomsday theories by confounding the impending supernova with the Mayan calendar's conclusion in 2012 - which some believe is a prediction of the end of the world. But there's no reason to think Betelgeuse will blow in 2012, Mr Plait explained, or even this millennium"It's hard to know just when a star will explode when you're on the outside," he said.

[Salamander]

“I think it’s because I had many *unusual* poses myself in my rebellious days.”

I can think of a *lot* kinkier one.

;D

[Allegra]

Betelgeuse may not be ready to explode, but the same cannot be necessarily said for the penguin on top of your television set .....

Or that dryer full of socks.

It could happen any day now.

When it starts shaking like that....

IMPENDING DOOM...

[Salamander]

Wow!

Even I got that! ;]

[Slings and Arrows]

And now for something completely different...

[Loud Mime]

*giggle*

[Mad Dawgg]

"I was a Calibration Lab..."

Are Calabration Labs anything like Black Labs?

[Salamander]

[Salamander]

They’re more left-brained.

[Darksheare]

I knew a man who made a lute out of a moose.
His sister carved her initials into it with a hydraulic toothbrush.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Red Badger.

• Earth 'to get second sun this year' as supernova turns night into day (well, maybe)
• Scientist: Earth Could Have "New Sun" Within a Year

from the FRchives:

• Is Betelgeuse about to blow? (going supernova in weeks or just another breathless rumor?)
• Nearby Star May Be Getting Ready to Explode (Supernova)
• Giant star Betelgeuse mysteriously shrinking: study

sidebars:

• Astronomy Picture of the Day 3-21-03
• Astronomy Picture of the Day 2-07-03
• Astronomy Picture of the Day 12-25-02

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[Slings and Arrows]

...a man with three buttocks.

[Salamander]

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

The was debate of the actual because of the stellar parallax.

[Slings and Arrows]

[Semper Mark]

Too much of a good thing.

[Semper Mark]

Whoa! I had to put my glasses on to be sure my eye wasn't playing tricks on me...

("There can be only one.")

[Salamander]

Heh.