Is Betelgeuse About To Explode?

Forbes ^ | 12/25/2019 | Ethan Siegel

[bgill]

Thus making this very old news.

[butlerweave]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1vZ6JT1s8Q

[samtheman]

A more accurate statement of this question:

Is The Light From an Exploding Betelgeuse About To Reach Us?

[cuban leaf]

Thus making this very old news.

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Post of the day!

[dfwgator]

[bert]

Just for the record....... Don't Panic

It will be years before we know and it may have already happened

[CedarDave]

Later in the article, the author downplays the likelihood of a supernova:

Similar dimming events have occurred before, reducing the brightness of Betelgeuse below even what it currently is at. But to see a dimming event occur this rapidly and this severely really hasn't been seen before over the past century at all. It's unlikely to be a signature of an imminent supernova ... Whether there's a detonation about to happen or not, something fascinating is truly occurring.

[higgmeister]

Well, if it is, then it already has. :)

Relatively speaking.

[CedarDave]

I didn’t see any reference in the article to the Star of David. Isn’t a supernova around the time of Christ’s birth believed to be the sign that drew the wise men and others to Bethlehem?

[Stosh]

Not an astrophysicist, but I’m not sure I’d want a supernova going off that close to us.

[Alberta's Child]

I don’t know why you say that. It looks like perfect Ebonics to me. :-P

[COBOL2Java]

If our star suddenly exploded it would take 9 minutes to find out.

[BobL]

“Hope so. It would be very cool.”

At 640 light years, it may be a bit more than just a light show.

...anyway, who knows.

[jonatron]

Whoever wrote this thing must have slept through grammar class.

The profession of 'editor' transformed to 'political propagandist,' then with the advent of free news, and lower budgets, editing seems to have become althogether obsolete.

[Romulus]

No.

[Ezekiel]

Is Betelgeuse About To Explode?

There's a 'squashed bug' vibe going on with that. It just shows that Hollywood got there first with the real pronunciation.

[Drew68]

Not an astrophysicist, but I’m not sure I’d want a supernova going off that close to us.

It's largely agreed by astrophysicists that at 640 light years away, Betelgeuse isn't close enough to be dangerous. Supernovii within 50-100 light years away are the ones to worry about and these occur about once every 240 million years or so.

In the observable universe, a star goes supernova every second.

[CivilWarBrewing]

I’m more worried about our sun exploding.

[cuban leaf]

And if you are traveling at the speed of light, from your perspective you would be everywhere at once. :)

[skimbell]

Greta may use it a further proof of...climate change.