Monday, November 4, 2013

Betelgeuse: The Eventual Supernova: Space.com

 I was talking to my older daughter today on the phone and she was saying how Betelgeuse a giant star was going to go supernova and since it is relatively near us we will have two suns in the sky when that happened. 

 

So, when this thing goes off and goes supernova it might be day a whole lot more over the whole planet because there can't be night if the suns are on either side of earth during the same moment.


  1. Betelgeuse: The Eventual Supernova | Space.com

    www.space.com/22009-betelgeuse.html
    Jul 18, 2013 - Betelgeuse is well-known because of its bright size and ... I can tell all with certainty that if the star goes supernova-it will be disastrous for Earth!

  2. Betelgeuse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse
    The pink arrow at the star on left labeled α indicates Betelgeuse in Orion. .... its life cycle before exploding as a type II supernova within the next million years. ...... and autumn signified the time for village men to go to the fields and plough.

  3. Betelgeuse, Red Supergiant Star Nearing Supernova Is Going To ...

    planetsave.com/.../betelgeuse-red-supergiant-star-nearing-supernova-is-g...
    Jan 25, 2013 - Betelgeuse, an enormous red supergiant star (the closest one to the Earth), has been revealed, in a new image from the ESA's Herschel space ...
  4. Images for betelgeuse going supernova

     

  5. Betelgeuse to be second sun for Earth as supernova turns night into ...

    www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Betelgeuse-second-sun-Earth-supernova-turns-n...
    Mar 10, 2011 - It goes bang, it explodes, it lights up - we'll have incredible ... When it happens, the Betelgeuse supernova will almost certainly be the most ...

  6. Supergiant Star To Explode Near Earth! Betelgeuse To Go ...

    beforeitsnews.com/.../supergiant-star-to-explode-in-earths-neighborhood...
    Jan 23, 2013 - Multiple arcs are revealed around Betelgeuse, the nearest red supergiant star to Earth, in this new image from ESA's Herschel space ...


    Betelgeuse: The Eventual Supernova

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    Betelgeuse Micron Wavelength Image space wallpaper
    This cool space wallpaper is a composite color image of the Herschel PACS 70, 100, 160 micron-wavelength images of Betelgeuse.
    Credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS/L. Decin et al
    Betelgeuse is a star nearing the end of its life. Because it is creating heavier and heavier elements in its core that could be used for stars after it dies, a NASA story once dubbed the red giant a workaholic.
    The star is a famous one among amateur astronomers not only for its size and brightness, but also because it is part of Orion, a bright winter constellation in the Northern Hemisphere.
    Professional astronomers also keep a close eye on the star, as it is notoriously variable: its diameter changes from anywhere between 550 to 920 times the sun's diameter. In 2013, astronomers said Betelgeuse is likely to crash into a "cosmic wall" of interstellar dust in a few thousand years.

    Locating Betelgeuse
    Ancient astronomers would have easily spotted Betelgeuse because of its size and relatively close distance from Earth: it is about 600 light-years away and has a variable brightness generally peaking at 0.4 and falling below 1.2. Some 20th-century observations by the American Association of Variable Star Observers suggested peak magnitudes of 0.2 in 1933 and 1942. It is the 12th brightest star in the night sky. The star's location is:
    • Right ascension: 05 hours 55 minutes 10.3 seconds
    • Declination: +07 degrees 24 minutes 25 seconds
    It is probable that the name "Betelgeuse" originated in Arabic words, but the star had other names (for example) in Sanskrit, traditional Chinese and even in Hawaiian; in the latter, it was known as Kauluakoko.
    The coming supernova
    When astronomers say Betelgeuse is expected to explode soon, they mean shortly in astronomical terms: within a million years, according to several sources. Predicting exactly when it will turn into a supernova is difficult, however, as it depends on precise calculations of its mass as well as an understanding of what is going on inside the star.
    Betelgeuse is so vast — its size would extend beyond Jupiter's orbit if it were placed in the sun's position in the solar system — that several telescopes have captured images of the star and spotted it shedding mass. Starting in 1993 and continuing for at least 15 years, its radius shrank by 15 percent, an astonishing amount for so short a time.
    "We do not know why the star is shrinking," said Edward Wishnow, a research physicist at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory, in 2009.
    "Considering all that we know about galaxies and the distant universe, there are still lots of things we don't know about stars, including what happens as red giants near the ends of their lives."
    Nearing the wall
    As the star prepares for what could be a large explosion, another challenge awaits: it is expected to crash into a wall of interstellar dust in the next few thousand years.
    An infrared Herschel Space Observatory image released in 2013 suggested it would crash into the dust at a speed of 66,960 miles per hour (107,761 kilometers per hour.)
    The crash would take a while to complete: the solar wind is expected to touch the line around 5,000 years from now, with the heart of the star crashing into the bar 12,500 years after that.

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