Betelgeuse: Going Supernova

Discussion in 'Everything Else' started by Phisix, Apr 15, 2011.

  1. #1 Phisix, Apr 15, 2011
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    I have only come across this information but I thought I would post about it, even if you guys had already heard of this.

    Interesting, but I doubt we will ever witness this in our life time. Unless it has already exploded much time before now.
     
  2. #2 Armitage, Apr 15, 2011
    You are correct in your assessment there Phisix, the star may have exploded a few hundred years ago for all we currently know, in which case we'd miss the explosion. I just seriously hope that the gamma burst is completely absorbed by the Earths atmosphere, otherwise things could go bad... very bad.
     
  3. #3 Ichiban, Apr 16, 2011
    It's the wrong kind of star to have any kind of impact on the Earth. GRB's are only produced by the most massive stars which produce a certain type of collapse at the core. As it stands, if we do get to see Betelgeuse go, it'll just be a fantastic light show..
     
  4. #4 Phisix, Apr 16, 2011
    Well according to that article we would have endless or more hours of sun for a few weeks or so. I wonder how much impact that would make to nature and animals? I will be fine as I can sleep in the daylight if needed.
     
  5. #5 HellRipper, Apr 16, 2011
    Its pretty common for some people to have 24 hours sun for some weeks in the summers :)
     
  6. #6 Phisix, Apr 16, 2011
    Not in England lol.
     
  7. #7 Armitage, Apr 16, 2011
    I certianly hope so anyway. But I also hope that when it does happen, it occurs during the night, so it will be hugely disorientating for everyone on the planet. That'd be fun.
     
  8. #8 chi, Apr 16, 2011
    It's night time everywhere at the same time now?
     
  9. #9 Armitage, Apr 16, 2011
    Good point, I wasn't thinking when I posted that. I hope its night for Australia when it happens.
     
  10. #10 licensetokill, Apr 23, 2011
    Funny thing is... the star probably already went supernova hundreds of years ago and the light just hasn't reached us yet.

    Sometimes people forget that looking at the stars is looking way into the past. Stuff that happened across the universe when Jesus was alive, still hasn't reached us yet. For all we know, entire galaxies or even the universe could already be ending from some massive super-duper vacuum black-holish thingy, and we wouldn't know for another thousand years or so.
     
  11. #11 Armitage, Apr 24, 2011
    Well it's not funny, that's the only way it could have happened considering it is 640 light-years away. We were simply discussing when it would be apparent to us, which could be anywhere from a year away to sometime within the next century considering the wavelengths of light and their intensity that we can currently measure from the star.
     
  12. #12 chairmansteve, Apr 24, 2011
    If 640 million people all at the same time say "Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse!" then the supernova will appear. You need a million people per light year, obviously.