And for those looking for Beetlejuice, he is at the top of Orion.
And for those looking for Beetlejuice, he is at the top of Orion.
There hasn’t been a supernova seen in this galaxy since about the time of Sir Issac Newton.
So, is it going to blow in weeks, thus us not notice it for 510 years or did she blow 510 years ago, less a couple of weeks?
“So, what’s the deal with Betelgeuse? What is it, will it explode, and if so, when?”
December 21, 2012.
My sources say that it went supernova 518 years ago and we will see it at it’s strongest on Dec 12, 2012.
*bookmark*
Super Nova
Like I'm glad like you wrote this Phil because I meet people, "roughly" I dunno maybe 8 or 9 like, who are concerned about this and like what a real scientists with like, you know, hard facts and who is able to write good English to explain to us, like, if there is a problem or not and "roughly" what might happen like.
Beautiful write-up. Even given all the caveats, I still have to say that it would be awe-inspiring if it actually blew within our lifetimes.
Let ‘er rip!
This is just one more problem inherited from the Bush administration.
I guess that's covering the bases. I'll go out on a limb myself and will predict a devastating hurricane on the East Coast with a direct hit on Savannah, GA. If not this summer, than anytime over the next 1,000 years.
So if you live in the Savannah area, better get busy stockpiling candles and canned food.
Bush's fault!
Discover Magazine is late to the party. The changes in Betelgeuse have been observed and commented on for several years now.
“Betelgeuse, considered a supergiant star, is so large that it would reach to Jupiter’s orbit in our solar system. But at a radius of about five astronomical units, the star has shrunk in size since 1993 by a distance equivalent to Venus’s orbit.”
“The distance to Betelgeuse is not known with precision but if this is assumed to be 640 light years, the star’s diameter would be about 950 to 1000 times that of the Sun. Betelgeuse has a color index (B-V) of 1.86 and is thought to have a mass of about 20 solar masses.[3]
It is likely that Betelgeuse will become a supernova.[3][19] Considering its size and age of 8.5 million years – old for its size class – it may explode within the next thousand years—if it hasn’t already.[19] Since its rotational axis is not toward the Earth, Betelgeuse’s supernova would NOT cause a gamma ray burst in the direction of Earth large enough to damage its ecosystem even from a relatively close proximity of 640 light years.[19]
A Betelgeuse supernova could easily outshine the Moon in the night sky.[19] It will likely be the brightest supernova in recorded Human history, easily outshining SN 1006. After it explodes, it will likely linger for several months, being visible in the daytime sky and lighting up nighttime skies in the Solar System for a long time, after which the “right shoulder” of Orion will disappear forever.”
” The extra hour of light from daylight savings time won’t burn the crops...”
Wha? Daylight savings gives us more sunshine? Wow, the power of congress is amazing.