I hope this isn't a repost. ============================================ Earth 'to get second sun' as supernova turns night into day
The Earth could soon have a second sun, at least for a week or two. The cosmic phenomenon will happen when one of the brightest stars in the night sky explodes into a supernova. And, according to a report yesterday, the most stunning light show in the planet’s history could happen as soon as this year.
Earth will undoubtedly have a front row seat when the dying red supergiant star Betelgeuse finally blows itself into oblivion. The explosion will be so bright that even though the star in the Orion constellation is 640 light-years away, it will still turn night into day and appear like there are two suns in the sky for a few weeks. The only real debate is over exactly when it will happen. In stellar terms, Betelgeuse is predicted to crash and burn in the very near future. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to rush out and buy sunglasses. Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, claimed yesterday that the galactic blast could happen before 2012 – or any time over the next million years.
‘This old star is running out of fuel in its centre,’ Dr Carter told te Austalian website news.com.au. ‘This fuel keeps Betelgeuse shining and supported. When this fuel runs out the star will literally collapse in upon itself and it will do so very quickly. ‘This is the final hurrah for the star. 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,’ he added.
The other thing that has always had me perplexed.......1 light year is equal to 6 trillion miles so if it is 640 light years away, how the hell did we map this star out and learn so much about it being it is seemingly impossible to reach it?
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12:57 AM
Raydar Member
Posts: 40729 From: Carrollton GA. Out in the... country. Registered: Oct 1999
The other thing that has always had me perplexed.......1 light year is equal to 6 trillion miles so if it is 640 light years away, how the hell did we map this star out and learn so much about it being it is seemingly impossible to reach it?
The light that we are seeing and studying is 640 years old. So that means that if Betelgeuse does go Supernova this year, it will have actually blown up 640 years ago.
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02:03 AM
doublec4 Member
Posts: 8289 From: Oakville, Ontario, Canada Registered: Jun 2003
OK, just so that I understand, this is something else that is President Bush's fault? Or, is this our fault like the Global Warming thing? You know, if Al Gore hadn't invented the internet, we wouldn't even know about this.
And then we will have 28 million more asteroids to worry about hitting the earth
Don't worry about it. Any solid matter emitted by a supernova will arrive thousands (or millions) of years after we see it explode, because the light will be ... well ... moving at the speed of light, while solid matter will necessarily be moving much slower.
quote
Originally posted by IMSA GT:
... if it is 640 light years away, how the hell did we map this star out and learn so much about it ...
We used telescopes ... and several centuries worth of brain power.
quote
Originally posted by maryjane:
I tried and tried to warn and tell Orion when I saw that pointy spear of his. "Gonna get your eye put out kid".
Now that's funny ... in a cosmic sort of way.
[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 01-31-2011).]
The other thing that has always had me perplexed.......1 light year is equal to 6 trillion miles so if it is 640 light years away, how the hell did we map this star out and learn so much about it being it is seemingly impossible to reach it?
Marvin mentioned many ways scientists learned about Betelgueze but in addition to his list, radio astronomy can peek into the very core of stars even from this distance. Spectral anaylsis can reveal many things as well as emitted frequencies that show composition. BetelGueze primarily emits in the red part of the spectrum where hotter stars emit in blue. The hydrogen burning inside the star produces helium and it is probably one of the components the scientists see. Physicists think our Sun is a second generation star because of the relatively high amount of helium here on Earth.
Don't quote me on any of the above: I only took four college astronomy classes.
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01:35 PM
Marvin McInnis Member
Posts: 11599 From: ~ Kansas City, USA Registered: Apr 2002
... radio astronomy can peek into the very core of stars even from this distance.
Thanks for clarifying. By "telescopes" I meant to include all kinds: optical, infrared, ultraviolet, radio, X-ray, and gamma ray. Each portion of the entire electromagnetic spectrum can reveal different details about what's going on inside a star.
I've never taken an astronomy course, but I've been privileged to know and work with several highly competent professional astronomers.
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01:43 PM
blackrams Member
Posts: 31842 From: Hattiesburg, MS, USA Registered: Feb 2003
Thanks for clarifying. By "telescopes" I meant to include all kinds: optical, infrared, ultraviolet, radio, X-ray, and gamma ray. Each portion of the entire electromagnetic spectrum can reveal different details about what's going on inside a star.
OK, so let's point one of them at Britney Spears and see what's going on inside her head.
------------------ Ron
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02:37 PM
PFF
System Bot
Marvin McInnis Member
Posts: 11599 From: ~ Kansas City, USA Registered: Apr 2002
Marvin mentioned many ways scientists learned about Betelgueze but in addition to his list, radio astronomy can peek into the very core of stars even from this distance. Spectral anaylsis can reveal many things as well as emitted frequencies that show composition. BetelGueze primarily emits in the red part of the spectrum where hotter stars emit in blue. The hydrogen burning inside the star produces helium and it is probably one of the components the scientists see. Physicists think our Sun is a second generation star because of the relatively high amount of helium here on Earth.
Don't quote me on any of the above: I only took four college astronomy classes.
Thanks for your input. I started to speculate but was in way over my head, hence the edited empty post above.
The other thing that has always had me perplexed.......1 light year is equal to 6 trillion miles so if it is 640 light years away, how the hell did we map this star out and learn so much about it being it is seemingly impossible to reach it?
simply by studying its light, and brightness, and color, they can learn what the star is made of, how hot it is, its size, power output, mass, age, and some other factors.. you would be surprized what you can learn about something simply by studying the light coming from it.
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07:56 PM
carnut122 Member
Posts: 9122 From: Waleska, GA, USA Registered: Jan 2004
