Betelguese getting some attention for dimming

[Soloman Dodd]

turbobloke said:

Ash_ said:

To get on track, if this does go pop and due to this a whole bunch of nasties are ejected in all directions (radiation has been mentioned previously in the thread) would the light and radiation hit us at the same time? In short, does radiation have mass which means it'll reach us after the light, or not, which means we'll get hit by it at the same as we see the event?

Betelgeuse is too far away to have any really dangerous impact when it goes SN

The last calculations I saw reckoned it would appear as bright as the gibbous moon, with the light concentrated at a point source; quite a sight.

If it became visible to us over the next ten years, it'll be a good show.

Quoting Evan Gogh:

"When it finally explodes—and nobody disagrees with its eventual explosion as a supernova—it’s not likely to produce a deadly gamma-ray burst as some supernovae do. And while it will eject material and produce powerful X-ray and UV radiation, we’re too far away to be affected. Instead, it’ll be a light show visible to the entirety of humanity, and that will change the Orion constellation forever. Scientists say it’ll probably leave behind a neutron star, maybe a pulsar that will be visible for millions of years. The entire event, from start to finish, will be an unprecedented opportunity to study stellar evolution, supernovae, and stellar remnants. Scientists will be able to work backwards from the explosion to all the research done and all the observations and data and pinpoint where they were correct and where they were wrong. Old Betelgeuse will teach them a lot.

The shock wave from the supernova will arrive in about 100,000 years and will be easily deflected by our Sun’s solar magnetosphere. The biggest effect on Earth will be an increase in cosmic rays striking our upper atmosphere.

Most of us will behold this calamitous explosion and sit in rapt awe of nature’s power, we hope, while others will degenerate into weird conspiracy theories or quasi-religious, pseudo-scientific, cult-like reverence.

If, that is, humanity is still around when the blessed event occurs."

[AW111]

It won't be a blessed event for the Betelgusian squid people.

[NNH]

Betelgeuse might be even odder than we thought. A new model suggests that it could be the result of a binary system merging into a single star, which would explain its anomalous atmospheric composition and rapid spin.

[Scabutz]

https://interestingengineering.com/science/watch-b...

Anyone in a thin strip of Earth could see Betelguese disappear momentarily as an asteroid passes in front of it.

[panholio]

Interesting article on how the boiling surface of Betelgeuse makes it appear to be spinning too fast.

https://www.space.com/betelgeuse-red-supergiant-st...

[Scabutz]

Everytime this thread gets bumped I think of the US Office Meme, oh my god its happening.

One day.