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Betelgeuse to go Supernova
This is actually very cool!
from: news.com.au
IT'S the ultimate experience for Star Wars fans - staring forlornly off into the distance as twin suns sink into the horizon.
Yet it's not just a figment of George Lucas's imagination - twin suns are real. And here's the big news - they could be coming to Earth.
Yes, any day now we see a second sun light up the sky, if only for a matter of weeks.
The infamous red super-giant star in Orion’s nebula - Betelgeuse - is predicted to go gangbusters and the impending super-nova may reach Earth before 2012, and when it does, all of our wildest Star Wars dreams will come true.
The second biggest star in the universe is losing mass, a typical indication that a gravitation collapse is occurring.
When that happens, we'll get our second sun, according to Dr Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland.
“This old star is running out of fuel in its centre”, Dr Carter said.
“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.”
When this happens a giant explosion will occur, tens of millions of times brighter than the sun.
The bad news is, it could also happen in a million years. But who's counting?
The important thing is, one day, night will become day for several weeks on Earth.
“This is the final hurrah for the star,” says Dr Carter.
“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.”
The interwebs is being flooded with doomsday theories saying the impending supernova confirms the Mayan calendar’s prediction of the Armageddon in 2012.
These conspiracies aren’t helped by the word “Betelgeuse” being associated with the devil.
Though it is a derivation of the Arabic phrase “yad Al Jauza” meaning the “hand of Al-Jauza” referring to a mysterious woman that controls the order of the universe, it hasn’t stopped some people from clearing out their bunkers and stocking up on tinned food.
Far from being a sign of the apocalypse, according to Dr Carter the supernova will provide Earth with elements necessary for survival and continuity.
“When a star goes bang, the first we will observe of it is a rain of tiny particles called nuetrinos,” says Dr Carter.
“They will flood through the Earth and bizarrely enough, even though the supernova we see visually will light up the night sky, 99 per cent of the energy in the supernova is released in these particles that will come through our bodies and through the Earth with absolutely no harm whatsoever.”
Stars such as the supernova produce elements that are critical to life on Earth.
Quite literally, the whole of Earth and our solar system is made of star stuff, including most of the heavy elements of the Periodic Table.
“It literally makes things like gold, silver - all the heavy elements - even things like uranium….a star like Betelgeuse is instantly forming for us all sorts of heavy elements and atoms that our own Earth and our own bodies have from long past supernovi,” Dr carter said.
Some experts have speculated Betelgeuse’s explosion may cause a neutron star or result in the formation of a black hole approximately 1300 light years from Earth, but Dr Carter says it could go either way.
“There’s a reasonably even chance of a neutron star or a black hole”, he says.
“If it were me, I’d suspect it would more likely become a black hole at 20 solar masses.”
SkyFall
Whats the big deal.?
The Black Beauty
Banned
That would be pretty cool to see.
TVR - what having two suns in the sky isn't cool?
Banned
hahahahaha... If that's a serious question then I guess it means you didn't do high school science. The second biggest star know to humankind goes supernova only 1300 light years from Earth with an explosion and aftermath visible to the naked eye and you ask "what's the big deal?" LOL!!!Originally Posted by TVR-161
Got Milk ???
That is kool.
Take it easy...But do take it...
Do not argue with an IDIOT.
He will just drag you down to his level an beat you with experience.
Some people take me the wrong way, Like smacking up Marijunna.
Slayer of Stupid Threads
Yeah will be epic to see.
Oh yeah, how cool will this be?
Yours Kindly,
Jim
Thats Dr to you.....
I find it more impressive that by the time we actually see it, the event would have happened 1300 years ago.
Banned
Yeah... But trying to explain that to people is like trying to explain to them that whenever they look up at the night sky, they're looking back in time!
Slayer of Stupid Threads
Yeah thats amazing, just think, it probably has already happened and we are still looking up and seeing it.
Banned
I know!
Everyone trips when I tell them that what they're looking at is most probably not there anymore!
Isn't it something like, the light we're getting from allot of stars in the sky was energy that was sent around the time of the dinosaurs or before?
Banned
I know!
Everyone trips when I tell them that what they're looking at is most probably not there anymore!
Isn't it something like, the light we're getting from allot of stars in the sky was energy that was sent around the time of the dinosaurs or before?
very interesting...after looking it up on wikipedia... its suggested that it will most likely happen in the next million years... wow.
also its around 640 light years away
Banned
It's worked out like this soop...
Speed of light = approx 300,000km/sec
1 light year (a distance measurement and time measurement at once) = the distance light light travels in a year, which is approximately 9,460,800,000,000km
So if something is 1,300 light years away, it's X km away where X = 9,460,800,000,000 x 1300
The advantage of using light years as a distance measurement is that you can say things like "Betelgeuse is 1,300 light years away from us which means the light we're seeing that it's emitted is 1,300 years old. Or, "what we're seeing of Betelgeuse is what it was actually like 1,300 years ago.
Now to your question about the dinosaurs... They're very recent in terms of the universe - they lived throughout the Mesozoic Era, which began 245 million years ago and lasted for 180 million years. There are countless galaxies in the universe, each with billions of stars. A lot of them are hundreds of millions of lights years away or even BILLIONS of light years away. This means when we look into the night sky, we're seeing what was ACTUALLY there hundreds of millions, and billions of years ago. So yes, we are looking back in time to the era of the dinosaurs and well beyond.
Now don't confuse that with what they would have seen in the sky. What we see of the sky now is what it was like at the light sources all those years ago, not what the dinosaurs would have seen.
Hope that all makes sense.
As a matter of interest if you look at our own star (which I don't recommend you do), the sun, you are looking 8 minutes into the past.
Actually, nobody knows for sure. But up to 1,300 light years is what I learnt it as.
Thats Dr to you.....
Either way, I remember doing Astronomy as an elective for Yr12 physics. That was some fascinating shit, easily my favourite subject back then.
Banned
Mine too! LOVE astronomy...
Donating Member
So either way this is old news as its already happened like 1300 years ago right?
Banned
If you're a nufty yes.
CPS, I love Astronomy and all the theories on the Universe and such. I take great interest in the programs the National Geographic channel and the a particular program on the Science channel.
That is basically what I thought in regards to the Dinosaur thing, I just put it in lay terms I guess.
One thing I love about this sort of stuff, is how utterly insignificant it makes anything or anyone seem in comparison. Our 80years of life is just so... Pathetic. Nothing we as human beings do matters
I don't mean that in an emo or negative way either. Its just how it is. We're small and insignificant. The Universe and everything in it is so colossal.
The most basic principles are so simple yet so mind bogglingly complex at the same time.
Who wants chowder?
Texas Hacksaw Massacre
Pity this probably won't happen in our lifetime (estimation is it will go supernova within the next million years). Would be awesome if it did though!
i suggest if you havent really read into quantum mechanics/theory is ... ####ed blows your mind massively even just the basic theories and ideas if your able to grasp them are great
this is great
Quantum entanglement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
off topic sorry
walks barefoot
If you are interested in this check out Scientist Discovers Time Teleportation | Gizmodo Australia
Banned
That article doesn't really explain anything.
The last sentence basically sums up the pointlessness of the whole thing IMO.
There's allot of that in this though.
Personally I enjoy reading and hearing about theories on the origins of the Universe.
Long Gone Now
theres some pretty complex uses of that theory, although the theory itself seems fairly straight forward
walks barefoot
Heh, fair enough.. I find it fascinating. We knew Quantum Entanglement worked over space, we now know it works over time. Which makes sense as they seem to be part of the same beast. We know space and time are like the two axes of a graph and the faster you travel through one the slower you travel through the other. If you find that "meh" I dunno what to say.
edit: And we will probably never know the how the universe works and was born until we really understand Quantum Physics. M-Theory is interesting.
Edit2: I found a Youtube video that should show QE and it also addresses that the fact of simply observing it changes the outcome.. Yeah it's a cartoon but the message is clear and understandable by most.
Last edited by vr94ss; 20-01-2011 at 12:30 AM.
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