Betelgeuse

Ugh I wish we had a science section, so many of these posts are ignorant to the point of me wanting to claw my eyes out.

Okay so first thing. Any radiation that hits the planet won't affect us. It'll have been weakened over its journey, so whatever's left if anything will be filtered out by the atmosphere.

Secondly, big amounts of neutrinos will bombard the Earth. These particles are 100% harmless and are shot through the planet on a regular basis from space.

Thirdly, THIS WILL HAPPEN. I can't believe some people in this thread are saying it won't. Newflash! Stars die, like everything else. It just so happens that there's a really damn huge one that's close enough for us to see it as a second sun from the Earth. What's so hard to understand about that? The reason why scientists are saying it'll happen within out lifetime is because the star is nearing the end of its life cycle. It's already a red supergiant (this was a long time ago considering the speed of light) and could venture into the final step of supernova at any time. The same thing will happen to our own sun someday (not the supernova part, it's too small - It'll just expand and shrink down until it's a brown dwarf, which are basically the shit of the star world).

As for heat: heat energy won't be transferred to the planet. The heat we feel is directly emitted from the reaction that occurs in the sun, not the intensity of the light. A second sun won't do a thing. It'll have the same effect as turning on two lamps in a dark room as opposed to one.

Hope that cleared a few things up.

We've already watched a lot of stars explode.

Chances are this won't happen, and even if it does it is at least 180 to 1,300 light years away from the Earth. Meaning that 1) the expanding star will not reach us and 2) it would take at least 180 years for the light to reach us if it was to explode this year.

Though it would be damn cool to have something close to a second sun.

Lol people aren't worried about the explosion incinerating us
They're worried about the radiation poisoning and killing us all. It's gamma radiation so who knows we might all turn into the Hulk! haha
In all seriousness like I mentioned above, all radiation will be filtered out by our atmosphere.

As for the endless daytime being "cool", that's going to completely ruin the Earth's wildlife. Nocturnal animals can't evolve quickly enough as would be necessary - This would disrupt the food chain entirely and could directly affect human beings depending on which animals start dropping off the face of the Earth.

It'll be nice to look at but I'll be too busy thinking of all the animals that are getting confused and dying from a multitude of circumstances that wouldn't occur on a day-to-day basis.

EDIT: http://news.discovery.com/space/dont-panic-betelgeuse-wont-explode-in-2012.html

 

[MohtasaUnique]

^ I saw this article, and it put a really sad damper on my damn tatooine dream :c

 

[Emperor Nero]

Two suns for a few days would be bad ass... No lie.

 

[slysteeler]

I doubt it would be bright enough to act as a second sun, it would only probably be a bit brighter than the moon. Although, it would be visible during daytime as well.

Also, the supernova could become visible anytime between now and a few hundred years, so we may not even see it in our lifetimes. Depends how long ago the star went into supernova. There has been recorded supernovas in the history of humans, so I doubt this one would affect us much more than the previous ones did.

The Earth's magnetosphere and atmosphere will block out the radiation from the supernova, so there's no worry from that.

 

[Try and run]

What Swan said! We see everything as it was years ago in accordance to how many lightyears it is away. So we see betelgeuse AS IT WAS 180 years ago. It's like we're looking back in time really because the light that it has emitted today won't reach us for another 180 years. Which means it could have exploded today and we won't know for another 180 years. Or it could have exploded 80 years ago and we won't know for another 100 years.
Also the only stage we know of before a supernova is a red giant. As the fuel of the star begins to burn up, it gets larger. It can no longer hold itself together, so it swells immensely, becomes red giant, and eventually it just explodes instantaneously.

At the above two posters: it's scientifically proven that the star will likely detonate in our lifetime. It's also proven that it's far enough away that the only effect we will see if a few days of extreme light to match the brilliance of our sun. The only particles expected to reach us are neutrinos (which pass harmlessly through matter as far as we know)


I really really hope they have some sort of camera system that consistently records the skies so we can all watch it happen if we're indoors or sleeping when it does. I'm sure it'd be an absolute spectacle.

#1 You've contradicted yourself. You agree with what Swan says, but then go on to say that it's supposed to detonate in our lifetime. Last time I checked, our lifetime doesn't consist of 180 years; therefore it can't possibly reach us by the end of this year.

#2

Currently in a late stage of stellar evolution, Betelgeuse is expected to explode as a type II supernova, possibly within the next million years.

Source: Wikipedia

I know that Wikipedia isn't a very reliable source, but I believe it deserves some credibility.

 

[MohtasaUnique]

In regards to your #1 point: You guys never take into account that it could have exploded 180 years ago, and we won't know until the light reaches us in the next few days. We'll still be getting light emitted 180 light years away from 180 years ago, from a star that we still see. Light doesn't travel instantaneously.

 

[Try and run]

In regards to your #1 point: You guys never take into account that it could have exploded 180 years ago, and we won't know until the light reaches us in the next few days. We'll still be getting light emitted 180 light years away from 180 years ago, from a star that we still see. Light doesn't travel instantaneously.

I know that... But you said that it has been scientifically proven to explode within our lifetime. 180 years ago was not our lifetime. Get what I'm getting at?

 

[MohtasaUnique]

Sure I see what you're getting at, but you're taking the word choice too literally. When I say "explode in our lifetime" I mean to say that, from our perspective, we will see the explosion in our lifetime. Not that the star will physically explode; I'm assuming that it's already done that hundreds of years ago.

 

[Try and run]

Sure I see what you're getting at, but you're taking the word choice too literally. When I say "explode in our lifetime" I mean to say that, from our perspective, we will see the explosion in our lifetime. Not that the star will physically explode; I'm assuming that it's already done that hundreds of years ago.

Right, but when someone says that it will "explode in our lifetime", I assume you mean the actual explosion. If you had said that we will witness its explosion in our lifetime, then that means something else completely.

Either way, I addressed the timing of the explosion in #2.

 

[MohtasaUnique]

You have one source (wikipedia no less), while there's a couple articles of scientists giving first-hand testimonies that it's just as likely to happen in our lifetime as not. Of course, no one pretends to know when the star will explode, it's just been observed and estimated to be in prime condition to go supernova from what scientists know of stars and their life cycles.

Aaaanywho, the thread isn't debating whether it'll happen; no one on sythe is qualified to make an educated guess. It's just what you think will happen when it does, whether you're excited for it or not should it happen in our lifetime, and whether you think it'll be like Tatooine, or just a very bright star in the night sky

 

[Try and run]

Right, all I was doing was pointing out a contradiction (or failure in specification), and mentioning that there's a chance that it won't even explode in our lifetime. You seemed very bias by saying that, "it has been scientifically proven to explode in our lifetime."

Either way, I was previously unaware of this star, and now I am; thanks for the education.

 

[MohtasaUnique]

Anytime yo, it's just fun to think about, even if it doesn't happen for another million years

 

Did nobody read my post? D:

 

[Kadaj]

I wouldn't mind having two suns.. Also; not having a night time wouldn't bother me, just close my blinds.

 

[Swan]

Did nobody read my post? D:

I did, thankyou darling.

 

[Try and run]

Did nobody read my post? D:

I also read it.