
Is Betelgeuse about to blow? - rpledge
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/01/is-betelgeuse-about-to-blow/
======
rrhyne
A better headline would be, "Is Betelguese about to blow, 500 years ago?"

~~~
dmix
Or better yet "Betelguese might blow in the near future"
<http://unixronin.livejournal.com/763082.html>

~~~
adamesque
I thought about submitting that post earlier today, but, well, sourcing
doesn't get much sketchier than that.

My best hope was that some science journalist would actually contact observers
at Mauna Kea, as a gut check, but Dr. Plait's dénouement is probably good
enough for me.

------
simonsarris
A man from Mauna Kea says this is false.

<http://i.imgur.com/tAJpy.png>

~~~
jrockway
Sad. I like thunderstorms, but stars blowing up could be even cooler.

~~~
crazydiamond
Funny, but there could be people living there ... billions or trillions !

------
robryan
Well the article doesn't really dismiss the idea as false, rather that it's
unlikely.

~~~
psadauskas
Because its not false. Its just unlikely. I think he got it spot on.

You expected him to say "It's not going to explode this year." then look like
an idiot when it does? When someone doesn't know something, I expect them to
say "I don't know," rather than try to pick up as many ad impressions as
possible by saying something outrageous.

Disclaimer: I'm a huge fan of Dr. Plait, the author of this blog.

------
waterlesscloud
Science is so boring.

------
stcredzero
If it does blow soon, and it turns out to be as bright as the sun, which is
possible according to the article, might this have some impact on climate?

~~~
jrockway
It's a good idea to read the entire article, not just the forum posting it's
mocking. Towards the bottom:

 _At that distance, it’ll get bright, about as bright as the full Moon. That’s
pretty bright! It’ll hurt your eyes to look at it, but that’s about it. The
original post says it may get as bright as the Sun, but that’s totally wrong.
It won’t even get 1/100,000th that bright. Still bright, but it’s not going to
cook us. Even if it were going to explode soon. Which it almost certainly
isn’t._

~~~
marbu
This visualization shows how bright it may become:
[http://mesic.hvezdarna.cz/2009/06/az-exploduje-
betelgeuse.ht...](http://mesic.hvezdarna.cz/2009/06/az-exploduje-
betelgeuse.html)

On the one hand it looks pretty cool, on the other such bright star would make
the other stars invisible.

