

Betelgeuse to supernova - could be any day - ra
http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/tatooines-twin-suns-coming-to-a-planet-near-you-just-as-soon-as-betelgeuse-explodes/story-fn5fsgyc-1225991009247

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harshpotatoes
I think if Betelgeuse were about to explode any day now, we would be hearing a
lot more from the major astronomy organizations, as Betelgeuse's supernova
will be bright and fantastic.

Six months ago there was another rumor about Betelgeuse being close to
supernova which Phil Plait also talked about. He doesn't seem to optimistic it
will be blowing very soon, also based on the evidence that none of the higher
powers are talking about it.

[http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/01/is...](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/01/is-
betelgeuse-about-to-blow/)

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bartman
"The important thing is, one day, night will become day for several weeks on
Earth."

According to Wikipedia[1] the expected visible magnitude of the supernova is
around -12mag. The full moon's apparent magnitude is around -12.74mag[2]. So
we'd more likely have "another moon" for some time instead of a second sun.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse> [2]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_magnitude>

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marbu
A nice visualization has been made:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1397751>

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beoba
"it could also happen in a million years."

Yeah, any day now!

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Twisol
> 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.

...Is that supposed to sound reassuring? >_<

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CamperBob
The gravitational effects of either will be no greater than those of the star
that it came from, so it's no big deal either way as far as we're concerned.

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InclinedPlane
Phil Plait had a lot of excellent comments about this recurring speculation 6
months ago:
[http://mblogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/01/i...](http://mblogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/01/is-
betelgeuse-about-to-blow/)

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btipling
And by any day they mean any day 520 years ago.

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freyrs3
So if we see it tomorrow, it went supernova in ~1371 AD.

