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Betelgeuse

squashnut72

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squashnut72

squashnut72

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I read somewhere that Betelgeuse is the next most likely star to go supernova in our galaxy and that it could go anywhere between this afternoon and a million years time.

I find it pretty mind boggling that it could have actually gone 200 years ago but none of us will ever see it due to its distance from earth.

May your skies be clear and your neighbour's security light stay off!!

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Stephen

Stephen

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I read somewhere that Betelgeuse is the next most likely star to go supernova in our galaxy and that it could go anywhere between this afternoon and a million years time.

I find it pretty mind boggling that it could have actually gone 200 years ago but none of us will ever see it due to its distance from earth.

May your skies be clear and your neighbour's security light stay off!!

Here's one to further worry you!

The Sun could of blown up 8 minutes ago, and we wouldn't know for another few seconds ..... :D

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John

John

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This sort of stuff is amazing and why the hobby takes such a grip on folks I think :)

I managed to see a faint supernova with my 10" scope last year. That was in a galaxy that was around 68 million light years away. Even though the supernova was no more than the faintest pinpoint of light to me it I found it staggering to think that the photons that were coming down my scope and hitting my eye had been created by an event that happened when dinosaurs still walked the Earth :D

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Slim

Slim

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They reckon on average a star in our galaxy goes supernova once a century. The last one was 400 years ago so we are due one. Betelgeuse is the outstanding candidate but I was talking to an astronomer a few weeks back who said that it was possible that Sirius could go and if it does we are in big trouble.

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1981suede

1981suede

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They reckon on average a star in our galaxy goes supernova once a century. The last one was 400 years ago so we are due one. Betelgeuse is the outstanding candidate but I was talking to an astronomer a few weeks back who said that it was possible that Sirius could go and if it does we are in big trouble.

The chances of Sirius A going supernova are very low as it is too small and Sirius B is too far away for them to collide.

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Slim

Slim

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Eta Carinae is the other likely candidate for super or even possible hypernova i believe.

I remember him saying it was close enough to Earth that if it went it would mean serious trouble for us.

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JB80

JB80

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A supernova or hypernova produced by Eta Carinae would probably eject a gamma ray burst (GRB) out on both polar areas of its rotational axis. Calculations show that the deposited energy of such a GRB striking the Earth's atmosphere would be equivalent to one kiloton of TNT per square kilometer over the entire hemisphere facing the star with ionizing radiation depositing ten times the lethal whole body dose to the surface.[30] This catastrophic burst would probably not hit Earth, though, because the rotation axis does not currently point towards our solar system.

Eta Carinae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I especially like the use of the word "probably". :D

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symesie04

symesie04

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Well Eta Carinae is possible massive enough to hypernove but at a estimated distance of between 7000 and 9000 light years i doubt would be an issue. However there is also another star thats close to supernova but i cant remember what its called. It doesnt have a name just a designation, M something (not much help). Again although a fair way off as not to trouble us with the supernova i believe it is considered that the result will be a Pulsar and that we lay directly along the path of its poles and therefore in the path of its gamma radiation. Incidently this theory is now seriously being considered for possible causes of several of the mass extictions in earths history. Still not to worry **** happens.

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Tinker1947

Tinker1947

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I'm not into the working of hyper-nova's but the light from one travels at Light Speed, the solar wind/gases ect are around 1/4 of this so i'm thinking if there were a SN at 10 LY's distance, it would take 17.5 LY's for the damaging stuff to get here, if it travels that far at a sustained speed...???

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Islander

Islander

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I'm not into the working of hyper-nova's but the light from one travels at Light Speed, the solar wind/gases ect are around 1/4 of this so i'm thinking if there were a SN at 10 LY's distance, it would take 17.5 LY's for the damaging stuff to get here, if it travels that far at a sustained speed...???

'Fraid not. Gamma rays are part of the electromagnetic spectrum and travel at the speed of light and they're the damaging component.

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