Sharpest ever view of Betelgeuse

[Stu]

Interesting link here:

https://astronomynow.com/2017/06/30/see-the-sharpest-ever-view-of-giant-betelgeuse/

[Pondus]

Interesting one.

Wonder if its gone already, and were just waiting to see it happens.

 

Rune

[stevescan]

I was wondering that too.

[Thalestris24]

I think a Japanese team are monitoring it - apparently a burst of neutrinos is expected a couple of hours ahead of the supernova explosion. But... It may not happen for 000's of years. Still, you never know. 

Louise

[barkis]

Whilst this Red  Giant has us wondering If and when it explode, (I think we can discount the If though),
the sad part is, the resulting disjointed appearance of the Orion Asterism for future Stargazers.
The missing right shoulder of the Hunter will weaken him very severely. 

[MarsG76]

Very interesting, I wonder if we're going to see it go supernova in our lifetimes.

 

[Littleguy80]

1 hour ago, barkis said:

Whilst this Red  Giant has us wondering If and when it explode, (I think we can discount the If though),
the sad part is, the resulting disjointed appearance of the Orion Asterism for future Stargazers.
The missing right shoulder of the Hunter will weaken him very severely. 

I'm sure they'll have a stunning new planetary nebula which will make up for it

[Peter Drew]

1 hour ago, barkis said:

Whilst this Red  Giant has us wondering If and when it explode, (I think we can discount the If though),
the sad part is, the resulting disjointed appearance of the Orion Asterism for future Stargazers.
The missing right shoulder of the Hunter will weaken him very severely. 

"I've had worse, it's only a flesh wound!"  (Monty Python Holy Grail) 

[Macavity]

Interesting to compare such things with various models
for the (supposed) visual appearance of stars. Our own
SUN might be rather "boring" compared to some... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJn-jmL_hyo

In fairness, some of this might be quite HARD to see
given the tenuous nature of the large stars and their
general brightness! Maybe we are LUCKY after all? 

[Mr Spock]

Odd shape. There's something strange going on there.

[Stu]

8 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Odd shape. There's something strange going on there.

Indeed. I'm surprised there wasn't more explanation about this.

[Mr Spock]

Just some speculation. We know red giants/supergiants pulsate, making them variable stars. Betelgeuse is a very long period variable - maybe the bulge is this pulsation in action in an extreme form. If so we could be seeing a star pulsating like a blob of jelly.

[Macavity]

2 minutes ago, Stu said:

Indeed. I'm surprised there wasn't more explanation about this.

There is still a certain distance between "Popular" and Professional
science? The latter not seeing Youtube as the best way to "publish".
Sometime they do though... See the (discrete) VIDEO above...  

Not always a FAN of certain "popular scientists", but it
is a *brave* act to face the public audience / critics? 

[Knight of Clear Skies]

3 hours ago, barkis said:

Whilst this Red  Giant has us wondering If and when it explode, (I think we can discount the If though),
the sad part is, the resulting disjointed appearance of the Orion Asterism for future Stargazers.
The missing right shoulder of the Hunter will weaken him very severely. 

Well, he's been around for a while, so hopefully he has a decent retirement pot built up.

Personally, I hope it does go pop soon as the astronomical and scientific outreach benefits would be enormous for a couple generations.

"Here, whippersnapper, when I was a kid there used to be a bloody great red star just there. That Brian Cox off the telly said it might blow up someday, so he did."

Also, expanding supernova remnant to image for years to come. After all, Hubble got this on SN1987a, and that's a galaxy away.

And if we ever get a solid prediction of imminent explosion I'll buy stock in Orion Pictures. So overall I'd like Orion to take one for the team, losing a wonderful asterism for all that is a reasonable trade I think. Although, as you say, it's very unlikely to happen in our lifetimes.

[bejay1957]

I guess any inhabitants of a planetary system around Betelgeuse were/are not so keen on it going nova..

[John]

Interesting link

Hope Zaphod Beeblebrox is aware that his home star might not be around for much longer ........ unless he is responsible for it's odd shape  ??????

BTW my Tak 100 shows similar detail at around 500x ....... sort of ...

[Chris]

9 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Odd shape. There's something strange going on there.

I think this explains it?:

"In this picture, ALMA observes the hot gas of the lower chromosphere of Betelgeuse at sub-millimeter wavelengths — where localised increased temperatures explain why it is not symmetric."

It's a remarkable image!  

[Knight of Clear Skies]

6 hours ago, bejay1957 said:

I guess any inhabitants of a planetary system around Betelgeuse were/are not so keen on it going nova..

If its not already too late, we could point the Arecibo dish their way and send them some advice.

Although to be serious, if there was complex life around Betelgeuse it would probably wouldn't have survived its transition to a red giant - life in subsurface oceans being a possible exception.

5 hours ago, John said:

BTW my Tak 100 shows similar detail at around 500x ....... sort of ...

It's distinctly non-spherical when viewed in a department store telescope after three beers also, think we must be on to something there.

[Highburymark]

Fascinating - Certainly more surface detail than we're getting from our own sun today

[Macavity]

15 hours ago, Lockie said:

I think this explains it?:

"In this picture, ALMA observes the hot gas of the lower chromosphere of Betelgeuse at sub-millimeter wavelengths — where localised increased temperatures explain why it is not symmetric."

It's a GOOD point... The Chromosphere isn't the (Photosphere) "surface" of the star,
But rather it is the "atmosphere" or "weather"? Whatever, make ya THINK though!