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So what will happen when Betelgeuse explodes?

Claire

By Claire
in The Astro Lounge

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GothicFighter

GothicFighter

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Get ready for a stupid question..... just say explosion or what ever Betelgeuse decides to do we are all agreed it will be bright in the sky. My question is dose bright light travel quicker ??? if so will this in fact shorten the time the light takes to reach us ???? Like flash bang grenades releases it energy quickly is the light actually traveling quicker or are the rules of physics the same no matter what when it comes to light speed ??

Light travels the same speed, no mater what.

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Capricorn

Capricorn

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When it does go then whoever has their eye to an eyepiece simply isn't going to believed by anyone when they yell "Betelgeuse has just gone bang" :eek::eek::eek:

Also bet they will not let anyone else near the eyepiece to have a look.:D:D:D

Orion is going to be lobsided afterwards.:):evil6::evil6:

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brantuk

brantuk

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"Back in 1054 when the star that has become the Crab Nebula went Supernova, records from that time say you could read at night from the light of that one star!"

That would be great if they had any decent books to read. I guess the Doomsday book woulda been on WH Smiths "best seller" racks in those days (I think it was around that time). What would it be like with no Shakespear and little or no history to read lol. I guess there's allways the big "B" to read over lol. :)

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sammy1404

sammy1404

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How big in size would it get? I understand about the brightness, but are we looking at an object that would be the same size as the moon, the sun?

same size as the moon? lol, its already larger than our sun and if it replaced our sun it would reach the orbits of certainly mars and possibly jupiter.

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Claire

Claire

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I know it's much bigger than our Sun! But I mean in the sky, how much bigger would it look to us. cause it's just a pinprick of light atm, but when it goes supernova, will it look to us the same size as the moon does to us, or the sun?

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Dave S

Dave S

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The truth is nobody knows exactly how big it will look. The sun/moon comparison is a calculated estimate. As it's only 640ly away it's going to be big. The supernova that formed the crab nebula was visible in the daytime and that star was over 6000ly away.

Dave...

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Shibby

Shibby

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How big in size would it get? I understand about the brightness, but are we looking at an object that would be the same size as the moon, the sun?

Based on mostly estimates and very loose calculations, it could potentially grow to the angular size of the moon within 30 years of going supernova.

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spaceboy

spaceboy

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Just a thought (probably another stupid one) Say it has "exploded" already, dose that mean we could have large lumps of debris speeding its way to us with out our knowledge. In universe terms 640ly is not the safest distance away from us when you consider how much energy such a large sun could create.

Also on the whole light speed thing. Just say if there was a big lump on it's way to us that either has its own luminance or is large enough to reflect sun rays how dose it work say if the rock is traveling so fast and the light reaching us is traveling so fast, at what point do the two speeds match ??? Forgive me if this is the dumbest question you have ever hear but my youth was wasted on sex, drugs and rock and roll not science. :)

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davy999

davy999

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Light is the only thing that can travel at light speed, because it has no mass.

Rock has mass and to accelerate it to light speed would require such an exponetional increase in energy it is currently thought impossible that anything could travel at light speed apart from light, therefore we would see it long before any possible debris reached us.

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spaceboy

spaceboy

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What I meant is the light traveling at light speed may indicate it was XXXly away but the next night if the rock was traveling at XXXXMPH a day dose it not take some time for the light to reach us and so the light we see and the object are not actually in the same place at any given time. IE: we are actually looking at Betelgeuse as it was so many years ago and not how it is at this very minute. Is the same applied to a rock traveling towards us traveling at a very high velocity ??? I understand that as it gets closer it will become more apparent as the rock will catch up with the light but in the mean time could it be right on top of us and we wouldn't even know it. Kind a like when you miss judge how quick a car is coming down the road.

I hope I'm getting my point across as I'm hopeless at explaining things. A HINT: Never ask me for directions as I will get you more lost than you were in the 1st place :)

Yes Wayne I know there is nothing we can do about it. As we are all aware that 2034 may see us hit by 2004 MN4 and all the governments of the world are doing is building bunkers for seeds to re-propagate so that would suggest there is now way stop it in its tracks.

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sbooder

sbooder

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No, the speed of light in a vacuum is a constant.

Edit. Sorry I did not realise I was still on page one when I answered the question about dim or bright light travelling faster. I see now many have already answered.

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sbooder

sbooder

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What I meant is the light traveling at light speed may indicate it was XXXly away but the next night if the rock was traveling at XXXXMPH a day dose it not take some time for the light to reach us and so the light we see and the object are not actually in the same place at any given time. IE: we are actually looking at Betelgeuse as it was so many years ago and not how it is at this very minute. Is the same applied to a rock traveling towards us traveling at a very high velocity ??? I understand that as it gets closer it will become more apparent as the rock will catch up with the light but in the mean time could it be right on top of us and we wouldn't even know it. Kind a like when you miss judge how quick a car is coming down the road.

I hope I'm getting my point across as I'm hopeless at explaining things. A HINT: Never ask me for directions as I will get you more lost than you were in the 1st place :)

Yes Wayne I know there is nothing we can do about it. As we are all aware that 2034 may see us hit by 2004 MN4 and all the governments of the world are doing is building bunkers for seeds to re-propagate so that would suggest there is now way stop it in its tracks.

Because light has no mass, it can not carry other objects along with it, like a wave of water can. So if we have not even seen the light from a possible Supernova, there is no way that any debris from it would reach us first or even a long time after.

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