SnowLeopard Captain Offline Where do they come from? What do they want? Posts: 187 Location: Berkshire UK Betelgeuse may be about to explode Feb 13th, 2020 at 6:35pm Print Post No, not that poltergeist, the red giant in Orion. Apparently it's been behaving very oddly. Its brightness has dropped a lot - the phrase 'fallen off a cliff' was used. This may be the precursor to a supernova. See this archive page for Feb 9: https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=09&month=02&year=202 Betelgeuse is about 700 light years away. If it does explode, we will see the flash, possibly in daylight; but the blown-off gases won't reach us for centuries if at all. What fun.. IP Logged
Matt Colonel Offline Everyone at SHADO drinks coffee! Posts: 2391 Location: Coventry, RI Re: Betelgeuse may be about to explode Reply #1 - Feb 18th, 2020 at 1:30am Print Post I've been keeping an eye on this. Should the star go supernova, it will give amateur astronomer an excellent viewing and astrophotography opportunity. What do you mean, we're out of coffee! WWW IP Logged
SnowLeopard Captain Offline Where do they come from? What do they want? Posts: 187 Location: Berkshire UK Re: Betelgeuse may be about to explode Reply #2 - Feb 27th, 2020 at 6:33pm Print Post Betelgeuse is brightening again - but it's apparently a bit lopsided: https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2020/02/25/betelgeuse-is-brightening-again/ Apparently it's not over yet! IP Logged
Matt Colonel Offline Everyone at SHADO drinks coffee! Posts: 2391 Location: Coventry, RI Re: Betelgeuse may be about to explode Reply #3 - Mar 5th, 2020 at 1:15pm Print Post The last naked eye supernova occurred in 1054. The remains is what we now know as M1, or, the Crab Nebula. If Betelgeuse does go nova, we could see an historic astronomical event visible even in daylight, just like the Crab was in 1054. Add to that, we would be looking back in time by over 600 years, as Betelgeuse is 642 light years distant. It's an exciting time to be an astronomer! What do you mean, we're out of coffee! WWW IP Logged
SnowLeopard Captain Offline Where do they come from? What do they want? Posts: 187 Location: Berkshire UK Re: Betelgeuse may be about to explode Reply #4 - Jun 21st, 2021 at 9:43am Print Post Mystery solved (perhaps!) - it was a huge cloud of dust : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57501416 IP Logged
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