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Normal Topic Betelgeuse may be about to explode (Read 2251 times)
SnowLeopard
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Betelgeuse may be about to explode
Feb 13th, 2020 at 6:35pm
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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..  Smiley
  
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Re: Betelgeuse may be about to explode
Reply #1 - Feb 18th, 2020 at 1:30am
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I've been keeping an eye on this. Should the star go supernova, it will give amateur astronomer an excellent viewing and astrophotography opportunity.
  

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Re: Betelgeuse may be about to explode
Reply #3 - Mar 5th, 2020 at 1:15pm
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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!
  

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Re: Betelgeuse may be about to explode
Reply #4 - Jun 21st, 2021 at 9:43am
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Mystery solved (perhaps!) - it was a huge cloud of dust  Shocked :

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57501416




  
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