Betelgeuse is Almost 50% Brighter Than Normal. What's Going On?

https://www.universetoday.com/161751/betelgeuse-is-almost-50-brighter-than-normal-whats-going-on/

7 points · 12 comments · view on lemmy.world

12 Comments

honeyontoast@beehaw.org · 3 pts · 3y

What fascinates me about these things is, if it is "about" to go supernova, then it already has, hundreds of years ago. We just haven't seen it yet.

psysok@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 3y

It is exciting that in this case "soon" could mean tens of years instead of hundreds of thousands.

wintrparkgrl@beehaw.org · 2 pts · 3y (3 replies)

This would be amazing to see in my lifetime. I have a 10 inch telescope I use to mostly look at the planets, but this would be big/bright enough to see clearly with it

flibbertigibbet@feddit.de · 1 pts · 3y (2 replies)

My understanding is that that would be bright enough to cast shadows at night and last months.

wintrparkgrl@beehaw.org · 2 pts · 3y (1 reply)

From what I read it would be as bright/slightly brighter than a full moon for a few months. I would have to use my moon filter to not be blinded by looking in the telescope

flibbertigibbet@feddit.de · 2 pts · 3y

That's wild, would love to be around to see it.

duskfall@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y
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CatWrangler@beehaw.org · 1 pts · 3y

Hmm that's neat, from the article “We conclude that Betelgeuse is in the late stage of core carbon burning, and a good candidate for the next Galactic supernova,”

That would be wild to witness a supernova.

alexdoom@beehaw.org · 0 pts · 3y (2 replies)

It would be crazy cool to see it go supernova, safe from most of the harmful effects and bright enough to light the way at night.

argv_minus_one@beehaw.org · 0 pts · 3y (1 reply)

If it's bright enough to light the way at night, isn't it also close enough to cause significant harm?

soiling@beehaw.org · 3 pts · 3y

no, I think it would only be potentially harmful if its poles were pointed directly at us and we were blasted with gamma ray bursts