Will Betelgeuse become a second sun?
Cool image, but we won't see this from Earth when Betelgeuse goes supernova sometime in the next thousand - or million - years. Image via Geekosystem
Short answer: no. If you’ve read or heard that the star Belelgeuse might explode in a few weeks or a few months – that it will temporarily add a second sun to Earth’s sky and somehow also possibly prove the world will end in 2012 (to which we can only say, “huh?”) – you might want to find more reliable sources. While it’s possible that Betelgeuse will explode in our lifetimes, it isn’t likely. Someday, Betelgeuse will become a supernova. This event is just as likely to happen thousands or millions of years from now as tomorrow.
What’s more, the best minds among astrophysicists assure us that even when Betelgeuse does blow up, our planet Earth is too far away for this explosion to destroy life on Earth. They say we’d have to be within 50 light-years of a supernova for it to harm us. Betelgeuse is nearly 10 times this distance, so Betelgeuse will not destroy life on Earth. But astronomers will be extremely thrilled to have a relatively nearby supernova to study, and the rest of us will be treated to an amazingly beautiful sight in the night sky – a very, very, very bright star.
Science
Betelgeuse lies some 430 light-years from Earth. Yet it’s already one of the brightest stars in Earth’s sky. The reason is that Betelgeuse is a supergiant star. It is intrinsically very brilliant.
Such brilliance comes at a price, however. Betelgeuse is one of the most famous stars in the sky because it’s due to explode someday. Betelgeuse’s enormous energy requires that the fuel be expended quickly (relatively speaking), and in fact Betelgeuse is now near the end of its lifetime. Someday soon (astronomically speaking), it will run out of fuel, collapse under its own weight, and then rebound in a spectacular supernova explosion. When this happens – which could be tomorrow or a million years in the future – Betelgeuse will brighten enormously for a few weeks or months, perhaps as bright as the full moon and visible in broad daylight.
Could a nearby supernova harm life on Earth in 2012? Nah.
Fortunately for us, it appears that there will be few, if any, adverse affects to Earth when Betelgeuse goes supernova.
If Betelgeuse were side by side with our sun, you’d find it 10,000 times brighter than the sun in visible light. It might be surprising then to learn that the surface temperature of Betelgeuse is only about 6,000 degrees F (3,600K) in contrast to the sun’s 10,000 degrees F.
In terms of mass, Betelgeuse is thought to be about 15 times the mass of the sun, but 600 times wider and more than 200 million times its volume! When you consider its size, as well as the infrared and other radiations it pumps out, Betelgeuse probably outshines our sun by at least 50,000 times.
How to see it
At mid-northern latitudes around the first of every year, Betelgeuse rises around sunset. The star is very well placed for viewing in southeast to south on February evenings.
Betelgeuse is a star in the constellation Orion, which is noticeable for the short, straight row of three medium-bright stars at its mid-section.
By the beginning of March, this star is due south in early evening. By mid-May, it can be glimpsed briefly in the west after sunset. Betelgeuse is traveling behind the sun in early summer, but it returns to the east before dawn by about mid-July.
Betelgeuse – in the famous constellation Orion – is easy to spot. See our sky chart to learn the pattern of the constellation Orion the Hunter. Orion itself is noticeable for the short, straight row of three medium-bright stars in its mid-section. Betelgeuse is in the upper left corner of the large rectangle forming Orion.
The star Betelgeuse has a distinctive color: somber orange-red. It’s ideal for convincing non-believers that stars do, in fact, come in colors.
Stars designated as Alpha are typically brightest in their constellations. But Betelgeuse is Alpha Orionis, despite the fact that it’s fainter than Orion’s other bright star, Rigel. Betelgeuse is the 10th brightest star in the sky overall, and it’s the 7th brightest star visible from most of the U.S., Canada, Europe and the majority of the northern hemisphere.
History and myth
Remember the movie Beetlejuice? This star’s name is similar.
The proper names of many bright stars are Arabic in origin. This fact reflects the dominance of Arabic astronomers and astrologers during Europe’s Dark Ages. The name Betelgeuse apparently is derived from an Arabic phrase that is usually translated as The Armpit of the Giant. Of course the Giant refers to Orion, but – rather than an armpit – some authors see Betelgeuse as representing a hand or sometimes a shoulder. While it is not entirely clear what the name means, in any event, Betelgeuse marks the right shoulder of Orion in many old star maps.
In the ancient myths, Orion is most often associated with a giant, a warrior, a hunter, a god or some other anthropomorphic or animal figure, so it is not surprising that most depictions of Betelgeuse have an anatomical connection. The Sanskrit name signified an arm, too, for example, although it likely was really the leg of a stag. In parts of Brazil Betelgeuse was seen as the hind leg of a cayman (crocodilian) or the foreleg of a turtle. On the other hand, in ancient Japan, Betelgeuse was considered to be part of the rim of a ceremonial drum. In Peru, it was one of four vultures about the devour a criminal.
So come to know Betelgeuse. And don’t worry. The chances of it exploding in our lifetimes are … well, astronomically small. Even if it did explode, it would not add a second sun to Earth’s sky. It would not prove the world will end in 2012. It would be, most likely, a wonderful natural event that we’d all tell our grandchildren about.
The position of Betelgeuse is RA 05h 55m 10.3053s, dec +07° 24′ 25.4″.
Some consider that the massive irregular star, Eta Carinae, in the Southern Constellation of Carina, is also likely to explode soon ( < 1 million years) It has 100 x Mass of Sun, or 7 times the mass of Betelgeuse; it is a classic ,candidate for a full blown Supernova. But it is 20 x further from us than is Betelegeuse, at 8500 light years .
If a supernova Type 2 is a standard candle with Absolute Mag -19, then Eta Carina would reach Mag -6 to -5 or so – brighter than Venus, but not up to Full Moon staus.
While unlikely to outshine Betelgeuse, it might beat it to the punch- after all, it has exhinbited some pretty strange and ominous behaviour in the past 150 years or so.
One observing treat for the Northern Hemisphere, one for the South- there is fairness after all?
It would be cool if both blew at once!!
As for 2012 and all that, would you trust the Mayans, who, under Yikin Can Ga'will at Tikal, slaughtered thousands in "open heart surgery" to keep the gods happy, and were rewarded with a genocidal drought?
Their judgemant is at least suspect.
Our own rulers meanwhile prepare to sacrifice the lives and livelihoods of billions in artifical famines and energy shortages, in an energy and resources rich solar system, to keep our Climate gods sweet ( or to "Save the Planet", in modern jargon) – have we learned nothing?
The best way we can save Earth's ecosystems, if threatened , is to disperse our people and industries out into Space, and leave Earth mostly for other lifeforms and the less active memebrs of our species. We would create wealth, opportunity and hope for our descendants by such enterprise, not despair and poverty as is currently on the menu!
Malthus and Orwell are poor examples for our youth, to whom we must say, "Go Up, Young Man, or even Woman!"
"Earth is the Cradle of Mind- but one does not Live in the Cradle forever!"
[...] sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse http://domeofthesky.com/clicks/betelgeuse.html http://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/betelgeuse-will-explode-someday http://news.discovery.com/space/big-pic-betelgeuse-eso-nebula-star-death-110623.html [...]
[...] http://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/betelgeuse-will-explode-someday [...]
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when the matter is expelled after the nova, does it travel slower than the particles of light?
If the Sun collapses into a black hole would light escape from its transformations? and matter?
Justin,
Yes any particles of matter (such as protons or other subatomic particles) travel slower than particles of light (photons). However, when they are ejected from a supernova, some of those matter particles can be traveling at a significant fraction of the speed of light.
To be clear, our Sun will not collapse into a black hole. But yes, when a star collapses into a black hole, the material falling into it does radiate various forms of light (electromagnetic radiation). However, once within the black hole, the matter does not radiate any light that we can detect. Not that we just don’t have the instruments to detect it, but rather than any light inside the black hole simply cannot get out.
However, over very long periods of time, some particles and radiation are thought possibly to escape the black hole through a process called “Hawking radiation.” This is at a very low level, however.
[...] on the dark dome of a winter night. The Winter Circle lassos around Orion’s bright ruddy star Betelgeuse, and this loop of stars circles so far out from Betelgeuse that the Winter Circle even dwarfs Orion [...]
How did you make your blog site look this sick! Email me if you get the chance and share your wisdom. Id be thankful!
If Betelgeuse will explode, what will happen to the small particles of the star???
We cannot tell the truth that the explosion of the star will happen at the year of the 2012…
Mary Trisha, the “small particles,” mostly subatomic particles like protons and electrons, along with the nuclei of a wide variety of elements, will spread out into space. As they spread, they thin out very rapidly. By the time they spread out only a tiny, tiny fraction of the distance of say, Earth, they will have become rarified and much thinner than the air of our planet. They will produce a beautiful cloud of particles known as a supernova remnant or a supernova nebula.
The chance of Betelgeuse going supernova in 2012, or being visible at Earth as a supernova in 2012, are very small. We know in reason that it is likely to happen sometime soon in an astronomical sense (which could be anytime from today to perhaps a million years from now), but we do not know precisely when. While it could go at any time, the chances of it going supernova in 2012 are — in my guess — somewhere between one in a thousand and one in a million. We have no observational evidence to suggest that it will happen in 2012 or any other particular year.
Is it true that, are zodiac signs are the constellation of the stars too? Why?
Is it true that black hole will suck the earth?? Why?
Where does black hole come from???
Mary Trisha, the so-called “Zodiac” signs are indeed constellations of stars as well. I do not know why except that ancient astrologers placed significance on those constellations because the Sun happens to pass through them during the year.
No, it is not true that they Earth will be sucked into a black hole. First off, there are no black holes anywhere near us and they do not pose any danger to us at all.
Black holes come from exploded stars. There are none near us and no stars near us are likely to explode anytime soon. Betelgeuse, if it does happen to explode anytime in our lifetimes, likely will form a black hole, but it is much too far away to be a problem for Earth.
I love to look at Betelgeuse and the contrasting Rigel opposite , the brightness of Rigel is superb and Betelgeuse glows orange . What a lovely sight in the winter sky .