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Rumor of Betelgeuse's Death Greatly Exaggerated
The Bad Astronomer writes "A rumor is spreading on the Net like wildfire that the red supergiant star Betelgeuse is about to explode in a supernova. This rumor is almost certainly not true. First, it's posted on a doomsday forum. Second, it's three times removed from the source, and is anonymous at each step. Third, the evidence is shaky at best. Plus, even if true, the supernova is too far away to hurt us. But other than that ..."
Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse.
There he is right there.
Yeah, but if you say it three times, you'll end up being forceably married to some animated corpse by a gnome-like monster ala Communion.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
If Betelgeuse goes supernova tomorrow, it will take 495 years for the light to reach us! Or are we arguing about whether or not it went supernova 495 years ago...
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I mean, does this story warrant inclusion on slashdot? There are plenty of other places to go for bad rumors and conspiracy theories.
Hmm... That's almost more interesting to me. Seems pretty odd to have a doomsday forum. If you think the world is ending soon, you're going to be online, chatting about it? Are the doomsday predictions spinning off to places other than Earth because doomsayers realized they're tired of being wrong and if they're right about predicting the earth's demise, they won't get any credit for it?
What's new here? It's long been known that Betelgeuse is a massive post main sequence star and will explode as a supernova in the (astronomical) near future.
Nobody yet knows where the Hrung is, nor why it should choose to collapse on Betelgeuse Seven.
How many stars can we see (with naked eye/scope)? What is a typical lifespan of a star? Have we seen stars go supernova? What are the odds of us seeing one within, say, 50 years? I could google, but I'm not that interested to find out, but if someone has answers ready, I could read them.
I don't see any Pierson's Puppeteers around. I think we should get out of here.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
...on very good authority that, in two weeks, Mars will appears as big as the MOON in the night sky!!
I swear I have assuage my Mom's fear about that one every year. I would just send her to Snopes. But the copious pop-under ads, malware, etc. makes me think I would be causing more problems that I would solve.... "No Mom. You cannot make win a free XBox by punching that monkey...". But I digress.
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
is a weaker assumption than almost surely not true... so it might.
The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim.
Anyone with a good telescope available?!
Coincidentally, I heard this rumour today! Would make a nice companion to SN 1987A for astronomers
Oh well, ask again in one thousand years...
how long until
In other news, the M1 nebula is NOT... I repeat, *not* about to disappear.
Bernard's Star is also NOT going nova this week. Probably not next week either.
Also, do not panic. Neptune is quite stable in its orbit and is NOT about to collide with Jupiter, say astronomers. Repeat, it *will not* collide.
I wonder if it will be Champagne colored...
I damn hope it will go off in my lifetime (yes, yes - as in "the light from the event which sort of already happened will get here during..."). It will be quite a sight.
One that hath name thou can not otter
"about to" in astrophysics is anytime between now and a gazilllion years from now.
The Apocalypse, the Communist Conspiracy, The Mayan Calendar, Global Warming, Global Freezing, The Heat Death of the Universe, The Comet Calamity, Alien Invasion, The Super Bug, Al-Qaeda, The Neo Nazis, The Neocons, the Return of the Old Ones, Tesla's Super Weapon, The Collapse of the Dollar, The Collapse of the Universe... I don't quite get why we're still here. We should have been wiped out many times over.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
The air fore is covering this up and the deep space telemetry program are the guys ruining it.
Did it explode 640 years ago and we're about to witness it? Or is it going to explode soon, and future generations can witness it?
*DrugCheese rants*
Yay! Ford Prefect can still go home!
Anybody want my mod points?
The blog writer complains that this rumor is "spreading like wildfire" but only cites to a single forum where the rumor apparently started. The blow writer then makes a snide comment about a "doomsday" forum, and then spends time with what appears to be an exasperated manner of speaking declaring that a supernova at that distance wouldn't cause any danger, only the original forum post never said it would--it basically saying how cool this would be to see. Why does it feel like a manufactured controversy? As best I can tell this anonymous forum poster may have been mistaken, but the reaction from the Discover blog is ridiculously out of proportion to that mistake.
It's posted on slashdot.
Seriously. Why is this nonsense even worthy of mention here? To make fun of it?
Fifth, if we can see it, it has exploded, already.
fluctuates in brightness. If it really isn't round at this point in time the news should have at least made it onto UniverseToday.com. Could just be gravitational lensing or a shy star peeking out from behind Betelgeuse, or one too many beers.
When I Googled "I was talking to my son last week (he works on Mauna Kea), and he mentioned some new observations" to see how far this had spread it came up with a glorious 5 hits. That's spreading like wildfire?
Apocalypse cults, 2012 cults, doomsday cults, radical religious splinter groups, radical religions. These are all just frightened people who think their world is ending. They're all just Ghost Shirt movements.
Nice try, but I'm not falling for that one.
The person that wrote that post can't get basic facts about stars right. I wouldn't trust them to interpret anything he or she heard correctly.
From the original article "So the really lucky folks (for whom Betelgeuse is only visible at night) will get 24 hour days, everybody else will get at least some time with two suns in the sky." Here's the deal. A given star isn't visible at night to one person and visible during the day to another. Now if a star is visible to people at the same longitude can depend on their latitudes. If the Earth is between Betelgeuse and the Sun, then it's visible at night to everyone who can see it from their latitude. In that case everyone is going to have longer days. It might turn out to not be full daylight for 24 hours depending on the angles. We could get brighter days and shorter nights.
My guess is either the person is making it up, or their lack of basic astronomical knowledge led to them misunderstanding something that was being said about when Betelgeuse dies.
Can't remember the author, but it goes like this:
Amateur astronomers are out watching the sky for the rumored light from a star that had gone supernova thousands of years before. The supernova was predicted by astronomers as early as the middle ages. It was supposedly going to be very bright. Well, the sun rises early...or at least some brightly shining object. But one of the people corrects the questioner, stating that it is the hour of the moon's rising and it must be reflecting the light from the new star. Someone suggests that it seemed to be getting rather warm.
Short of it is, this exploding star's light was several times more intense than even our Sun. In the short term it created massive weather effects -- tornados, typhoons, etc. But the air temperature in the first day of its arrival soared to over 200 degrees F - the oceans began to boil, it was unbearable to be outside. The people who survived until the first night -- when the air temperature dropped to somewhere over 130 F -- began pondering what life forms would carry on after this, because it wouldn't be humans.
There was a similar something in the news last year -- light from an ancient supernova finally reaching Earth and it made me think of this story then too. Not sure what happened to that one.
At 420 odd lightyears from Earth, if Betelgeuse did explode into a supernova it would probably wipe out a large proportion of the life on this planet. You seriously underestimate what a supernova can do ... the radiation and shockwave alone would take out any number of planets within a radius of 500 lightyears.
That said ... as a binary with a red super giant 650 times the size of our Sun it looks impressive until you realise that it's mean density is less than that of our own atmosphere. It burns with a total luminosity of about 100,000 times that of our Sun (but only about 10% of that is visible as real luminosity)... making it one of the brightest stars in the sky. When it does sign off it will probably be a heck of a lot less impressive than a supernova though ... it's mass and current density means it will probably collapse relatively slowly into a neutron star, and won't be able to generate the huge hydrogen reaction a quickly collapsing supernova needs.
Not very splundig at all.
Da Blog
The rumour was it will occur in the next few weeks, similar to SN 1054 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1054
[quote]SN 1054 (Crab Supernova) was a supernova that was widely seen on Earth in the year 1054. It was recorded by Chinese, Japanese, Native Americans, and Persian/Arab astronomers as being bright enough to see in daylight for 23 days and was visible in the night sky for 653 days.[1][2][3] The progenitor star was located in the Milky Way galaxy at a distance of 6,300 light years and exploded as a core-collapse supernova.[/quote]
People will take a phenomenon verified by hundreds of scientists in dozens of studies, global warming, and dismiss it because they got stuck in a snow drift. Then they'll turn around and forward an email that cites a brother's wife's uncle's cousin as breathless proof of impending calamity? I know the answer -- people are stupid. The question is purely rhetorical. :)
Get off my virtual lawn, you damned virtual kids!
We've know for ages that Betelgeuse was about to go supernova. Of course, that astronomy talk meaning "probably within a few centuries or so". I didn't even see anything in the article that implied that this was unexpected. It's true that the author personally projected all sorts of disasters, but he didn't even claim to be an astronomer.
So this is a "Yawn" story, not even worth a disclaimer.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
For a split second I was like holy shit Beetle died ... then it dawned on me that must be the other one :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetlejuice_(entertainer)
"Keep at least 3-6 full bottles of hard alcohol on hand, a 2 week resignation notice,..." - Poetmatt
The real doomsday sign is the cubs wining it all!
when the world will end.
True or not I hope I am alive to see it when it does happen.
!splundig vur thrigg
Waiting for an amusing sig.
Just don't try to out-weird him unless you have more than three eyes.
Gamma radiation striking the upper atmosphere would cause a EMP pulse that would disable electronic technology world wide. Scientists have dismissed reports that the supernova is imminent and could happen at any mo CONNECTION LOST
Should I start looking for cats and dogs living together amidst mass hysteria?
This poster shows some real trolling talent.
The original doomsday post was quit original. We haven't seen an astronomical doomsday meme for a year or so.
But, if you're going to force a meme like this, what better way than to debunk it on Slashdot immediately.
So, being blown out of proportion has been blown out of proportion, eh?
Table-ized A.I.
Can they confirm that Betelgeuse is dying?
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
not to say it three times or Michael Keaton will show up.
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
Wild conspiracy theory? Riiiiiiighhhhtt. I'm smelling a government coverup. I mean first 9/11 then the BP incident?
I mean serious look if you look at 9/11 and take the 11th letter of the alphabet you get k. But 9 = 4 + 5. If you take that 4 and add it to the 11 in k you get O. There just happens to be two 1's in 11 and two parts of 9/11 - 9 the month and 11 the date. Therefore, the 11 in 9/11 must reference two items or O O. Now, look at 5 - it just so happens that 5 = 3 + 2. It just so happens that the B in BP is the second letter of the alphabet. 2 + 2 = 4 and the fourth letter of the alphabet just happens to be D. Coincidence? Yea right - remember that P is the 16th letter of the alphabet. Subtract 3 from this and you get the 13th letter. The 13th letter is both evil and is m. Now we got the letters O O D and M. Well it just so happens that B the second letter is less than 9 and 9 is less than 11 and 11 is less than the 13 which is number for M. If you put this together you get:
DOOM!
All this stuff took place hundreds of years ago..and here you guys are still talking about it.
"How far do you think it is?"
"A billion miles.."
*rocket lands and explodes*
It lived through the Black Plague, therefore, I am confident that can survive these rumors. The only thing that's certain is that it doesn't work well with others.
The rumor is true! Betelgeuse is going to Supernova soon. Within probably the next thousand years, or maybe 100,000 years. But soon. Sure it's only 10MYO give or take but it's a Rock Star in the Universe of Stars. It's lived hard and fast and will burn fast in a blaze of glory. In fact it may already have gone Supernova. Of course on a Cosmic scale even a 100,000 years is the blink of an eye. So it's going to go and go soon. When it goes it'll be brighter than the Moon. But it'll be 500 odd years before we know it's gone.
This reminds me of that one time Jeff Goldblum apparently died in New Zealand.
As far as I know, it is based on the actual measurements that its diameter has shrunk some 10% in the last 20 years.
Global warming affect them, and they know that if true, it could point back at their own excess, or force them to change their lifestyle. A big problem. Whereas beltegeuse exploding, it won't affect anybody, so they don't mind spreading the rumor as a joke. The one REALLY stupid which REALLY think that would affect them, would not be able to come with the idea anyway.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
If you ask an astronomer, he or she will tell you that of all the stars in the sky, only Betelgeuse has the potential to go supernova in a way that would affect Earth, with the GRB et al. He or she will tell you that in the worst case scenario, if things were lined up just right, we'd lose about ten percent of our atmosphere, which would be catastrophic to life on Earth. He or she will further tell you that there is currently no way for us to determine when Betelgeuse will go supernova or if it will be pointed in the worst case scenario direction.
This is why we have experts.
It sounds like someone is working their way through their Science Fiction reading list: Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer contains this event. Not a bad book. It got nominated for a Hugo.
"You never know when some crazed rodent with cold feet might be running loose in your pants."
-Calvin
Doesn't Betelgeuse rhyme with edelweise (instead of being pronounced beetle-juice)?
It's pronounced "Smith". It's just spelled "Betelgeuse".
And while we're on the subject, Chalmondesleigh is pronounced "Chumley", and Featherstonehaugh is pronounced "Fanshaw".
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
We've just learned that nothing interesting is going on! Specifically, the president has NOT been assasinated, 3rd world war did NOT just start, and CERN has NOT produced earth-destroying black holes.
The Ancients, presumably Greeks or Romans (nobody ever checks in with Visigoths, Chinese or Scythians), recorded that Betelgeuse was blue, not red. Since there's no poetry about blue blood and sunsets, or winedark seas incarnadine, one supposes they knew the difference.
A blue stars turns red fairly early in recorded history? No worries. I can't remember where I read it.
``Tension, apprehension & dissension have begun!'' - Duffy Wyg&, in Alfred Bester's _The Demolished Man_
I expect whomever's been using Betelgeuse for gravitational slingshot maneuvers to own up to it! :)
This story should have been tagged "Idle" instead of "Science".
We should send someone to Betelgeuse to observe the star and tell us when it's about to blow, so we won't be caught off guard 495 years later.
No, beetle juice is fine too. Remember, words in foreign languages don't mean the same as a similarly pronounced word in another language. cf pschitt cola. How is THAT promounced?
i noticed this gem in the article:
"The extra hour of light from daylight savings time won't burn the crops, but this might."
Actually, depending on how far away it is it might have long since went supernova.
We are all going to DIE!!!!111
Okay, I know it's pathetically geeky but everytime I hear the star named Betelgeuse I think of SC2, and the Syrene...
http://www.beanleafpress.com
Such events are ALWAYS relative to observation from earth because else you would be getting silly with the time differences.
For instance, we say the sun came up NOW and not 8 minutes ago when it really came up above the horizon but we now just seeing it. One of those fun things, that sun you see, isn't there, it was there 8 minutes ago. And that star you see twinkling could be billions of years old and long gone.
Get a super powerful telescope, travel deep into space at a speed greater then light and you could watch history unfold backwards. Who says you can never look back eh?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
You are right, soon is a bit longer for astronomers but they think in tens of thousands of years. On the back of an astronomers shirt: "If you see me running, go get some coffee, you got plenty of time".
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Did anyone else RTFA and notice that the original author concedes that 'The extra hour of light from daylight savings time won't burn the crops, but this might.' ??
WTF? So - people freaked out over this new doom also accept that daylight savings time creates an extra hour of daylight. But that's ok - that won't burn the crops. 24 hours of daylight might.
*sigh*.
I think I'm going to become a Nigerian Prince in need of your assistance...
if they're right we'll know in about 570 years... give or take a few since space isn't all a vacuum!
Facts are useless, they can be used to prove anything.
Nothing is about to happen, rumors that something will happen are false and even if it were to miraculously happen, it's not gonna be a problem.
How is this even n- oh, wait, kdawson. Is there REALLY no option to plonk specific editors ?
What a depressingly stupid machine.
The extra hour of light from daylight savings time won't burn the crops, but this might.
WTF?!
Guess doomers.us and "Life after the Oil Crash" (weird place for supernova discussions) aren't always full of scientifically accurate information.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
Islay is pronounced "Eye luh"