How Will the Constellations Change In 50K Years?

astroengine writes "The stars are not static points in the sky; they move over time. That means the constellations are shifting too. With the help of NASA astronomer Robert Hurt, five famous constellations are visualized 50,000 years in the future."

Comments

That's pretty cool

[BadAnalogyGuy]

In 50,000 years, humans will probably not even be on Earth anymore. Either we will have annihilated ourselves, or we will have migrated to other worlds. In 6,000 years we have gone from the dawn of history to a worldwide information network and space travel. In 9 times that time, we should be much further along!

What would those constellations look like from our new homes near other star systems?

... and Celestia

[Anonymous Coward]

And if someone wants to know what the constellations look like from 5k light years away today (or in 50k years), please run Celestia (http://www.shatters.net/celestia/)

Bonus -- modpacks allow real time simulation of spacecraft from Star Wreck to Blake's 7 and from Red Dwarf via Battlestar Galactica to Star Wars.

Everyone's chance to make the Kessel run in under 12 parsecs.

Betelguese

[mister_playboy]

A more interesting change to Orion would be Betelguese going supernova (and that event becoming visible on Earth) in the next 50,000 years.

Betelgeuse is already old for its size class and will explode relatively soon compared to its age. At the current distance of Betelgeuse from the Earth, such a supernova explosion would be the brightest recorded; outshining the Moon in the night sky and becoming easily visible in broad daylight.