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What Happens When Betelgeuse Explodes?

Posted by Soulskill on from the anticipating-giant-space-booms dept.

StartsWithABang writes: One of the great, catastrophic truths of the Universe is that everything has an expiration date. And this includes every single point of light in the entire sky. The most massive stars will die in a spectacular supernova explosion when their final stage of core fuel runs out. At only an estimated 600 light years distant, Betelgeuse is one (along with Antares) of the closest red supergiants to us, and it's estimated to have only perhaps 100,000 years until it reaches the end of its life. Here's the story on what we can expect to see (and feel) on Earth when Betelgeuse explodes.

4 of 203 comments (clear)

  1. a little brighter by itzly · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A long winded article where the crucial information "a little brighter" is hidden between 2 pages of fluff.

    1. Re:a little brighter by BlackPignouf · · Score: 5, Informative

      A bit more than "a little brighter".
      It would go from 0.5 (now) to -10 apparent magnitude. That's about 15000 times brighter.
      It would be much brighter than Venus/Jupiter/Sirius, and be visible during daytime.
      It would be about as bright as a quarter moon.

  2. Re:Isn't that by Scarletdown · · Score: 5, Funny

    It was a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse. So it could have been a neighboring system. Because when talking on astronomical scales, the vicinity of a star can cover a tremendous amount of space. After all, space is big, extremely big. You wouldn't believe just how big it is...

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  3. Re:fuck medium.com by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Funny

    But it's so much easier when /. links to an article with no substance

    The article isn't entirely without substance. For instance, it helpfully points out, twice, that the sun is the brightest object in the sky.