Betelgeuse: Shrinking?

Mena

An interesting article on Newscietist.com where it appears Betelgeuse has been shrinking since 1993. Original source from The Astrophysical Journal.

NewScientist.com wrote:

New observations indicate the giant star has shrunk by more than 15 per cent since 1993. This could be a sign of a long-term oscillation in its size or the star's first death knells. Or it may just be an artefact of the star's bumpy surface, which may appear to change in size as the star rotates.

Assuming they're actually measuring the correct thing ( ), it's gone from 11.2 to 9.6 AU :eek:.

That's a huge change in such a short time. Could we be on the verge of witnessing Betelgeuse go Supernova?

Capt'n Midnight

1.6 AU in 16 years
that's 17,066 Km/hr

mike65

It'll be gone in no time.,OMG a supernova! its only 600 light years away. Could be quite a sight.

Or should I say has gone supernova (I forgot about the 600 years bit)

Calibos

You know our luck though lads. Once in a million lifetimes opportunity to see a supernova at such a close yet safe range. It'll hit mag -14, ie. 44 times brighter than Venus!!..........It'll happen in %$^&ing June!!! Yeah, yeah, it'll be cool to see a daylight star so close to the sun but can you imagine if it happened in the depths of Winter!!

All we'll really see is a shoulderless Orion come the Autumn

thebouldwhacker

Is that a safe distance???

Slow Motion

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

Is that a safe distance???

Should be pretty safe, if there were any danger I imagine someone would have pointed it out by now!

Capt'n Midnight

Slow Motion wrote: »

Should be pretty safe, if there were any danger I imagine someone would have pointed it out by now!

Not that there is much we could do except hide down in mines or slap on a bit of factor 50

15% in 16 years , we should be safe till 2093 as long as it doesn't contract any faster. How does that inverse square law thingy of gravity work again ?

Slow Motion

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Not that there is much we could do except hide down in mines or slap on a bit of factor 50

15% in 16 years , we should be safe till 2093 as long as it doesn't contract any faster. How does that inverse square law thingy of gravity work again ?

Sorry, my heads not eggy enough to answer that one!;) A supernova visible to the naked eye would be so cool! Although not if you were on a planet orbiting it:p

thebouldwhacker

So a dinosaur walked into a bar and said

'hey there seems to be a meteor in the sky, are we in trouble???"

The second Dinosaur said....

Slow Motion wrote: »

Should be pretty safe, if there were any danger I imagine someone would have pointed it out by now!

:D:D:D

Mena

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

So a dinosaur walked into a bar and said

'hey there seems to be a meteor in the sky, are we in trouble???"

The second Dinosaur said....



:D:D:D

Great reply

but...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0427010803.htm

marco_polo wrote: »

The enduringly popular theory that the Chicxulub crater holds the clue to the demise of the dinosaurs, along with some 65 percent of all species 65 million years ago, is challenged in a new article. On the basis of evidence suggesting that the Chicxulub impact predates the K-T boundary by as much as 300,000 years, Geologist argue that an impact didn't lead to mass extinction 65 million years ago.

mukki

the only supernova i want to see is the original torrent site