Quote:The red supergiant star Betelgeuse, the bright reddish star in the constellation Orion, has steadily shrunk over the past 15 years, according to University of California, Berkeley, researchers.
Long-term monitoring by UC Berkeley's Infrared Spatial Interferometer (ISI) on the top of Mt. Wilson in Southern California shows that Betelgeuse (bet' el juz), which is so big that in our solar system it would reach to the orbit of Jupiter, has shrunk in diameter by more than 15 percent since 1993.
Since Betelgeuse's radius is about five astronomical units, or five times the radius of Earth's orbit, that means the star's radius has shrunk by a distance equal to the orbit of Venus.
Red giant star Betelgeuse mysteriously shrinking
That star is experiencing a little shrinkage. Maybe it starting to go supernova?
Very interesting
The shrinkage could be symptoms of Betelgeuse possibly about to supernova.
What's weird is that should Betelgeuse supernova, it's an event which in real time, happened about 500 years ago.
I'm pretty sure Betelgeuse is roughly 500 light-years away.
(06-11-2009 08:27 PM)Eagle of the Desert3 Wrote: [ -> ]That star is experiencing a little shrinkage.
Betelgeuse was in the pool! Betelgeuse was in the pool!
(getting the Seinfeld joke out of the way
)
In all seriousness though, I wouldn't be surprised if Betelgeuse went supernova in the next few years.
Great, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is gonna need updating.
So, we could see a serious supernova in our lifetime? Maybe in the next ten years?
A Betelgeuse supernova would be cool, from what I've read though Googling, a Betelgeuse supernova would be as bright as the full moon, visible during the day...
*sigh* I'll go get the red matter ready.
(06-29-2009 04:35 PM)Mr. Tight-pants Wrote: [ -> ]*sigh* I'll go get the red matter ready.
I hope you leave early, you know how bitchy the Romulans can get about these things.
So the star has shrunk but it hasn't gotten dimmer or brighter? I guess the mystery is how it shrinks and yet we do not observe a drastic change in total energy output.
(07-01-2009 05:21 PM)SithLord131 Wrote: [ -> ]So the star has shrunk but it hasn't gotten dimmer or brighter? I guess the mystery is how it shrinks and yet we do not observe a drastic change in total energy output.
It's possible we're observing the beginning of Betelgeuse's final collapse now. Most people know that a star is basically a balancing act between gravity pulling inwards, and nuclear fusion pushing outwards. A constant luminosity yet a 15% decrease in size in that time frame could mean that the core of Betelgeuse is losing its battle with gravity.