Betelgeuse captured by ALMA
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Betelgeuse captured by ALMA
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Re: Betelgeuse captured by ALMA
#2Something about the contrast in the image makes it seem to "pulse" as I look at it...eerie!
Edit: Maybe it's just the coffee I drank?
Re: Betelgeuse captured by ALMA
#3"When [it supernovas], the resulting explosion will be visible from Earth, even in broad daylight."
That sounds spectacular! What's the time frame on that - closer to 10 years or a million years?
Re: Betelgeuse captured by ALMA
#4That's amazing resolving power, even if it's been done (maybe not in the exact same way) for quite a while now. Hopefully newer telescopes like the James Webb Telescope will be able to resolve even the _planets_ around other stars, which we are already able to do with the biggest of exoplanets today (good example -> [1]).
[1] http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/files/2014/05/1RSX_J...
Re: Betelgeuse captured by ALMA
#5"When [it supernovas], the resulting explosion will be visible from Earth, even in broad daylight." That sounds spectacular! What's the time frame on that - closer to 10 years or a million years?
Somewhere in between. In astronomical terms "really soon"
Re: Betelgeuse captured by ALMA
#6What's with the weird shape in the bottom left? I don't suppose stars can get squished like that, so it must be some sort of optical artifact?
Re: Betelgeuse captured by ALMA
#7What's with the weird shape in the bottom left? I don't suppose stars can get squished like that, so it must be some sort of optical artifact?
I also thought maybe that was some gravitational lensing effect but TFA says there's a "giant bubble" on the surface so maybe it really is shaped like that.
Re: Betelgeuse captured by ALMA
#8What's with the weird shape in the bottom left? I don't suppose stars can get squished like that, so it must be some sort of optical artifact?
I guess it is the "vast plume of gas" that the article mentions:
The star has been observed in many other wavelengths, particularly in the visible, infrared, and ultraviolet. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope astronomers discovered a vast plume of gas almost as large as our Solar System. Astronomers have also found a gigantic bubble that boils away on Betelgeuse’s surface.Re: Betelgeuse captured by ALMA
#9What's with the weird shape in the bottom left? I don't suppose stars can get squished like that, so it must be some sort of optical artifact?
The article mentions some kind of bubble. Maybe that's it?
Re: Betelgeuse captured by ALMA
#10What's with the weird shape in the bottom left? I don't suppose stars can get squished like that, so it must be some sort of optical artifact?
I could be interpreting the image wrong, but the star appears to be expelling some material on the left. It's not flattened on the bottom so much as bulging in the middle.