Why is Betelgeuse glowing so brightly and behaving so strangely?
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Re: Why is Betelgeuse glowing so brightly and behaving so strangely?
#2Someone said its name three times?
Re: Why is Betelgeuse glowing so brightly and behaving so strangely?
#3tl;dr
Betelgeuse, the closest red giant star to Earth, is exhibiting unusual behavior. Normally, the star cycles between bright and dim states every 400 days. However, between late 2019 and early 2020, it went through a "great dimming" due to a dust cloud that obscured our view of the star. Currently, Betelgeuse is glowing at 150% of its normal brightness and is cycling between bright and dim states every 200 days, which is twice as fast as usual, making it the seventh brightest star in the night sky.
The great dimming was caused by a surface mass ejection of gas and dust, a phenomenon resulting from an anomalously hot convective plume. This ejection, which was several times the mass of Earth's moon, has caused changes in the star's forces and stability.
“If we were to throw one of our arms away from us, it changes the way our forces move in our body. And a similar thing happened with poor Betelguese,” says Webb.
Betelgeuse is anticipated to explode as a supernova in the next 10,000 to 100,000 years.
Re: Why is Betelgeuse glowing so brightly and behaving so strangely?
#4tl;dr Betelgeuse, the closest red giant star to Earth, is exhibiting unusual behavior. Normally, the star cycles between bright and dim states every 400 days. However, between late 2019 and early 2020, it went through a "great dimming" due to a dust cloud that obscured our view of the star. Currently, Betelgeuse is glowing at 150% of its normal brightness and is cycling between bright and dim states every 200 days, w…
"Is Earth in danger if Betelgeuse goes supernova?" - https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/earth-dange...
Re: Why is Betelgeuse glowing so brightly and behaving so strangely?
#5Probably it's got something to do with the Great Collapsing Hrung Disaster
Re: Why is Betelgeuse glowing so brightly and behaving so strangely?
#6tl;dr Betelgeuse, the closest red giant star to Earth, is exhibiting unusual behavior. Normally, the star cycles between bright and dim states every 400 days. However, between late 2019 and early 2020, it went through a "great dimming" due to a dust cloud that obscured our view of the star. Currently, Betelgeuse is glowing at 150% of its normal brightness and is cycling between bright and dim states every 200 days, w…
"Is Earth in danger if Betelgeuse goes supernova?" - https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/earth-dange...
I hate articles filled with meandering fluff. The answer is buried 3/4 of the way down the page, and it's "No, it's too far away".
Re: Why is Betelgeuse glowing so brightly and behaving so strangely?
#7I'd really love to see major space event like Beetlegeuse blowing up during my insignificant life-span
Re: Why is Betelgeuse glowing so brightly and behaving so strangely?
#8When it explodes, Betelgeuse is expected to be brighter than the full moon. Gamma ray bursts appear to follow the axis of rotation of the star, and since that axis does not point directly at Earth (it is off by about 20 degrees), that's not a threat. So it will be exciting, scary and safe - like a rollercoaster that everyone on Earth gets to ride at the same time.
Re: Why is Betelgeuse glowing so brightly and behaving so strangely?
#9"The Great Dimming of Betelgeuse: a Surface Mass Ejection (SME) and its Consequences" (2022) - https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.01676
Re: Why is Betelgeuse glowing so brightly and behaving so strangely?
#10I'd really love to see major space event like Beetlegeuse blowing up during my insignificant life-span
Do we have models that say what it would look like before an imminent explosion?
As in "just before it pops, the undulations are {such-and-such} for 1 month"