Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: MarineUS on January 21, 2011, 09:41:10 PM
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Earth could be getting a second sun, at least temporarily.
Dr. Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland, outlined the scenario to news.com.au. Betelgeuse, one of the night sky's brightest stars, is losing mass, indicating it is collapsing. It could run out of fuel and go super-nova at any time.
When that happens, for at least a few weeks, we'd see a second sun, Carter says. There may also be no night during that timeframe.
The Star Wars-esque scenario could happen by 2012, Carter says... or it could take longer. The explosion could also cause a neutron star or result in the formation of a black hole 1300 light years from Earth, reports news.com.au.
But doomsday sayers should be careful about speculation on this one. If the star does go super-nova, Earth will be showered with harmless particles, according to Carter. "They will flood through the Earth and bizarrely enough, even though the supernova we see visually will light up the night sky, 99 per cent of the energy in the supernova is released in these particles that will come through our bodies and through the Earth with absolutely no harm whatsoever," he told news.com.au.
In fact, a neutrino shower could be beneficial to Earth. According to Carter this "star stuff" makes up the universe. "It literally makes things like gold, silver - all the heavy elements - even things like uranium....a star like Betelgeuse is instantly forming for us all sorts of heavy elements and atoms that our own Earth and our own bodies have from long past supernovi," said Carter.
UPDATE: To clarify, the news.com.au article does not say a neutrino shower could be beneficial to Earth, but implies a supernova could be beneficial, stating, "Far from being a sign of the apocalypse, according to Dr Carter the supernova will provide Earth with elements necessary for survival and continuity."
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There is a lot about that article that sounds off to me assuming you quoted it exactly.
In any case, if you were outside tomorrow night and suddenly saw Betelgeuse light up the sky, keep in mind that actually happened 1300 years ago. It just took that long for the light of the event to get here.
Any time you look up at the night sky, the light from those stars took thousands, tens of thousands of years to reach your eye. You are literally looking far back in time from your backyard.
:D,
Wab
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There is a lot about that article that sounds off to me assuming you quoted it exactly.
In any case, if you were outside tomorrow night and suddenly saw Betelgeuse light up the sky, keep in mind that actually happened 1300 years ago. It just took that long for the light of the event to get here.
Any time you look up at the night sky, the light from those stars took thousands, tens of thousands of years to reach your eye. You are literally looking far back in time from your backyard.
:D,
Wab
Thats right, i heard that some people look so far they can see the beginning of the universe still happening.
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This whole Betelgeuse exploding thing has been around for decades. Not sure why they've chosen now to re-sensationalize it. 2012 coming up? Every astronomer on the planet hopes it occurs within their life time, but we just don't know.
Also Betelgeuse is only ~640 light years away, not 1300.
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Also Betelgeuse is only ~640 light years away, not 1300.
I stand corrected. I was going to look that up but I've had too much rum. ;)
I guess this is like the chain emails I get forwarded to me from friends every 2 years saying that Mars is going to approach so close that it will appear as large as the full Moon.
"Is this real?"
Uhhh. If you look up and see Mars in the night sky as large as the full Moon.....well look on the bright side; all your troubles are over.
:devil,
Wab
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slow news day *shrug*
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WE ARE GOING TO DIE!!!!!!! RUN!!!!!!!!!!
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meh - I just thought it was pretty neat :P
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...You are literally looking far back in time from your backyard.
:D,
Wab
At least there's something entertaining to watch. Television wasn't so lame back then.... :t
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Not really anything to look forward to, but it would be nice to see.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/21/betelgeuse-explode-scientists-say/ (http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/21/betelgeuse-explode-scientists-say/)
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Its about time we invented warp drive :old:
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Its about time we invented warp drive :old:
why reinvent the wheel. let's just use the one from star trek. :devil
semp
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Semp,
That would be too easyyyyyyyyyy! :devil
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I saw two moons the other night.... down by the river some folks were skinny dippin'
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When the Aliens abducted me last year, we took a shortcut around Betelgeuse and it looked fine too me.
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I saw two moons the other night.... down by the river some folks were skinny dippin'
Were they shiny or going nova? :D
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WE ARE GOING TO DIE!!!!!!! RUN!!!!!!!!!!
I think you look pretty silly trying to outrun a supernova :D
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I think you look pretty silly trying to outrun a supernova :D
Not for long. :rofl
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Not for long. :rofl
I think you look pretty silly trying to outrun a supernova :D
Yall be hatin!!
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Interesting bit of info. It takes a star billions of years to burn its fuel but it only lasts a few seconds as soon as it starts fusing iron. At least thats what I have been told.
I would love to see the nova in my lifetime.
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We could get an exact time and date of the showing of the explosion. Simply take a couple of the observers and put them 1 light year towards the star. When they see it go piff they can come back and tell us when to see it ourselves.
:banana: :x :neener:
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Story has been around before, nothing now. Some things right, but plenty of hyperbole too. Debunked here: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/01/21/betelgeuse-and-2012/
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When the Aliens abducted me last year, we took a shortcut around Betelgeuse and it looked fine too me.
:rofl
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I think you look pretty silly trying to outrun a supernova :D
Only gonna die tired :P :P