2012 may just have a meaning afterall

[CaptainCrunch]

http://www.cracked.com/article_16817...ore-lunch.html

#6

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by HHW

That depends on the time of year - Orion (and Betelgeuse) are not visible at night in the summer.

True, but it dosen't dip to far bellow the horizon in the summer plus it's light here for like 18 hours a day anyways.

Hopefully this will happen in the winter. It's actually an interesting star and it's believed to be only a few million years old.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by photon

And it wouldn't be two suns, we'd be lucky if it would be as bright as the moon. Still would be VERY cool though, I'd love this to happen (or had already happened 600 years ago, since the star is 600ly away).

The last supernova in our galaxy was something like 400 years ago and it went from not being visable at all to the brightest star in the sky for over a year. If memory serves me correct it was about 20,000 light years away and likely wasn't as big as Betelgeuse.

600 light years is very close by galactic standards, Betelgeuse is already one of the brightest stars in the sky. Picture it a 1000 time brighter, this thing could very well be 2-3 times brighter than our full moon..a truly memorable event.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by ricosuave

does that blow anyone elses mind? or is it just me?

the sun is a pin-prick next to it...

If it were at the center of our solar system, its surface would be about half way between Mars and Jupiter.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by northcrunk

This happens to all stars once they have burned all of their fuel and will happen to ours, we're still billions of years off from that though

No it doesn't, our sun isn't big enough to produce a super nova.
Our sun will expand to a red giant, and eventually collaps to a white dwarf. It will be nothing like the end of Betelgeuse.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by ricosuave

does that blow anyone elses mind? or is it just me?

the sun is a pin-prick next to it...

And it's still not the biggest we know of! Betelgeuse in #6 is the 1st star to the left.

[evman150]

Originally Posted by ricosuave

does that blow anyone elses mind? or is it just me?

the sun is a pin-prick next to it...

The "size" is misleading. While it has ~1200 times the radius of the Sun, it is only about 18 times the mass.

Betelgeuse is a red supergiant, and 99% of its "radius" is actually a million times more tenuous than the air you're breathing right now.

This article is ridiculously sensational journalism. Linking it to 2012 is beyond stupid. Thinly veiled attempt for website hits, and it will probably work.

Can't wait for all the facebook status updates about "two suns" and "2012" and blah blah blah.

The subsequent explosion will appear tens of millions of times brighter than the sun, meaning 24-hours of light on Earth.

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/01/21/...#ixzz1BiIwAHDr

If something "appeared" tens of millions of times brighter than the sun in our sky, we would all be insta-dead.

An article like this calls itself a science article, when it could more fittingly be called "anti-science".

[Madman]

Originally Posted by T@T

Picture it a 1000 time brighter, this thing could very well be 2-3 times brighter than our full moon..a truly memorable event.

Not according to an actual scientist.

At 600+ light years, a supernova would be pretty bright, but hardly bright enough to be a second Sun, as both article say. Sorry, no Tatooine-like sunsets for us. It wouldn’t even be as bright as the full Moon, really, but certainly far brighter than Venus. Enough to cast a shadow, which would actually be pretty cool.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...euse-and-2012/

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by Barnes

If it were at the center of our SOLAR SYSTEM, its surface would be about half way between Mars and Jupiter.

Fixed.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

Fixed.

Doh. Thanks.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by Madman

Not according to an actual scientist.



http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...euse-and-2012/

Yes, bright enough to cast a shadow, which is brighter than our moon and we likely could drive without headlights for awhile

[peter12]

I think it's somewhat ironic that T@T is just as gullible, and indeed, as non-critical as many of the religious people he insults and criticizes almost routinely.

[calumniate]

I wonder how many people live on betelgeuse?

[T@T]

Originally Posted by evman150

If something "appeared" tens of millions of times brighter than the sun in our sky, we would all be insta-dead.

I think what they mean is it would get tens of millions times brighter than our sun if we were the same distance from it..it already is probably a few hundred times brighter than our sun due to it's size. When a massive star goes supernova it can get brighter than the whole galaxy it came from.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by peter12

I think it's somewhat ironic that T@T is just as gullible, and indeed, as non-critical as many of the religious people he insults and criticizes almost routinely.

Right turn Clyde

[T@T]

Originally Posted by calumniate

I wonder how many people live on betelgeuse?

About the same amount as the people who populate our sun.

Originally Posted by peter12

I think it's somewhat ironic that T@T is just as gullible, and indeed, as non-critical as many of the religious people he insults and criticizes almost routinely.

Where the f'k did that come from? Hows it it gullable to report that a star is shrinking and will explode...did I say it will happen in 2012.

Go back to your friken bible, maybe god can save us

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Scientist weighs in:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/...n7269888.shtml

[troutman]

Originally Posted by ricosuave

does that blow anyone elses mind? or is it just me?

the sun is a pin-prick next to it...

We live on a hunk of rock and metal that circles a humdrum star that is one of 400 billion other stars that make up the Milky Way Galaxy which is one of billions of other galaxies which make up a universe which may be one of a very large number, perhaps an infinite number, of other universes. That is a perspective on human life and our culture that is well worth pondering.
-- Carl Sagan

[troutman]

Oops - Madman already linked this . . .

Watch for Phil Plait (Bad Astronomy) to comment on this soon.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/

He already has:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...euse-and-2012/

I swear, I need to trust my instincts. As soon as I saw the article on the news.com.au site desperately trying to link Betelgeuse going supernova with the nonsense about the Mayans and 2012, my gut reaction was to write about it.

But no, I figured a minute later, this story would blow over. So to speak.

I should’ve known: instead of going away, it gets picked up by that bastion of antiscience, The Huffington Post.

Grrrr.

Betelgeuse may explode tomorrow night, or it may not go kerblooie until the year 100,000 A.D. We don’t know. But given that huge range, the odds of it blowing up next year are pretty slim. And clearly, the original article was really trying to tie in the 2012 date to this, even when it has nothing to do with anything. The tie-in was a rickety link to scuttlebutt on the web about it, but that’s about it.

[troutman]

At 600+ light years, a supernova would be pretty bright, but hardly bright enough to be a second Sun, as both article say. Sorry, no Tatooine-like sunsets for us. It wouldn’t even be as bright as the full Moon, really, but certainly far brighter than Venus. Enough to cast a shadow, which would actually be pretty cool.