Supernova of Betelgeuse
Are you all ready to blast off in an amazing an extremely long voyage to Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star that is going to explode as an supernova in near future. The supernova explosion would so massive that it would be visible by naked to us from earth and not to stop here, it would have luminosity of half moon and will be visible for many weeks and months. In this post we will try to explain you everything related to the explosion of Betelgeuse so let’s dive right in.
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| Supernova of Betelgeuse, Image source : Buisnessinsider |
Table of Content
Betelgeuse
If you are not familiar with Betelgeuse here is an quick intro of Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse is our closest red supergiant star and is the 6th brightest star visible from earth and appears as bright redish hue star. It present in the Orion constellation (right shoulder) and is around 700 light years away from earth and has diameter 8000 to 1000 times of sun, this means that if we place betelgeuse on place of sun its outer edge would extent till orbit of Jupiter.
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| Betelgeuse, Image source : Starwalk |
Betelgeuse has an average temperature around 3000 K which is much less compared to temperature of sun (5778 K), inspite of this fact it has an luminosity 1000 times that of sun. But the matter doesn’t end here the luminosity and size of betelgeuse is not constant and has a pulsating nature, which means that it changes in an rhythmic pattern, sometimes change can be as big as 20% of total radius or even more.
How do we know Betelgeuse is going to explode ?
We know that Betelgeuse is going to explode due to various reason’s. When an star is about to die or undergo supernova, the luminosity or brightness of star reduce 100 times and the star appears to be dimmer and more redish. This phenamenon occurs as the star release huge loads of gases like hydrogen helium around itself, these gases scatter the light and make them appear in this way.
Current studies and observation of Betelgeuse has shown that its luminosity is fluctuating and getting reduced and the redish nature is also increasing. These signs show that there is an high probability that Betelgeuse is going to explode and undergo a supernova.
Explosion of Betelgeuse
The explosion of Betelgeuse would be a very catastrophic, spectacular and beautiful event that human would have ever seen. Before the explosion the entire surface of betelgeuse will start to collapse in its core due gravitational pull. After which the entire star will explode in an supernova with an massive shock wave which would be even detected from earth.
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| Betelgeuse in sky after supernova, Image source : Spacetainment |
This Supernova will release energy equivalent to few octillion (1 followed by 27 zero) nuclear bomb, it would emit light equivalent to 570 billion sun’s brightness together. This would an extremely catastrophic event which would be visible from every part of our galaxy.
It would be an extremely spectacular event to watch from earth. Mankind has seen various such event but before but none of them were recorded. This would be the first supernova event that would be recorded.
This event would be visible by naked eyes and would look like a star only but much more brighter, so bright that it would be even visible during the day time. It would have an brightness of a half moon and would luminate our sky for weeks or even months.
After few weeks or months it would start to decrease its brightness and after some time it won’t be visible by naked eyes anymore, but with telescope we would be able to observe an Nebula which would be visible for decades or even millennium.
When will Betelgeuse explode ?
When would Betelgeuse explode is still not clear and astronomers are trying to determine date but still no results are found. The Betelgeuse could even burst tomorrow or not burst in your entire lifetime, but we have hope that we would be able to observe this event in our lifetime. According to latest studies and some researchers the star would burst within 1,00,000 years so our hopes are still not diminished.
Reasons for the explosion of Betelgeuse
The exact reason for the explosion of betelgeuse is still not clear but various possiblities and theories are proposed by astronomers and scientists to justify reason of explosion. The main reason for the upcoming explosion is thought to be due to age of Betelgeuse.
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| Life cycle of star, Image source : The planets |
Betelgeuse has evolved from an massive star to an Red supergiant star. The Red supergiant stage is the last stage of star after which is the star explodes in an supernova explosion and release huge load of energy and matter in cosmos. The diming and increased redish tone show an higher possibility for exploding as an supernova.
Other reasons thought for Diming
Various theories are proposed by various scientist and astronomers to explain the diming and redish tone of Betelgeuse, which try to explain that betelgeuse is not going to undergo a supernova. It is said that Betelgeuse could be surrounded by a dust cloud which could be reducing the brighteness of star and making it appear it dimmer.
Another possiblity is due to a fact that betelgeuse is a variable star, due to which it has an pulsating nature in which its brightness and size increase or decrease over time. This changes are thought to occur due to change in internal structure of star. It is possible that this diming could part of its pulsating nature rather than end of life.
Another possiblity is that Betelgeuse may be suffering from star spots which are causing temporary decrease of brightness. Star spots are cooler region on star that affect the luminosity of the star. Any of this or all the reason could be true for diming of Betelgeuse, but maximum scientific community believes that Betelgeuse is on the brink of explosion and would explode some day.
Effect on surrounding
A supernova of Betelgeuse would have profound effect on the surrounding space. In the immediate aftermath of event the star would release enormous amount of energy, light and radiation in the surrounding. This event would create an massive shock wave travelling huge distances.
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| Nebula |
The shock wave would compress and heat the gases present in the surrounding this trigger star formation and also ionise gas present in the surrounding thus forming an glowing cloud of gases. All this would create a magnificent Nebula which would be visible from earth through a telescope.
Over time the Nebula would cool down and thus form a more complex and evolving structure, all this would enrich the surrounding medium with heavy elements like iron, oxygen, carbon which would help in the formation of planets. These heavy elements are formed inside the core of the star and are only released during a supernova.
Will the Beteleguse supernova destroy earth ?
The supernova is an extremely energetic and strong event but due to such a huge distance of 700 light years from earth, this event would have no harm to earth. This event would only be visible as a star much brighter than half moon brightness and would be visible during continuously day and night, else it won’t have any impact on earth.
Impact on astronomy
The supernova of Betelgeuse would have a severe impact on astronomy, the supernova would help astronomers and scientists to get an insightful view of supernovae and help to understand properties and behaviour of massive stars.
We would be able to view the supernova through various instruments and find out various details of these events. The data gathered would help to understand the insight of the event and also help us to understand the exact nature of these events.
Conclusion
In Conclusion making you remember the main points of the post, Betelgeuse is our closest red supergiant star and is the 6th brightest star visible from earth and appears as a bright reddish hue star in constellation orion. Betelgeuse has shown that its luminosity is fluctuating and getting reduced and the redish nature is also increasing. These signs show that there is an high probability that Betelgeuse is going to explode and undergo a supernova.
The explosion of Betelgeuse would be a very catastrophic, spectacular and beautiful event that humans would have ever seen. This event would be visible by naked eyes and would look like a star only but much brighter, so bright that it would be even visible during the day time. It would have a brightness of a half moon and would luminate our sky for weeks or even months.
The Betelgeuse could even burst tomorrow or not burst in your entire lifetime. A supernova of Betelgeuse would have a profound effect on the surrounding space. In the immediate aftermath of the event the star would release an enormous amount of energy, light and radiation in the surrounding area.
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