thankingyou (guest) 26 Jan 2011 00:27
I had read about this today, and I get nervous over 2012 for some reason, and I come here and its calms me, thanks for your work
Betelgeuse / Discussion
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thankingyou (guest) 26 Jan 2011 00:27
G.D. it, what will these 2012 believing a-holes try to link to a doomsday next? The unrest in Egypt? Possible forecasted snow the week of the Super Bowl? Trans fats? (double face palm)
"The Universe is cool enough without making up crap about it". —Dr. Phil Plait
"If psychics are capable of seeing into the future—why the f**k can't they give us the score to next year's Super Bowl" —Denis Leary
You know why it's called the Huffington post? Because the people who publish it are huffing tons of paint!
"The Universe is cool enough without making up crap about it". —Dr. Phil Plait
"If psychics are capable of seeing into the future—why the f**k can't they give us the score to next year's Super Bowl" —Denis Leary
seems poor Betelgeuse is getting alot of bad press these days, quite sad really concidering it's a beautiful sight in the night sky :( makes me so mad that people put this stuff and have no idea what they are talking about in the first place.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Albert Einstein
I'm with you on that.
I think it would be great if Betelgeuse did become a supernova in my lifetimethe opportunity - to see something that no human eyes have seen in this galaxy for over 400 years - the prospect makes me giddy. And the aftermath would be pretty spectacular too; I bet the resulting nebula will be lovely.
"The Universe is cool enough without making up crap about it". —Dr. Phil Plait
"If psychics are capable of seeing into the future—why the f**k can't they give us the score to next year's Super Bowl" —Denis Leary
Hiya Keith :)
Omg can you imagine how awesome it would be? it looks amazing now I get so much pleasure in telling everybody about it, I am sure the likes of Hubble and such would get so many awesome pictures, maybe if we are lucky we will see it, just worries me that people are scared about it when really there is nothing to be scared of at all.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Albert Einstein
Of course if you've got the interest and a few tools at hand - as well as a bit of luck, sure - anyone can find a supernova.
I can't wait to see the doomsdayers linking Betelgeuse with Flordemayo prophecy for 2012, made during TGRTPC.
"I saw in a vision that we’re going to have two suns. We need to get ready." - Flordemayo.
I think they will be very disappointed when all they get is a tiny star just like Venus when it blows up.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but whereas Betelgeuse is about 640 light years away and the supernova event may happen "soon", Betelgeuse already blew up, but we can't see the "second sun" yet.
The perhaps confusing bit is that supernovae are recorded according to when the light reached our eyes, not when the star in question died, so Betelgeuse could be recorded as SN 2640, for example, having been witnessed to blow up by the people of 2640 AD, but it would have actually died in 2000 AD (give or take the actual distances involved).
Of course with the uncertainty involved in trying to estimate when it goes pop, while it could have already died, it could have pleeeeennnnntttyyy of life left yet.
Well, soon means sometime in the next several thousand to a couple of million years.
"Do you ever think about things you do think about?" - Henry Drummond to Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit the Wind
I would like it now. That would be so cool to see it in or lifetime and the science they will get is enormous.
I was just thinking, that if it would take the light itself 640 years to reach us, then surely other nastiness like asteroids being blown our direction would take even longer?
Yes, but the prime nasty would be a potential gamma ray burst, which would go pretty damn fast indeed. Namely speed of light type of fast. Though potential is too hopeful a word, seeing as it wouldn't be pointed towards Earth, and I can't recall distances with regards to gamma ray bursts right now, whether that would have an effect too.
The whole thing is mentioned in detail in Death from the Skies though, just to plug Phil Plait once more. Perhaps mentions it on his blog too.
Is there anything else out there that travels the same speed as light? Or maybe faster?
No. At least we didn't find anything else faster or that travels at light speed.
Is there anything else out there that travels the same speed as light? Or maybe faster?
Unlike the speed of sound, the speed of light is a property of space-time itself.
No matter can exceed light speed because it bends space-time and becoming so massive that it never reaches that speed ever.
Don't confuse the expansion of the fabric of space itself that is not limited to the speed of light.
Even though the particles get separated from each other faster than the speed of light, they can not move past the speed of light, they just get dragged by the space-time fabric and would never meet each other when they would fly towards each other.
Well technically the distance does not matter. When we see it, then it means that it already blew up 640 years ago.
But since no matter can exceed the speed of light, and the sheer distance, we would maybe get a bunch of additional atoms blown our way.
For those interested I just snapped a picture from Betelgeuse.
This is as live as it gets
http://www.slooh.com/viewsnap.php?img=2634157&s=4180
I also seem to have snapped an image back in 11 Jan 2010
http://www.slooh.com/viewsnap.php?img=1956726&s=1692
Oh No not betelgeuse. but if it goes supernova….. what will happen to Ford Prefect?
Oh No not betelgeuse. but if it goes supernova….. what will happen to Ford Prefect?
Heh, good question. :-D
/forum/t-302114/betelgeuse#post-