There is observed data on the temperature at the surface and as a function of distance; what I meant was, we know it is thousands of degrees even at a dozen AU from the star; but a really tenuous “red hot” plasma would not toast you that much, especially if you were standing on the surface of a decent planet. So, loosely phrased, how close could you get to Betelgeuse (in your space suit, let’s say)?
I love the Orion constellation but I gotta say I really hope Betelgeuse explodes in my lifetime. I know it is a real longshot but still hoping.
(and I get it may have exploded and I have not seen it yet)
Yeah, bit of a time delay there – 642.5 years. Betelgeuse might already have exploded before the first voyage of Columbus, or when the Ming dynasty was still in its early stages, and we still wouldn’t see it yet.
That thing we think of as Betelgeuse is actually the enemy fleet’s powerplant. The fluctuations we’re observing now are them modulating throttle as they begin the process of slowing for Solar System entry.
You’ll notice they appear in a static location compared to the “fixed stars”. IOW, they’re heading straight for us.
The really big flare comes as they fan out to envelop the Earth. I’d rather they wait at least a hundred years before they do that. I’d settle for 50 in a pinch, but many people I know will still be around then. Not so many in a hundred.
What about the attack ships? You know, the ones off the shoulder of Orion. How do they figure into this?
Depends on where the Tannhäuser Gate is during this epoch.
Holy glittering C-beams Deadman!
I can confidently state that we are now ten months closer to Betelgeuse’s supernova event than we were when this thread was last active.
Not necessarily. If it happened say two years ago, we’d not see it yet, but now we’d be 10 months further from the time of teh event.
And now he’s the Transportation Secretary, and the adoptive father of a twin boy and girl.
(ba-dump)
He said “we”, not “it”. While it’s quite possible that it’s ten months’ further from the supernova than when this thread started, we the inhabitants of Earth, are two months closer. It’s not just the case that light travels at finite speed - causality itself does. Thus, Betelgeuse does not explode for us until the effects of it exploding have reached us.
Totally different kind of dimming:
In the US, it’ll only be visible from a narrow path across south Florida. The path will also go across parts of southern Europe. Map at the linked article.
Onew thing is that the asteroid in question (Leona) is about the same size as viewed from Earth as the star. Betelgeuse is so big that it is not a point source, even though it’s around 550 light years away. Anyway, the occultation may be like an annular eclipse of the Sun, where the Sun shows around the edges of the Moon throughout the entire event.
Ooh, nice, we’ll be able to learn a lot about both Betelgeuse and the asteroid from this.
Looks like I’m about 20 miles outside the edge of the occlusion path. So can’t quite just go out on the balcony and watch at the appointed minute. But for sure I’m a lot closer than nearly all other Americans.
We have so much light pollution around here that even Betelgeuse can be hard to see. Plus clouds of course.
If weather the night prior and the day of is looking good I might make a run to a suitable viewing spot. By eye it’ll just be a blink of a star. But that’s still a pretty cool coincidence, and not something I’ve ever seen.
I just hope after that after that one winks out, it promptly comes back instead of then the other ones going out in turn. That would be bad.
Don’t worry about it. I’ve only printed a little over 8 billion names so far.
Faster, faster!
IIRC you are in Florida (vague memory…I might be very wrong).
If so, there are some dark sky parks in your state. Not sure if any are close to you though.
(If not in Florida you can noodle around at the site linked above to find one close to you.)
You remember rightly. On the coast but in the middle of the Great Miami Bortle 8 Light Pollution Blob o’ Major Washout.
The problem with southern Florida is it’s either solid suburbia, or trackless swamp with no roads. And the cities are big enough that even the center of the vast nothingness of the Everglades isn’t that far from well-lit suburbia. Add in an atmosphere with lots of salt and humidity, and the end result is that seeing is rarely great.
If I had an ocean-capable boat I could head out 50 miles and it’d be absolutely, positively, no-shit dark. Not here though. Even the dark parks nearish (<100 miles) from here aren’t very dark. And unlike a solar or lunar eclipse, the path of “totality” for the occlusion is very narrow, barely 30 miles wide. A boat is the answer.
But thank you for a cool link; I’ll be digging into it more tomorrow, both for here and for other places I’ve lived.
I’m wondering if any station or streaming site will cover this live, like they do for solar eclipses. Is this on the NASA channel perhaps? I suppose someone will upload a video to YouTube later.
With all the interest in whether or not Betelgeuse is supernovaing as we speak, this would get a lot of views. Added bonus is that telescopes can resolve Betelgeuse’s disk.