# Has anyone ever seen a star go out? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 8, 2003, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278 "2003-09-08T12:40:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RogueRacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RogueRacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueRacer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278/21 "2003-09-09T21:55:53Z")
Please excuse my messed up quote. :smack: Hey! I got the link right! ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278/22 "2003-09-10T00:30:39Z")
I know it is just science fiction, but Robert J Sawyer had this to say in his book _Calculating God_, about Betelgeuse going supernova: > [@](#): > > … [it would release] a torrent of radio noise, light, heat, x-rays, cosmic rays and neutrinos - a deadly sleet pouring out in all directions, an expanding spherical shell of death and destruction shining brighter than all the other stars in the galaxy combined: a supernova. … Earth would be protected for a time: our atmosphere would keep the initial onslaught from reaching the ground. But there was more coming. Much more. How “true” is this? Would life truly become extinct on earth? Sawyer uses it as a possible premise for a mass extinction, like the one that killed off the dinosaurs. Even if it is hugely exagerated, it’s still a good book 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278/23 "2003-09-10T07:02:02Z")
Try reading this for some numbers on radiation damage from a supernova; [http://www.tass-survey.org/richmond/answers/snrisks.txt](http://www.tass-survey.org/richmond/answers/snrisks.txt) there might be even more energetic events that are more damaging; gamma-ray bursters > **[Gamma-ray burst](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_ray_burst)** > > In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are immensely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the brightest and most energetic electromagnetic events known to occur in the universe. Bursts can last from ten milliseconds to several hours. After an initial flash of gamma rays, a longer-lived "afterglow" is usually emitted at longer wavelengths (X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, microwave and radio). > The intense radiation of most observed GRBs is thou... and type III supernovae (hypernovae) > **[Hypernova](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypernova)** > > A hypernova (sometimes called a collapsar) is a very energetic supernova thought to result from an extreme core-collapse scenario. In this case, a massive star (\>30 solar masses) collapses to form a rotating black hole emitting twin energetic jets and surrounded by an accretion disk. It is a type of stellar explosion that ejects material with an unusually high kinetic energy, an order of magnitude higher than most supernovae, with a luminosity at least 10 times greater. They usually appear simila... which may be the same thing ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278/24 "2003-09-10T08:13:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RogueRacer \* > \*\*Do you have a cite for this? That seems very extreme. \*\* Referring to the statement about Betelgeuse, it’s well known it is a prime candidate for death. In fact, it may well be dead as we speak. I believe it is in the ballpark of 800-1100 light years from Earth - off the top of my head. So, the telegram informing us just hasn’t arrived yet. 😉 - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278/25 "2003-09-10T08:17:54Z")
Many of the main stars comprising the constellation, “Orion”, are in the ballpark of 1300 light years away except for Betelgeuse at 470 light years and Bellatrix at 325 light years away. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278/26 "2003-09-10T16:48:02Z")
Just to finish off the Betelgeuse topic, it would still be a point source, at least to naked-eye observation, despite being so bright (the star is already just barely resolveable to the Hubble and (I imagine) ground-based adaptive optics scopes). And a full moon is easily visible in daylight; a smaller and more “concentrated” object would be that much easier to see. It’s certain that, as a really big red giant, it’s going to supernova; the question is just when. My source for the “approximately 1000 years” figure is one of my undergraduate professors, who was studying it. It has been suggested that supernovae might trigger mass extinctions, but the last paper I saw on the possibility specifically ruled out Betelgeuse as a candidate. Apparently, it’s far enough away, and the “terrain”, so to speak, between there and here will help as well. A gamma-ray burst, were it to occur close enough (and we’re not sure if there could be any close enough) would sterilize the planet, but only half the planet: A gamma burst only lasts for seconds, and the other side of the planet would be adequately shielded. And I don’t know about rho Cassiopeia, but eta Carina is usually considered to be a sort of planetary nebula, meaning that it’s probably already done whatever it is that it’s doing. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bad_Astronomer)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278/27 "2003-09-11T05:33:03Z")
IMO, people don’t give enough thought to an obscure star named Sher 25. It’s in the southern hemisphere, and is almost certainly going to go supernova [in the next 20,000 years](http://www.badastronomy.com/info/logo.html) (scroll down about halfway on that page). Betelgeuse may take much longer than that. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278/28 "2003-09-11T10:44:07Z")
Yeah, but who cares about Southern Hemisphere stars? 🙂 Hey wait a minute… ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278/29 "2003-09-11T13:01:05Z")
I’m jealous of astronomers in the Southern Hemisphere. They get to see cool things we don’t. The Magellanic Clouds, for instance. From my latitude I can’t even see the Centaurus star cluster. Bad Astronomer, how were my math and assumptions? ---
**Author:** ![ashwin.focus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c5a1d2/32.png) [@ashwin.focus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashwin.focus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278/30 "2011-09-23T11:33:25Z")
Hi guys, Year before in 2010, when I was lying over the water-tank of my house, it happened for me to see a star explode and go off in a straight line, fading away. I remember initially that star had no much light (say visibly 2mm in diameter), suddenly exploded with a flash of light ( around 5-7 mm ). And then it swiftly took a straight path before fading away… It was an ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278/31 "2011-09-23T11:48:15Z")
Ashwin? Ashwin? Speak to us, Ashwin! My God…the zombie aliens in the spaceship he saw have got him. They’re coming for us all! Run! (Seriously - if it was a natural phenomenon, it sounds like a meteor. Real stars don’t behave like that.) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278/32 "2011-09-23T12:25:07Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278/33 "2011-09-23T13:50:08Z")
> [@ashwin.focus](#): > > Hi guys, > Year before in 2010, when I was lying over the water-tank of my house, it happened for me to see a star explode and go off in a straight line, fading away. I remember initially that star had no much light (say visibly 2mm in diameter), suddenly exploded with a flash of light ( around 5-7 mm ). And then it swiftly took a straight path before fading away.. It was an I would be willing to bet that what you saw was an [‘Iridium Flare’](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_flare#Iridium_satellite_flare)(which is quite neat). ETA: the simulation at the wiki-link doesn’t do it justice. You can predict them with [this site](http://www.heavens-above.com/). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278/34 "2011-09-23T14:03:09Z")
If you’re looking for something less spectacular, you can see several stars “go out”. Variable stars can change considerably in magnitude, due to eclipsing, variation in size, or variation in magntude. It caused quite a stir when omicron ceti apparently disappeared in 1598, only to re-appear months later. After that, people looked for and found many more variable stars. Beta Persei (Algol) is an eclipsing variable star with a period of just under three days. The times of the minima are given every month in _Sky and Telescope_ magazine. Although the knowledge of such variable stars officially goes back to the disappearance and reappearance of omicron ceta and Holwarda’s 1638 book (which resulted in its other name, Mira), I’ve argued that the variability of Mira, Algol, Delta Cephei, and gamma Cassiopeia were known to the ancients. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278/35 "2011-09-25T09:35:50Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > I would be willing to bet that what you saw was an [‘Iridium Flare’](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_flare#Iridium_satellite_flare)(which is quite neat). ETA: the simulation at the wiki-link doesn’t do it justice. > > You can predict them with [this site](http://www.heavens-above.com/). Awesome site, **KarlGauss** , thank you! The other day I saw what I took for the biggest shooting star ever, but as it turns out it actually was [one of those](http://www.heavens-above.com/flaredetails.asp?SatID=25170&lat=54.17522&lng=13.33534&alt=0&loc=Riems&TZ=CET&Date=40809.8154269248&Mirror=2). Quite neat indeed. ---
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278/36 "2011-09-25T17:02:37Z")
I hate zombie stars! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-seen-a-star-go-out/200278.md?page=1)