# Oooooh. Supernova. Oh, sh\*t! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 26, 2006, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oooooh-supernova-oh-sh-t/346134 "2006-02-26T01:56:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oooooh-supernova-oh-sh-t/346134/21 "2006-02-26T17:04:09Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > Start sweating. Betelgeuse (aka Alpha Orionis) is heading towards a supernova “soon”. Of course in astronomical terms soon could be tomorrow or it could be 50000 years from now. > > And Betelgeuse isn’t 440,000,000 light years away. It isn’t 1,000,000 light years away. It isn’t even 1000 light years away. It is in fact 427 light years away. When it goes bang, we’re going to notice. Freaky. Can I get a cite? I’d like to learn more. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oooooh-supernova-oh-sh-t/346134/22 "2006-02-26T17:07:37Z")
> [@Wolfian](#): > > Don’t worry. Their top scientist put his only son in a space ship aimed at Earth before the star went boom. OK, that one made me laugh out loud. Too bad he’s going to be (at least) 440 million years old … “And now, it’s the adventures of Superoldman! Faster than paint drying! Able to leap dust in several bounds! Cannot be woken from his nap … _no matter what!_” ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oooooh-supernova-oh-sh-t/346134/23 "2006-02-26T20:49:50Z")
[More information about Betelgeuse](http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/betelgeuse.html). It is unlikely that a star going hypernova would have a planet harboring life. Big stars live fast and die young. A star like Eta Carinae will live for on the order of just a million years before exploding. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oooooh-supernova-oh-sh-t/346134/24 "2006-02-26T21:03:57Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > [More information about Betelgeuse](http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/betelgeuse.html). > > It is unlikely that a star going hypernova would have a planet harboring life. Big stars live fast and die young. A star like Eta Carinae will live for on the order of just a million years before exploding. Indeed, LBVs are the James Dean´s of the stellar catalogue. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oooooh-supernova-oh-sh-t/346134/25 "2006-02-26T21:32:54Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > It’s the only way to stop the horrible planet of the apes. What must be done must be done. Wait a minute… the Statue of Liberty? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oooooh-supernova-oh-sh-t/346134/26 "2006-02-27T01:25:29Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > You guys joke, but think about the poor people living on a planet revolving around that star! They’re all going to die! And we will never know anything about them! Won’t someone think of the aliens??? Does this mean that Fred Phelps’ entire family/congregation will now be standing next to the star, singing about how god is destroying it because of the gays? Just checking. :dubious: **Antigen**? Soylent Green is people. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oooooh-supernova-oh-sh-t/346134/27 "2006-02-27T05:25:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Freaky. Can I get a cite? I’d like to learn more. There’s this [site](http://chris.kingsu.ab.ca/~brian/astro/course/lectures/winter/text/snrisks.txt), which will explain more than you’d ever possibly understand about the effects of a supernova. This [site](http://www.earthsky.com/shows/show.php?date=20050425) offers its information at a level I can follow. And there’s this [site](http://members.aol.com/Artstellar/betel.html) and this [site](http://www.sunshinedna.com/?p=4), which have cool pictures of what it might look like from Earth. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oooooh-supernova-oh-sh-t/346134/28 "2006-02-27T13:32:30Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > Wait a minute… the Statue of Liberty? :eek: Nah, the original book. With the planet around Betelgeuse. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oooooh-supernova-oh-sh-t/346134/29 "2006-02-27T13:32:49Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > You guys joke, but think about the poor people living on a planet revolving around that star! They’re all going to die! And we will never know anything about them! Won’t someone think of the aliens??? It’s OK, the supernova is to herald another incarnation of the Son of God. (Thanks, Arthur C.!) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oooooh-supernova-oh-sh-t/346134/30 "2006-02-27T14:36:50Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > It’s OK, the supernova is to herald another incarnation of the Son of God. Ten thousand years from now. On the other side of the galaxy. (That’s one of my favourite stories…) ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oooooh-supernova-oh-sh-t/346134/31 "2006-02-28T02:41:06Z")
> [@JonScribe](#): > > How the hell have we survived this long? Same way we got here in the first place – pure, blind, dumb, random luck. Which is always subject to change at any instant. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oooooh-supernova-oh-sh-t/346134/32 "2006-02-28T06:41:35Z")
First, supernovas and hypernovas, which produce gamma-ray bursts, are very different things. Hypernovas are supernovas occurring in stars with greater than 40 times the mass of the Sun. Betelgeuse is only about 20 times the mass of the sun, so no hypernova. Just a regular supernova. > [@Little Nemo](#): > > There’s this [site](http://chris.kingsu.ab.ca/~brian/astro/course/lectures/winter/text/snrisks.txt), which will explain more than you’d ever possibly understand about the effects of a supernova. [Here’s a more recent version](http://stupendous.rit.edu/richmond/answers/snrisks.txt). The gist of it is that a supernova of the type that Betelgeuse would become would have to be within 10 parsecs, or 32.6 light years, to pose a significant danger to life on Earth. Betelgeuse is not anywhere near that close. A more distant supernova might pose a threat to astronauts outside Earth’s atmosphere, but not to life on Earth’s surface. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oooooh-supernova-oh-sh-t/346134/33 "2006-02-28T21:47:49Z")
Even if it does not pose a thread, would Betelgeuse going supernova cause a bright enough effect to be seen during daylight hours? What would it look like during our nighttime? A huge star? A sun-like glow? Would it alter our night sky? ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oooooh-supernova-oh-sh-t/346134/34 "2006-02-28T22:19:57Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Even if it does not pose a thread, would Betelgeuse going supernova cause a bright enough effect to be seen during daylight hours? What would it look like during our nighttime? A huge star? A sun-like glow? Would it alter our night sky? It would look like a really, really bright star. It would probably be about as bright as the full moon. It wouldn’t get really dark for a few months while the Betelgeuse-supernova was visible. After that, it would be gone from our night sky. A few centuries later, there would be a nebula where it used to be, which would appear brighter than the Orion nebula (which you can see with the naked eye from a dark site, and is quite beautiful to look at in a telescope). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oooooh-supernova-oh-sh-t/346134.md?page=1)