Now is time for a Luke Skywalker cosplay!
I saw this on ontd_science and just have to repost it.
No, really, the following pixels are full of awesome.
Two Suns? Twin Stars Could Be Visible From Earth By 2012
Earth could be getting a second sun, at least temporarily.
Dr. Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland, outlined the scenario to news.com.au. Betelgeuse, one of the night sky's brightest stars, is losing mass, indicating it is collapsing. It could run out of fuel and go super-nova at any time.
When that happens, for at least a few weeks, we'd see a second sun, Carter says. There may also be no night during that timeframe.
The Star Wars-esque scenario could happen by 2012, Carter says... or it could take longer. The explosion could also cause a neutron star or result in the formation of a black hole 1300 light years from Earth, reports news.com.au.
But doomsday sayers should be careful about speculation on this one. If the star does go super-nova, Earth will be showered with harmless particles, according to Carter. "They will flood through the Earth and bizarrely enough, even though the supernova we see visually will light up the night sky, 99 per cent of the energy in the supernova is released in these particles that will come through our bodies and through the Earth with absolutely no harm whatsoever," he told news.com.au.
In fact, a neutrino shower could be beneficial to Earth. According to Carter this "star stuff" makes up the universe. "It literally makes things like gold, silver - all the heavy elements - even things like uranium....a star like Betelgeuse is instantly forming for us all sorts of heavy elements and atoms that our own Earth and our own bodies have from long past supernovi," said Carter.
Article taken from here and cited in its entirety. The original source is HERE.
Now, of course, reality is hardly ever as cool as speculation so I'm not going to get my hopes up. Like Dr Carter said, we could see it tomorrow, or in a million years. But for the record, a supernova visible in broad day light already happened in 1604. The event was recorded in Europe and China.
If it does happen, 1/ it'll be one of most extraordinary things to witness in our lifetimes and I'll be glad to be alive for it, 2/ between the Star Wars fanatics and the Apocalypse-in-2012 supporters, an exile to some remote, secluded place will probably appear very tempting (nah, who am I kidding, I'll be pretending to be on Tattooine like everyone else! :p).
ETA: the comments are turning into a CAPSLOCK FEST! YAY! :D
No, really, the following pixels are full of awesome.
Two Suns? Twin Stars Could Be Visible From Earth By 2012
Earth could be getting a second sun, at least temporarily.
Dr. Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland, outlined the scenario to news.com.au. Betelgeuse, one of the night sky's brightest stars, is losing mass, indicating it is collapsing. It could run out of fuel and go super-nova at any time.
When that happens, for at least a few weeks, we'd see a second sun, Carter says. There may also be no night during that timeframe.
The Star Wars-esque scenario could happen by 2012, Carter says... or it could take longer. The explosion could also cause a neutron star or result in the formation of a black hole 1300 light years from Earth, reports news.com.au.
But doomsday sayers should be careful about speculation on this one. If the star does go super-nova, Earth will be showered with harmless particles, according to Carter. "They will flood through the Earth and bizarrely enough, even though the supernova we see visually will light up the night sky, 99 per cent of the energy in the supernova is released in these particles that will come through our bodies and through the Earth with absolutely no harm whatsoever," he told news.com.au.
In fact, a neutrino shower could be beneficial to Earth. According to Carter this "star stuff" makes up the universe. "It literally makes things like gold, silver - all the heavy elements - even things like uranium....a star like Betelgeuse is instantly forming for us all sorts of heavy elements and atoms that our own Earth and our own bodies have from long past supernovi," said Carter.
Article taken from here and cited in its entirety. The original source is HERE.
Now, of course, reality is hardly ever as cool as speculation so I'm not going to get my hopes up. Like Dr Carter said, we could see it tomorrow, or in a million years. But for the record, a supernova visible in broad day light already happened in 1604. The event was recorded in Europe and China.
If it does happen, 1/ it'll be one of most extraordinary things to witness in our lifetimes and I'll be glad to be alive for it, 2/ between the Star Wars fanatics and the Apocalypse-in-2012 supporters, an exile to some remote, secluded place will probably appear very tempting (nah, who am I kidding, I'll be pretending to be on Tattooine like everyone else! :p).
ETA: the comments are turning into a CAPSLOCK FEST! YAY! :D