http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/20/two-suns-twin-stars_n_811864.html


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.

UPDATE: To clarify, the news.com.au article does not say a neutrino shower could be beneficial to Earth, but implies a supernova could be beneficial, stating, "Far from being a sign of the apocalypse, according to Dr Carter the supernova will provide Earth with elements necessary for survival and continuity."

I want it to explode within my lifetime, it'll be one of the most exciting astronomical things for the average person to witness since the Crab Nebula was created by a similar event nearly a thousand years ago.

It's 10 times closer than the Crab Nebula and that was visible in daytime so it will definitely be bright... not second daytime bright, but bright.

Edited by Samsara on January 26, 2011 at 4:58:04

Exactly, hence why I'd like to see it as well. It does sound exaggerated (especially with that picture, I personally figured it to be more like a tennisball compared to a football, tops), but that makes no less reason for it to be a once-in-a-lifetime event!

Too bad about Orion though. It's one of the few constellations I can spot easily and I can always see it from my window during winter.

If Proxima Centauri were to go nova though, would its proximity cause a greater effect, or would it be lesser due to it being less massive than Betelgeuse?

Ahuh. I was under the impression the difference between a nova and a supernova was merely the size (or rather, the mass involved) and that the line was extremely blurry and subjective, just as with the hypernova denomination.

Also wasn't aware there were two stars called Alpha Centauri, though I do often have to remind myself that Proxima Centauri isn't Alpha Centauri, I mix those two up way too easily.

Fun thing I learned about the Sun today; Even though scientists have traditionally assumed that the Sun was nothing really remarkable as far as stars go, we've discovered in the past 15 years or so that it's actually brighter than the vast majority of stars out there.

...

Where's my sunglasses smiley?

Betelgeuse Betelgeuse Betelgeuse! ...Did it work?