Are You Waiting for Betelgeuse to Blow?

General
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Here’s an interesting article on Betelgeuse possibly being a binary star:

https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/is-betelgeuse-binary

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So I’m wondering if I does indeed blow, what effect would it have on Earth in ~500 yrs time?

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All life on earth will be destroyed?

Hmm. Probably not. But it should be very bright. It may be considered an omen for something happening on earth at the time. Or in space, as I hope we’re not still stuck on earth in 500 years.

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Well, I certainly won’t be around then :slight_smile:

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When we look at Betelgeuse in the sky, we are seeing the star that existed 500 years ago. If we see it supernova, which is not expected to happen in our lifetime, the supernova will have occurred 500 years previously. 500 years after we see the supernova, Betelgeuse will have likely collapsed to a black hole and we won’t see anything in the spot where it used to exist.