Was Betelgeuse dimming and did it go Supernova

[TheGreenGoblin]

I say "was" because Betelgeuse is some +- 600 to 700 light years from our blue hominid infested sceptred orb and what we perceive in the sky in these the dog days of the holiday silly season happened a long time ago.

The story has been doing the rounds in the astronomy press over the last year but to hear BBC Radio speak of it yesterday you'd believe it was a phenomenon that started this week. Whatever the case Betelgeuse, usually one of the brightest stars in the night sky and the right shoulder of Orion, has been dimming over the last year and is now only the 21st brightest star in the night sky, leading some astronomers to suggest that is might be indicative of the fact that Betelegeuse was going to develop into a supernova all those +- 600 years ago.

Betelgeuse dimming

A near earth supernova might not be good for us here, gamma ray bursts being one potential danger to our fragile little world but I suspect that we silly hominids will have screwed up our planet far more than any feeble burst from Betelgeuse will in the next +- 600 years if it does/did actually go supernova today.

Near earth supernova

[Slasher]

If Beetlejuice goes/has gone supernova a few retinas may burn if directly looking at it through high powered telescopery. Should be treated like looking at sunspots.

Fortunately ol’ Prox, at 4.25 lighties, is far too small to become a supernova. If it was Beetlike it’d kill the crap out of us. Aren’t we lucky sons of bitches! The Universe, much like the fauna of Oz, does have things out there with the sole aim of making you dead.

Now Gob...say “Betelgeuse” three times quickly!

[TheGreenGoblin]

Now Gob...say “Betelgeuse” three times quickly!

I tried but fainted due to the resulting lack of oxygen to my addled noodle...

[Pontius Navigator]

TGG, 'tis the silly season. The Telegraph chose to publish it last week. As that seemed a bit of a damp supernova they published it again yesterday.

Right shoulder is a typically imprecise description and assumes you place it in the same position as someone facing you. Personally I think too left is better.

[Slasher]

I tried but fainted due to the resulting lack of oxygen to my addled noodle...

Wimp!

[OFSO]

I refer you to the final words of "Blade Runner".

[TheGreenGoblin]

Right shoulder is a typically imprecise description and assumes you place it in the same position as someone facing you. Personally I think too left is better.

Laterally inverted again, always on the wrong side of the right side of the question. The story of my life.

Quite right PN, I should have stated that Betelgeuse can be found at the following celestial co-ordinates (uncorrected from tables for today's date) as (approx) RA=5 h 52 m , dec=7° 24.

Always good to be told off by a proper navigator.

[TheGreenGoblin]

That Betelgeuse character sounds like Wolfman Jack and looks like me the morning after a bad night on the sauce!

[Pontius Navigator]

TGG, typical of an engineer, absolutely precise and completely unusable by the man in the street.

When I was shooting the damn thing we had a field of view of about 2 degrees. With our technique the plotter would do all the calculations and the radar operator would take the shot. As we did sandwich fixes we would take the first shot 5 minutes 30 seconds before fix time. Now a good plotter would ensure that the star on the beam was shot first and the one ahead/aft shot in the middle to minimise the change of altitude. If he got it wrong it was often difficult to pick up the star as we could fly about 100 miles between first and last shot. Looking for Beteleguese we could not see any of the oinntge in the constellation.

[Boac]

What's an oinntge?

[Pontius Navigator]

What's an oinntge?

only one auto correct

Other

[Boac]

A merry off productive sex you have there, PN - what language is it programmed in?

May I recommend 'PREVIEW' for your posts?

PS Having seen your Cruise Ship post I suspect it is the fingers and not the machine doing it!

[Fliegenmong]

So ...is what is being observed, actually happened 100's years ago? at 700 light years away?....help me here im not an astrophysisit (Can't even spelll it!!)....is what we are observing something that happpened long long ago, but we only see it now??

[Slasher]

In essence yes Fliegs because the speed of light is constant and finite everywhere. If it wasn’t things would foul up a lot. Light travels at 299,972 km/sec, so the light you see tonight from Proxima Centauri was when it started its 4.25 year trudge to your retinas. What you’re seeing is what it looked like 4.25 years ago. Every time you look at the stars you’re looking into the past by varying degrees, depending on which star you’re eyeballing.

If the Sun blewed up right now, you wouldn’t see it happening for another 8 minutes. When the Death Star blew up the light of that event probly hasn’t even reached us yet, and Darth has been long dead.

Taking this to its lowest extreme, if I see you staggering pissed over the road, I’m seeing what you looked like a billionth of a second ago.

Weird huh. Fox3 is the man to talk to for more about this.

[Pontius Navigator]

A merry off productive sex you have there, PN - what language is it programmed in?

May I recommend 'PREVIEW' for your posts?

PS Having seen your Cruise Ship post I suspect it is the fingers and not the machine doing it!

Nah, its my smartphone

[Boac]

Aur is a strange predictive text - as I said - what language have you set?

[TheGreenGoblin]

Aur is a strange predictive text - as I said - what language have you set?

I tend to leave the subtitles on when viewing You Tube videos. The system seems to work adequately but comes up with some absolute rubbish for more technical subjects. I watched a video on the Boltzmann Constant and First Law of Thermodynamics yesterday and some of the translations were complete gibberish. Clearly the system doesn't spell check itself! I mean what is "avodrogo's nimber?"

I suspect that PN uses my modus operandi which is to hammer out a sentence and then go back and fix up the "spulling" thereafter and, I speak for myself, I often miss a howler or two.

[ricardian]

Aur is a strange predictive text - as I said - what language have you set?

The man who wrote the predictive text algorithm has died - may he rust in piss

[belfrybat]

I was about to message my sis about a tomography, and the damned phone changed it to pornography. Luckily I always double-check before hitting send, and caught it in time.

[TheGreenGoblin]

Aur is a strange predictive text - as I said - what language have you set?

Aur - The constellation Auriga. Chiefly as postpositive, designating a star of this constellation (care of the OED).

Totally apposite to a thread about astronomy....