A 2nd Sun?

[King, North TX]

Could someone explain this news story to me : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/20/two-suns-twin-stars_n_811864.html

 

How does a star going supernova some 1300 light years away cause our Sun to double, and night to be non-existent?

[lemur]

I like this quote: "The Star Wars-esque scenario could happen by 2012, Carter says... or it could take longer."

This probably means it could happen at any moment in the next 10,000 years. I'm on the edge of my seat.

Edited January 21, 2011 by lemur

[King, North TX]

Could you explain how we could see a 2nd Sun?

[steevey]

Could someone explain this news story to me : http://www.huffingto...s_n_811864.html

 

How does a star going supernova some 1300 light years away cause our Sun to double, and night to be non-existent?

 

Here's what happens:

 

The star runs out of fuel, it blows itself apart with VERY high energy which takes 1,300 years to reach Earth, and the remnant gas is both energetic AND heated up by the aftershocks of the supernova as well as energetic particles being generated by whatever type of core is left feeding on surrounding gas. It wouldn't really look like another sun, but rather just a brightish area in the sky either VERY huge due to its proximity to Earth or very small due to its lack of size and energy output. On top of all that, the gas would be expanding outward at high speeds.

But, the gas could be fed on for thousands of years. Just look at the crab pulsar. It's 3,000 light years away, and its supernova was observed at around 1,000 AD, and its still going to this day.

 

However, after the primary aftershocks of the supernova as well as the supernova itself which would mainly be the brightest time and last for a few days, it would dim down a bit.

 

But, this still raises a greater concern which is that the star is only 1,300 light years away. If the supernova is powerful enough, it has a very high chance of sterilizing Earth.

[King, North TX]

...

 

But, this still raises a greater concern which is that the star is only 1,300 light years away. If the supernova is powerful enough, it has a very high chance of sterilizing Earth.

 

"..sterilizing..."?

[alpha2cen]

Then, If the supernova exploded, where would the aliens which lives around there go to? That is big problem for us. If they came to our Solar system, we would have some trouble with them.

[steevey]

Then, If the supernova exploded, where would the aliens which lives around there go to? That is big problem for us. If they came to our Solar system, we would have some trouble with them.

 

Wouldn't they just go find another planet to inhabit? How did they even get in here in the first place if they can't just fly through space?

 

"..sterilizing..."?

 

It means life could no longer be sustained on this planet. Photosynthesis might cease, things would die, nothing would be able to reproduce, etc.

Edited January 21, 2011 by steevey

[King, North TX]

...

 

It means life could no longer be sustained on this planet. Photosynthesis might cease, things would die, nothing would be able to reproduce, etc.[/size][/font]

 

Well, that would suck...

[alpha2cen]

Recently there are many reports about UFO appearance.

The day before yesterday I read the articles about England UFO appearance.

They are strange these days.

If there were living organisms in the cosmos, the cosmic disaster would not be good for us.

Edited January 21, 2011 by alpha2cen

[CaptainPanic]

I think the article is very typical for a regular newspaper trying to do science. A regular journalist visits a scientist. Writes up a number of keywords. Never really understood what happened, but tries to make sense of it.

 

I personally love this one:

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.

I agree - it would be so beneficial for us to have a billion gigatons of gold in vapor form in space at 1300 lightyears away. I'm getting my space suit - it's a new gold rush.

 

Anyway, the story about 2 suns is also a little vague. A supernova could be very bright indeed... and depending on the position of the earth in its orbit around the sun, the supernova could be on the night side which means we have a very bright spot at night. It still would not be a 2nd sun.

 

And the guess that this will happen in 2012. Typically for a science interview, the scientist could not disprove that this would happen in 2012, so the journalist just assumed that there is indeed a serious chance that it will happen.

Edited January 21, 2011 by CaptainPanic

[Spyman]

Approaching supernova

 

The future fate of Betelgeuse depends on its mass - a critical factor which is not well understood. Since most investigators concede a mass greater than 10M☉, the most likely scenario is that the supergiant will continue to burn and fuse elements until its core is iron, at which point Betelgeuse will explode as a type II supernova. During this event the core will collapse, leaving behind a neutron star remnant some 20 km in diameter.

 

Betelgeuse is already old for its size class and is expected to explode relatively soon compared to its age. Solving the riddle of mass-loss will be the key to knowing when a supernova might occur, an event expected anytime in the next million years, with some speculation it could even occur in the next millennium. Supporting this hypothesis are a number of unusual features that have been observed in the interstellar medium of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, which suggest that there have been multiple supernova explosions in the recent past. Betelgeuse's suspected birthplace in the Orion OB1 Association is the probable location for such supernovae. Since the oldest subgroup in the association has an approximate age of 12 million years, the more massive stars likely had sufficient time to evolve to this stage. Also, because runaway stars are believed to be caused by supernova explosions, there is strong evidence that OB stars μ Columbae, AE Aurigae and 53 Arietis all originated with such an explosion in Ori OB1 2.2, 2.7 and 4.9 million years ago.

 

At its current distance from Earth, such a supernova explosion would be the brightest recorded, outshining the Moon in the night sky and becoming easily visible in broad daylight. Professor J. Craig Wheeler of The University of Texas at Austin predicts the supernova will emit 10⁵³ ergs of neutrinos, which will pass through the star's hydrogen envelope in around an hour, then reach the solar system several centuries later. Since its rotational axis is not pointed toward the Earth, Betelgeuse's supernova is unlikely to send a gamma ray burst in the direction of Earth large enough to damage ecosystems. The flash of ultraviolet radiation from the explosion will likely be weaker than the ultraviolet output of the Sun. The supernova could brighten to an apparent magnitude of −12 over a two-week period, then remain at that intensity for 2 to 3 months before rapidly dimming. The year following the explosion, radioactive decay of cobalt to iron will dominate emission from the supernova remnant, and the resulting gamma rays will be blocked by the expanding envelope of hydrogen. If the neutron star remnant becomes a pulsar, then it could produce gamma rays for thousands of years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse

[alpha2cen]

Approaching supernova

http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Betelgeuse

 

Thank you for good answer.

And the review is very good. It seems like astronomy standard text book.

[D H]

Could you explain how we could see a 2nd Sun?

 

Calling it 2nd sun is a bit poetic. It will perhaps be brighter than a full moon. Very bright, but still hundreds of thousands of times less bright than the Sun. That said, people around the world saw the 1054 supernova in daylight. (We see the remnants of that supernova as the Crab Nebula.) That supernova was about 10 times further remote than is Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse, when it goes supernova, will be about 100 times brighter than the 1054 supernova.

 

Supernovae release incredible amounts of energy in a rather short period of time. In comparison, our sun is but a warm compost pile. In fact, our sun is a warm compost pile. The energy produced per unit volume at the very center of the sun is about the same as the energy produced per unit volume by a warm compost pile. The comparison to a warm compost pile isn't appropriate for large stars such as Betelgeuse. Large stars burn their greater stockpile of fuel in a much, much shorter time compared to small stars such as our sun. Even then, the current energy output of Betelgeuse is nothing compared to what it will produce once it goes supernova.

 

 

And the guess that this will happen in 2012. Typically for a science interview, the scientist could not disprove that this would happen in 2012, so the journalist just assumed that there is indeed a serious chance that it will happen.

 

 

The consensus amongst astronomers is that Betelgeuse will soon become a supernova -- soon to an astronomer, that is. Almost all agree that it will happen within a million years. A smaller contingent think it will happen real soon, i.e., sometime in the this millennium.

 

 

[King, North TX]

Approaching supernova

 

The future fate of Betelgeuse depends on its mass - a critical factor which is not well understood. Since most investigators concede a mass greater than 10M☉, the most likely scenario is that the supergiant will continue to burn and fuse elements until its core is iron, at which point Betelgeuse will explode as a type II supernova. During this event the core will collapse, leaving behind a neutron star remnant some 20 km in diameter.

 

Betelgeuse is already old for its size class and is expected to explode relatively soon compared to its age. Solving the riddle of mass-loss will be the key to knowing when a supernova might occur, an event expected anytime in the next million years, with some speculation it could even occur in the next millennium. Supporting this hypothesis are a number of unusual features that have been observed in the interstellar medium of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, which suggest that there have been multiple supernova explosions in the recent past. Betelgeuse's suspected birthplace in the Orion OB1 Association is the probable location for such supernovae. Since the oldest subgroup in the association has an approximate age of 12 million years, the more massive stars likely had sufficient time to evolve to this stage. Also, because runaway stars are believed to be caused by supernova explosions, there is strong evidence that OB stars μ Columbae, AE Aurigae and 53 Arietis all originated with such an explosion in Ori OB1 2.2, 2.7 and 4.9 million years ago.

 

At its current distance from Earth, such a supernova explosion would be the brightest recorded, outshining the Moon in the night sky and becoming easily visible in broad daylight. Professor J. Craig Wheeler of The University of Texas at Austin predicts the supernova will emit 10⁵³ ergs of neutrinos, which will pass through the star's hydrogen envelope in around an hour, then reach the solar system several centuries later. Since its rotational axis is not pointed toward the Earth, Betelgeuse's supernova is unlikely to send a gamma ray burst in the direction of Earth large enough to damage ecosystems. The flash of ultraviolet radiation from the explosion will likely be weaker than the ultraviolet output of the Sun. The supernova could brighten to an apparent magnitude of −12 over a two-week period, then remain at that intensity for 2 to 3 months before rapidly dimming. The year following the explosion, radioactive decay of cobalt to iron will dominate emission from the supernova remnant, and the resulting gamma rays will be blocked by the expanding envelope of hydrogen. If the neutron star remnant becomes a pulsar, then it could produce gamma rays for thousands of years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse

 

Thank you very much for the information.