THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
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Altitude: 10 feet below sea level
Founded January 1970
Julian Date: 2458851.16
2019-2020: LXXX
"Do you think they'll still have the Super Bowl
now, or is it not worth it?"
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Monday, January 6, 2020
Betelgeuse Going Bust?!
[image: 3ESpYL77d6mMBEBFTDf8rJ-970-80.jpg]
Is Betelgeuse, the supermassive red supergiant star marking Orion's eastern
shoulder, about to go supernova? Meaning, is it about to explode and
produce a spectacle so gorgeous and gob stopping that all of humanity en
masse will be reduced to gasps and stunned with wonderment? Not only has
such a celestial sight not been seen for centuries, it would be the closest
and brightest supernova to ever inflame our firmament in recorded history
and perhaps for thousands of years prior! Are we...WE about to behold
something so marvelous that no subsequent cosmic occurrence will ever
upstage it? Is this the time for all of us to look skyward and proclai....
Ok, look, I'm going to stop writing for a moment and just talk to you. I
remember in the journalism class I flunked out of, we were taught the trick
of the hook, which is not nearly as prurient an activity as it sounds.
The concept was simple: you ensnare the reader with a hook or a tease,
something that will induce the person to continue reading even if the
content of the article that follows doesn't actually support the initial
assertion or even contradicts it altogether. The hope is that the reader
will read through all the copy (including the craftily concealed
advertisements) and be so befuddled by the column's actual content that he
or she will forget they were duped in the first place.
The aim is to make you think that Betelgeuse is about to do the big
firework so soon you feel compelled to run outside and watch as the shock
wave shatters all the car windows. Then, of course, as you keep
reading, you will learn -much to your distress- that most astronomers don't
really believe that Betelgeuse is about to go supernova. Instead, they
have observed that the star is noticeably dimmer than it has been for many
years. While this variability is not unusual as Betelgeuse is a variable
star, the brightness diminishment is significant enough that some
astronomers wonder if, perhaps, it is a precursor to Betelgeuse's demise in
a supernova explosion.
Fortunately for you, the DA abides by a strict code of conduct and would
never actually stoop to such underhanded tactics to ensure that the readers
continue to the end. It is a point of pride with us that readers hardly
ever make it to the end of these articles. Now, we should explain
that Betelgeuse will eventually explode as a Type II Supernova. Such a
supernova causes a star to literally explode from the inside out.
To explain why this explosion happens, we should first point out that
[image: Journey-brands-Product-DKO-NOcaffeine.rendition.320.179.jpg]
*Caffeine Free Diet Coke! *
*"What's the point?"*
like all stars, Betelgeuse is converting lighter elements in its core into
heavier elements through a thermonuclear fusion process. For instance, the
Sun is fusing hydrogen into helium presently. In about five billion years,
it will deplete its core hydrogen reserves and begin (after a flash) helium
fusion processes that will produce carbon. However, the Sun isn't
massive enough to produce temperatures necessary for more advanced fusion
reactions. Betelgeuse, however, is sufficiently massive to produce fusion
reactions up to iron. Unfortunately, iron fusion is endothermic: the
energy the star invests to sustain these fusion reactions is greater than
the energy the reactions would impart back into the star. The balance
between the energy pressure pushing outward and the gravitational
contraction pushing inward is so violently disrupted that the star
collapses in on itself and explodes. The resultant energy release ignites
the supernova explosion. In the process, it also creates all the elements
heavier than iron.
Astronomers know that Betelgeuse's age is about 8.5 million years: a
ripe old age for such a star as the highly massive stars have the shortest
life spans. Its age is clearly evident by its enormous size: 160 million
Suns could fit neatly inside it. Such bloating is indicative of the star's
senescence. Consequently, its death by supernova is inevitable, but not
necessarily imminent. It could explode "soon," which in astronomical
parlance means within the next 100,000 - 200,000 years. As clever as
astrophysicists tend to be, they don't know enough about stellar life
cycles to know precisely when a supernova will occur. It is akin to
geologists who know that California is due for a truly latte-spilling
temblor . but can't pinpoint a precise time the big shake will happen.
Now, it is possible that we could actually see Betelgeuse explode as a
supernova. If that does happen, by heavens, the sight will harrow up our
souls, freeze our young blood and make our two eyes like stars start from
their spheres. (After teaching us about hooking, the journalism professor
said, 'if you lack ability, just steal from Shakespeare') Betelgeuse
will be brighter than any other night sky sight, including the moon! It
will cast a distinct shadow on us at night and be visible during the day.
After a few weeks, it will fade into invisibility, leaving a complex
web of filaments in its wake: super heated. metal-rich filaments expanding
at a furious rate to chemically enrich its local environment.
What might be equally as impressive is seeing Orion after Betelgeuse is
gone: the mighty Hunter sans eastern shoulder: the rectangular outline
suddenly rendered triangular. Moreover -and this is the bit that will
make each particular hair to stand on end like quills upon the fretful
porpentine- if we do see Betelgeuse erupt as a supernova, we'll actually be
watching an eruption that happened about 620 years ago, as Betelgeuse is
620 light years away. If any of us sees Betelgeuse perish, we will
realize that it has been dead for centuries! All this time we've been
admiring Betelgeuse, watching it looming high over our winter skies or
seeing it descend into the western May twilight, we haven't been seeing
Betelgeuse at all....only its phantom: the last light traces of a star that
hasn't existed for more than six centuries.
While we might never see that explosion, it is possible that this sudden
brightness diminishment could be a warning that Betegeuse is about to
die...or, more correctly, actually died in the early 15th century. We
don't know, yet, but what better way to keep people looking up at the
gigantic hunter now adoring our evening sky.
___________________________________
And now for the following exchange with a subscriber
called "The Questioning Educator."
QE: I have a question for you....is a new decade really beginning? Was
there a year 0? Just curious. I do concede that the 20s are starting.
Just something to ponder.
DA: Yes, you are correct.
The 21st century started on Jan 1, 2001, not Jan 1, 2000, as is popularly
believed. For this reason, the century's first decade started on January 1,
2001 and ended on December 31, 2010. The century's second decade started
on January 1, 2011 and will end on December 31, 2020.
Consequently, we are still in the last part of the century's second decade.
On the other hand, because the year ends in '20,' we can consider the 20's
to be starting now.
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