It's Happening! Betelgeuse Could Be Our Galaxy's Next Supernova. Get ready for it!

imagine looking up at the night sky and seeing a second sun shining brightly imagine witnessing a cosmic explosion that outshines every star in the galaxy imagine being part of a rare and spectacular event that happens only once in thousands of years this is what could happen if Betelgeuse one of the brightest and most famous stars in the sky goes Supernova In Our Lifetime in our previous video we talked about betelgeuse's weird behavior and mysterious 150 brightness we explained how this red supergiant star has been dimming and brightening dramatically in the past few years sparking speculation that it may be about to explode based on your comments and requests we decided to make this follow-up video to explore this fascinating topic further in this video we will tell you the story of Betelgeuse how it got its name and how it was discovered we are going to explore the Cutting Edge techniques and tools used by professional and amateur astronomers alike to study Beetlejuice including a sneak peek at whether the James Webb Space Telescope has the capability to observe Beetlejuice and the best part we'll share some Insider tips on how you too can observe Beetlejuice yourself from the comfort of your own backyard so sit back relax and prepare to be astounded by the wonders of the universe battle Jews is a star that has captured the imagination of many people for centuries its name comes from the Arabic word Yad al-jausa which means the hand of the giant it is also known as Alpha orionis because it is the brightest star in the constellation of Orion the Hunter for a long time we thought that Betelgeuse was about 650 light years away from earth based on measurements of its brightness and size but a new study has challenged this assumption and revealed that battle Jews is actually closer and smaller than we thought the study used data from the space-based solar mass ejection imager and three different modeling techniques to estimate battle jews's radius mass and distance the results showed that battle Jews is only about 548 light years away from Earth with a radius of about 764 times that of our sun and a mass between 16.5 and 19 times that of our sun this means that the light we see from betel Jews today left the star 548 years ago and that Betelgeuse is more likely to explode sooner than we expected if betel Jews were placed at the center of our solar system it would engulf Mercury Venus Earth Mars and even Jupiter fatal Jews is also a very old star it is estimated to be about 10 million years old which may sound young compared to our son's age of 4.6 billion years but for a massive star like battle Jews it is very old indeed massive stars live fast and die young they burn their fuel much faster than smaller stars and they end their lives in spectacular explosions called supernovas fatal Jews was first observed by ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians Babylonians and Greeks they Associated it with various gods and myths for example the Egyptians saw battle Jews as part of Osiris the god of death and Resurrection the Babylonians saw it as part of Marduk the god of creation and Justice the Greeks saw it as part of Orion the mighty Hunter who was killed by a scorpion sent by Artemis the first scientific observation of betel Jews was made by Galileo Galilei in 1612. he used his telescope to measure its position and brightness he also noticed that it was slightly reddish in color he was followed by other astronomers such as Johannes hevelius John flamsteed and William Herschel who studied its variability in Spectrum in the 20th century fatal Jews became one of the first stars to have its size measured by interferometry a technique that combines the light from multiple telescopes to create a high resolution image it was also one of the first stars to have its surface features resolved by Adaptive Optics a technique that corrects for atmospheric distortion these observations revealed that Betelgeuse has a complex and dynamic surface with hot spots dust clouds and pulsations [Music] but what if battle Jews were to explode How likely is that to happen in our lifetime and what would we see if it did as we mentioned before battle Jews is a very old star that is nearing the end of its life it has already exhausted most of its hydrogen fuel in its core and has started to fuse helium into carbon eventually it will fuse carbon into oxygen then oxygen into silicon then silicon into iron when it reaches iron it will no longer be able to produce energy by Fusion the core will collapse under its own gravity and bounce back in a violent shock wave that will rip the star apart in a supernova but when exactly will this happen the answer is we don't know for sure Beetlejuice could explode anytime within the next 100 000 years or maybe even sooner it depends on many factors that are hard to predict such as the mass rotation and magnetic field of the star and the details of the nuclear reactions in its core however some astronomers have suggested that battle Jews may be showing some signs of instability or pre-supernova activity for example in late 2019 and early 2020 battle Jews dimmed by about 60 percent reaching its lowest brightness in more than a century This was later explained by a dust cloud that obscured part of the star but some scientists think that the dust cloud may have been caused by a massive eruption from the star's surface which could indicate that the star is losing mass and becoming unstable another sign of possible instability is beetlejuice's recent brightening in May 2021 Beetlejuice became brighter than ever recorded reaching about 150 percent of its normal brightness this could be due to a normal variation in the star's pulsation cycle or it could be due to a change in the star's internal structure or temperature if betel Jews were to explode we would see an amazing spectacle in the sky the first thing we would notice would be a burst of neutrinos which are tiny particles that can pass through matter almost unhindered these neutrinos would reach Earth within minutes of the star's collapse and would be detected by special instruments around the world a few hours later we would see the light from the explosion fatal Jews would become extremely bright about as bright as the full moon and would be visible during the day and night it would remain bright for several months gradually fading and changing color it would also produce a lot of radiation such as gamma rays X-rays and radio waves which would be detected by satellites and telescopes the Supernova would not harm life on Earth because battle Jews is too far away to affect us directly however it could have some effects on some satellites and spacecraft that rely on solar power or are sensitive to radiation it could also have some effects on other planets in our solar system such as changing the climate of mars or triggering auroras on Jupiter how are we observing battle Jews and how can you observe it yourself battle Jews is one of the most studied stars in the sky it is observed by many professional and amateur astronomers using various instruments and techniques some of the most advanced instruments that are observing battle Jews are the Hubble Space Telescope Hubble has captured some incredible images of battle Jews including a stunning image released in 2022 that showed the star slowly recovering after blowing its top this image which was captured in ultraviolet and visible light revealed new insights into the complex and dynamic nature of this massive star but wait what about James Webb well while James Webb is primarily designed to observe Faraway objects in the universe it can also be used to detect infrared radiation emitted by the ejecta of coronal mass ejections as they move away from Battle Jews coronal mass ejections are massive eruptions of plasma and magnetic fields that can occur on the surface of stars like Betelgeuse by detecting the infrared radiation emitted by these ejections astronomers can study the Dynamics of the star's outer atmosphere and learn more about the processes that drive these powerful events however you don't need a Space Telescope to observe battle Jews you can observe it with your own eyes or with a simple telescope or binoculars battle Jews is easy to find in the night sky it is located in the constellation of Orion which is one of the most recognizable constellations in both hemispheres Orion looks like a hunter with a belt of three stars and a sword hanging from it metal Jews is the bright red star at the shoulder of Orion to observe betelgeuse's variability you can compare its brightness with other stars in Orion or nearby constellations for example you can compare it with rigel which is the blue star at the foot of Orion or with aldebaran which is another red star in the constellation of Taurus you can also use online tools or apps to help you measure and record battle Jews is brightness to observe battle jews's surface features or dust clouds you need a telescope or binoculars with high magnification and resolution you also need a clear night with good seeing conditions which means that the air is steady and not turbulent you can also use filters or cameras to enhance your observation observing betal Jews is not only fun and educational but also important for science by observing betal Jews regularly and carefully you can contribute to our understanding of this fascinating star and its future evolution you may even be the first to witness its Supernova explosion and report it to the scientific community we hope you enjoyed this video and learned something new about betel Jews the star that could explode in our lifetime battle Jews is a fascinating and mysterious star that has captivated many people for centuries it is also a star that could give us a rare and spectacular show that we may never forget thank you for watching and for keeping up to date with our videos If you like this video please give it a thumbs up and share it with your friends if you have any questions or comments please leave them below and if you want to see more videos like this please subscribe to our Channel and hit the Bell icon to get notified when we upload new videos until next time keep looking up at the stars and wonder what Secrets they hold foreign [Music] foreign

Channel: NASASpaceNews

Views: 47,017

Keywords: space news, nasa, nasa space news, Betelgeuse, Red Giant Star, Stellar Evolution, Astronomy News, Astronomical Discoveries, Supernova Potential, Variable Stars, Betelgeuse Brightness, Celestial Mysteries, Cosmic Behavior, Betelgeuse Fluctuations, Red Supergiant, Betelgeuse Supernova, Betelgeuse Update, Astronomical Phenomena, Astronomical Observations, Space Exploration, Betelgeuse's Strange Behavior, Betelgeuse Brightness Surge, Betelgeuse's Enigma, Betelgeuse Insights

Id: 9UsDk38aD3U

Length: 11min 16sec (676 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 19 2023