{"id":45999,"date":"2023-06-08T15:05:31","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T15:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=119236"},"modified":"2023-06-08T16:32:33","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T16:32:33","slug":"betelgeuse-brightens-by-50-percent-will-it-go-supernova","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/betelgeuse-brightens-by-50-percent-will-it-go-supernova\/","title":{"rendered":"Betelgeuse brightens by 50 percent \u2013 will it go supernova?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The star brightened over May and June 2023, leading may to question if a supernova might be imminent. <\/p>

By Ezzy Pearson\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 08 June 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Could Betelgeuse go supernova within the next few decades?<\/p>\n

The debate over when the star will explode has been reignited after the star brightened by almost 50 per cent over May and June 2023.<\/p>\n

Betelgeuse is a red supergiant around 500 to 600 lightyears from Earth and makes up the left shoulder of the constellation Orion. It is expected to go supernova at some point in the next 100,000 years.<\/p>\n

\""constellation\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n

However, a recent paper on the star, led by Hideyuki Saio from the Tohoku University in Japan, determined the star could be at the end of its final life stage, the carbon burning phase. Saoi expects that \u201cthe core will collapse a few tens of years after the carbon exhaustion\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, Betelgeuse might have a few more millennia left in it yet, as another group led by L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Moln\u00e1r from the Konkoly Observatory in Hungary, have since replied to the result with their own findings which suggest that Betelgeuse is in the earlier helium burning stage of its lifecycle.<\/p>\n

Whichever might be the case, Betelgeuse remains a good candidate to be the next supernova seen from within the Milky Way galaxy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why is Betelgeuse getting brighter?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Astronomers have long known that Betelgeuse\u2019s brightness varies over time, most predominantly following a 400-day long cycle. However, in recent years its brightness has changed far more than is normal for these variations.<\/p>\n

\""These\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

These images, taken with the SPHERE instrument on ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope, during its period of dimming.Starting in December 2019, the star dimmed by a factor of around 2.5 from its usual mag. +0.5, reaching a low of mag. +1.6 from 7 to 13 February 2020, before returning to its normal brightness over the following few months.<\/p>\n

Astronomers now believe the dimming was caused by a huge ejection of matter from the star, which cooled to form a dust cloud that temporarily blocked some of the star\u2019s light from view.<\/p>\n

This process would have caused a lot of turbulence within the internal flows of the star\u2019s plasma, as well as disrupting its magnetic field. It\u2019s highly likely that the aftereffect of this event is causing the brightening we see now.<\/p>\n

\""Cross\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
The ejected material would have disrupted the flow of plasma within the star. Credit: NASA\/CXC\/M.Weiss<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

What type of star is Betelgeuse?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star. At around eight million years old, it is in the latter stages of its life cycle, having burned through the hydrogen in its core.<\/p>\n

Stars spend most of their lives fuelled by converting hydrogen into helium. The energy produced by this supports the star against the crushing weight of its own gravity.<\/p>\n

For large stars, when this hydrogen runs out in the core, they instead begin to burn helium into carbon, and the resulting interactions throughout the star cause it to swell up to a red giant around this time.<\/p>\n

\""As\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
As large stars age, they expand outwards. As they do, they outer layers cool and become redder in appearance. Credit: NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center\/Chris Smith (KBRwyle)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Then when the helium is gone, the carbon begins to burn into other elements, but when this runs out, no remaining potential fuel produces enough energy to support the star against gravity.<\/p>\n

The core collapses to form a solid neutron star, which the inrush of surrounding gas rebounds against to form a supernova.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When with Betelgeuse explode?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Astronomers agree that Betelgeuse will go supernova soon, but soon in astronomical terms could mean anytime in the next 10,000 to 100,000 years.<\/p>\n

If the star is in its carbon burning phase, as Saoi predicts, then it could be on the shorter end of that, though it may still take several more centuries to burn through its remaining carbon.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, if the star is still in its helium burning phase, as Moln\u00e1r thinks it is, then we could still have a long wait for Betelgeuse to explode.<\/p>\n

\""Orion\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Orion constellation over a dark forest at night. Betelgeuse can be seen on the upper left, and is clearly appears to be redder in colour than its fellow stars. Credit: Yuga Kurita \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Unfortunately, determining exactly which stage Betelgeuse is in \u2013 carbon or helium burning \u2013 is difficult to determine for two reasons.<\/p>\n

Firstly, despite being only around 500-600 lightyears from Earth, astronomers have struggled to pin down many of Betelgeuse\u2019s basic attributes\u2013 such as its age, mass or even how far away it is \u2013 with the necessary precision, due to the star\u2019s variability.<\/p>\n

Without knowing these, it is difficult to determine exactly where in its life cycle the star is.<\/p>\n

Secondly, the carbon burning phase doesn\u2019t change the exterior of a star, meaning it will look the same regardless of whether it has just begun its carbon burning, or is nearing the end.<\/p>\n

When it comes to Betelgeuse, it looks like we\u2019ll just have to watch and wait.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The star brightened over May and June 2023, leading may to question if a supernova might be imminent. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":46000,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/06\/betelgeuse-brightens-by-50-percent-will-it-go-supernova.jpg",850,567,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/06\/betelgeuse-brightens-by-50-percent-will-it-go-supernova-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/06\/betelgeuse-brightens-by-50-percent-will-it-go-supernova-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/06\/betelgeuse-brightens-by-50-percent-will-it-go-supernova-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/06\/betelgeuse-brightens-by-50-percent-will-it-go-supernova.jpg",800,534,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/06\/betelgeuse-brightens-by-50-percent-will-it-go-supernova.jpg",850,567,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/06\/betelgeuse-brightens-by-50-percent-will-it-go-supernova.jpg",850,567,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The star brightened over May and June 2023, leading may to question if a supernova might be imminent.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/45999"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}