Possible Nova Just Occured

They say are sun will not explode.
it will grow and melt earth !
we will be long gone one way or another.
then get very small... sad I would like to go out with a bang.

Originally posted by Meldionne1
That's very sad that a star has died..or exploded. Why? Isn't the sun a star...so does that mean it will eventually explode too......and is that part of the black triangle seen on the sun recently?

could a dark mater cloud have been in front of it?
and now moved away?

how long does a flash from a nova last???

Originally posted by Meldionne1
That's very sad that a star has died..or exploded. Why? Isn't the sun a star...so does that mean it will eventually explode too......and is that part of the black triangle seen on the sun recently?

Remember though what is left when a star dies or switches frequency? Black holes-various Neutron stars- Magnetar-Pulsars-White-Brown-red dwarfs-red giant-and even nebula which become home to other Creator creations eventually. Its an eternal process dont feel sad the star just ascended into a new form

LOVE LIGHT ETERNIA*******
NAMASTE

excuse double post

reply to post by Meldionne1


The sun won't explode, though as it burns through its hydrogen it will expand to a great diameter in order to sustain fusion. It could potentially expand to nearly the orbit of Mars. It doesn't have the mass for a nova though. It'll eventually eject all of it's outer matter and remain a white dwarf.

reply to post by eagleeye2


Betelgeuse hasn't gone anywhere.

reply to post by lonewolf19792000


The difference is pretty much just size. A nova is an explosion caused when a white dwarf star sucks matter from another nearby star. This matter, primarily hydrogen, then compresses and eventually leads to runaway nuclear fusion. Novas also typically do not eject a lot of material into space. A supernova is a larger explosion caused by the death knell of a large star. The core collapses as the process of nuclear fusion is no longer able to sustain hydrostatic equilibrium. The collapse then can cause the violent explosion of the star's outer layers, which creates a supernova remnant. What's left is a neutron star, or if it s rotating, a pulsar. If the star is especially massive it can produce a black hole.

I doubt you'll be able to see much with your "Walmart brand" telescope. You can get a decent scope for not a lot of money though. Find your local observatory or astronomy club. They can help you figure out what you're most comfortable with, and would be within your budget.

reply to post by Larry L


When Betelgeuse does go off in a supernova there is the possibility of it being as bright as the full moon. I would hardly call that a second sun though. The full moon has an average apparent magnitude of around -12.75. The sun's apparent magnitude is about -26.75. The sun is around 400,000 times brighter than the full moon. It would be pretty far fetched for it to light up the night as if it were day.

Betelgeuse is also not pointed towards us, so we would feel very little from the gamma ray burst. It would be picked up by scientific instruments, but not damage anything organic in any way.

reply to post by Meldionne1


Our sun -- Sol -- is a G-Type Main Sequence star. Best estimates put it at roughly half way through it's maximum life cycle. This means that in roughly 5 billion years, Sol will expand outward, becoming a red giant, eventually growing to 250 times its current radius. Even if the solar wind pushes the Earth out beyond this point, the earth as we know it will no longer exist. Our water will boil away and our atmosphere will leak into space.

Still -- 5 billion is 500,000 million years; whatever intelligent life remains in the Sol system (if any exists) will have long sense figured out a plan B.

Originally posted by iwilliam

Originally posted by adept2u
reply to post by Julie Washington

 

A nova is the result of an exploding star and is an extremely energetic event. By the magnitude we can tell how bright the object is the lower the number the brighter the object. An 8 is pretty bright en.wikipedia.org... for comparison sake Sirius is the brightest star in the sky and it's a -1 of magnitude. This event should have no impact on us physically it's just real cool for amateur astronomers.

lol. It amuses me sometimes how extensive knowledge of a subject can often lead to huge blind-spots when attempting to communicate way laymen.

I'm sure most of us understand what a nova is. What the question above this post was trying to say, is that your entire first post is very cryptic for someone who hasn't made a fairly serious study of your topic. I did not even see a clearly identifiable sentence (as I understand them) beyond the part where you mention your desire to post this quickly. Just what looked like a bunch of random data -- data that is probably meaningless without expertise.

The person above was, I believe, asking for at least a rough translation. Maybe "possible nova at x" is about as detailed as it got.

Yes you get it.

Still don't see answers to my questions :-)

reply to post by Julie Washington


I'm sorry I could have done a better job. Let me try again. Astronomers note new stuff in the sky most obviously by observing if something is different from what they were looking at previously, in this case a new light source. The first sentence of the alert announces that someone has found such a source and describes where he was looking when he noticed the anomaly. He then describes the where when and how he photographed it. The idea is to have a picture of the area with nothing in it then with something and to rule out planetoids that might be moving around. That's the photos I linked. He then describes what he sees around the object and notes basically there is nothing catalogued around the anomaly. He then goes on to postulate that because of the relative brightness of the object magnitude 8 it is most likely the result of a nova type event.

Originally posted by adept2u
reply to post by phroziac

 

Do you mean Betelgeuse?

Say the name 3 times...

If Betelgeuse goes Nova in our lifetime it would be an amazing and hugely historical event. Possibly bright enough to be seen in the day! Can you imagine that! Blows my mind sometimes to think we might witness a once in a lifetime (heck several lifetimes) event!

reply to post by cmdrkeenkid


I was saying that as two seperate thoughts. I'm well aware the moon isn't as bright as the sun. I read that it will be as bright as a full moon, I also read it will be so bright that it almost seems like day, at night (which I believe was an exageration but they were saying FAR brighter than a full moon). Until all the light gets here, I have no idea how bright it will be.

Originally posted by Meldionne1
That's very sad that a star has died..or exploded...

On one hand, yeah -- it would be a bad day for anything living near the star.

HOWEVER, novae (to some extent) and especially supernovae actually ENRICH the galaxy to allow for new stars and new solar systems. In fact, we would not be here if it wasn't for past novae and supernovae providing the materials that our solar system is built from -- including many of the elements in our bodies.

Carl Sagan once famously said "we are made of star stuff", and he wasn't speaking figuratively -- he was speaking quite literally. Many of the the elements in our bodies, and the matter all around us, was made inside of stars, and the heaviest elements were a direct byproduct of supernova explosions.

The only elements that existed at the beginning of the universe were the three lightest elements -- Hydrogen, Helium, and Lithium. All of the other elements were created by fusing together these three elements -- fusion that needs a lot of pressure, heat, and energy -- like the pressure, heat, and energy inside a star.

The carbon and oxygen inside your body was probably made like this -- inside a long-dead star that exploded billions of years ago, spreading that carbon, oxygen and other heavier elements throughout the galaxy, ending up as part of the dust cloud 5 billion years ago from which our solar system -- and all living things on earth -- formed.

The heaviest elements -- iron and heavier -- were probably formed by the great pressures and energy released by a supernova explosion. The materials inside a massive star may include elements lighter than iron (elements made by ancient novae explosions that contributed material to the birth of that massive star, or made by the pressures inside that star itself), but the elements heavier than iron are created at the moment of the supernova explosion -- when the energies and pressures are capable of fusing heavier elements.

So, again, the heavier elements around you -- the steel and aluminum around your house, and even the iron inside your blood -- all of those were created when a star exploded billions of years ago -- long before our solar system was born. Those elements floated in space as part of the nebula formed by the supernova, until it became part of the dust cloud that would one day give birth to our solar system...

...So, quite literally "We are made of star stuff", and we mostly have ancient novae and supernovae to thank for that.

Originally posted by Julie Washington
Cool, now if someone can explain what it means to us would be helpful.

Also how far away it is, will it affect us, and if so when. Also, how long ago it happened.

Translated -
What was posted -
McCoy - My God, man. Do you want an acute case on your hands? This woman has immediate postprandial, upper-abdominal distention. Now, out of the way! Get out of the way!

What it means -
Kirk - What did you say she has?
McCoy: Cramps.


Cool find though... Certainly dont get to see Novas all that often.

Is this Betelgeuse that the OP is referencing or is it a different star?

reply to post by joyride0187


NOT Betelgeuse

reply to post by Xcathdra


Had to give you a star for that

Originally posted by Julie Washington
reply to post by Xcathdra

 

Had to give you a star for that

Sorry... couldn't resist..

How about Eta Carinae (η Carinae)? Its visible in southern sky, and its living its last days. When it dies, it might cause hypernova, and it would be so bright, that it would be visible in daylight many years. It already has blow some of its mass, causing spectacular nebula around it, 2 balls on each side of star.

If hypernova happens, it would threat people in space and our satellites, but our atmosphere protects us from dangerous level of radiation. Its about 7500 light-years from Earth, and its 100-150 times more massive than our Sun, massive enough to form black hole.

It could go hypernova any day now, scientists have estimated that it will happen in less than million years. When it "exploded" last time in 1843, it was visible at magnitude -0,8, being second-brightest star.

Originally posted by Larry L
I remember reading almost 2 years ago now, that Betelgeuse was going NOVA, though they weren't sure when the light was going to reach us. As I recall, the article stated that when the light did finally reach us, the light was going to be incredible. Far brighter than the full moon if I recall correctly (remamber, it was a long time ago I read this). The article may have been exagerating, but I thought it said that at night, it would be lit up here on the surface almost like it was daytime. I remember people here commenting on that saying if it were true, many people would believe it to be the end of the world.

I'll be interested to see just how bright it gets. I hope there are no negative effects on us from the gamma ray burst.

Lets hope it does happen in our lifetime. It may wake a few people up.

reply to post by Larry L


Sorry, I guess I misunderstood your thoughts. I didn't mean to offend. Downside of the impersonal method of communication we've subscribed to here, I guess.

But my point is that a full moon, while being able to cast shadows, does not make the night as bright as day. If and when Betelgeuse does go supernova, and it's as bright as a full moon, there is no way that it could make the night bright as day either. I hope that clarifies what I was trying to say.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


Very well said! Awesome post!

reply to post by Xcathdra


They actually occur more often than you would think. Around 10 are discovered each year within our Milky Way, though it is thought that as many as 60 may occur annually. We just can't see them all. Some stars, such as RS Ophiuchi, are recurrent nova and go off every couple decades. Supernovas are thought to occur with a frequency of every 50 years, despite the fact that we haven't seen one in over 400 years.

reply to post by Thebel


Just as with Betelgeuse, Eta Carinae is not pointed towards Earth. The streams of gamma rays and other radiation will not be strong enough to go through the atmosphere and magnetosphere to the surface. Also, just as with Betelgeuse, it would be no brighter than a full moon.

reply to post by DarknStormy


It would definitely spur some more interest into the sciences. With interest comes funding and more jobs! And then you'd see me around here less again!

Originally posted by Meldionne1
That's very sad that a star has died..or exploded. Why? Isn't the sun a star...so does that mean it will eventually explode too......and is that part of the black triangle seen on the sun recently?

Yes our Sun is roughly half way threw its life cycle
when its at the end it will it wil turn into a super nova then a black hole and devour every thing close to it!

EDIT- my mistake the sun will not become a black hole as pointed out by cmdrkeenkid

The sun does not have enough mass to collapse into a black hole. In billions of years, when the sun is at the end of its life, it will become a red giant star. Then, when it has used the last of its fuel, it will throw off its outer layers and turn into a glowing ring of gas called a planetary nebula. Finally, all that will be left of the sun is a cooling white dwarf star.

from NASA