Betelgeuse on the verge of exploding?

POSTED BY: AURaptor
UPDATED: Saturday, September 5, 2026 17:51
VIEWED: 8337
PAGE 1 of 1

AURAPTOR

Tuesday, February 11, 2020 11:38 PM

“ Supergiant star Betelgeuse has been getting dimmer at an unprecedented pace over the past few months, leading some astronomers to wonder if it might be in the process of the collapse that precedes a supernova explosion. But there are other possible explanations, and we should have a better idea of what's happening to the massive star by the end of the month.

Veteran Villanova University astronomer Edward Guinan has been watching Betelgeuse for decades and reported earlier this month that the star appears to be "the least luminous and coolest yet measured from our 25 years of photometry."

https://www.cnet.com/news/huge-red-star-might-explode-soon-and-next-fe
w-weeks-are-critical/

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Wednesday, February 12, 2020 6:49 AM

How many years ago did this happen? Meaning, how far away?

JONGSSTRAW

Wednesday, February 12, 2020 3:27 PM

It's relatively close to Earth, only 642.5 light years away. What astronomers are seeing today actually occurred back in 1378.

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Thursday, February 13, 2020 3:11 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
It's relatively close to Earth, only 642.5 light years away. What astronomers are seeing today actually occurred back in 1378.

I managed to find a source which said 700 years, I think. The 11th brightest star in our skies.

I was thinking that the numbers were just a variant - but we cannot be shifting our distances by 60 light years on a regular basis. Don't know the reason for discrepancy.

AURAPTOR

Thursday, February 13, 2020 4:14 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
How many years ago did this happen? Meaning, how far away?

I don't know the reason for the vast discrepancy in distance. As close as 427 Lty to 700 lty. That's quite a gap.

The massive dip in brightness is almost certainly a notable curiosity, and not any portend to an immediate ( from our perspective ) onset of any super nova. It is, however, a bit of info that future astronomers hopefully will be able to access when it finally does explode. Perhaps 100's or 1000's of years from now.

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Thursday, February 13, 2020 5:34 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
Quote:
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
How many years ago did this happen? Meaning, how far away?
I don't know the reason for the vast discrepancy in distance. As close as 427 Lty to 700 lty. That's quite a gap.

The massive dip in brightness is almost certainly a notable curiosity, and not any portend to an immediate ( from our perspective ) onset of any super nova. It is, however, a bit of info that future astronomers hopefully will be able to access when it finally does explode. Perhaps 100's or 1000's of years from now.

That is a big discrepancy. At this moment, I don't even recall how we measure distance in astronomy. Maybe somebody's Slide Rule needs calibration.

AURAPTOR

Friday, February 14, 2020 4:20 AM

642.5 light years seems to be the most accepted number I'm seeing.

JONGSSTRAW

Friday, February 14, 2020 3:46 PM

"It's a rock, no indigenous species." To which Ripley responded ...

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Sunday, February 16, 2020 1:37 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
"It's a rock, no indigenous species." To which Ripley responded ...

I agree.

I'm wondering why the search engine results came up with 700, which is not even rounded from the 642 figure.
And 427 is even further out of range.

Do you know why there is such discrepancy?

JONGSSTRAW

Sunday, February 16, 2020 4:51 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
"It's a rock, no indigenous species." To which Ripley responded ...
I agree.

I'm wondering why the search engine results came up with 700, which is not even rounded from the 642 figure.
And 427 is even further out of range.

Do you know why there is such discrepancy?

I know that a star's distance from Earth never changes. A star's magnitude (brightness) can fluctuate slightly depending on certain conditions.

AURAPTOR

Sunday, February 16, 2020 5:16 AM

Best I can figure is that some who write these things are lazy as fuck and don't have a curious cell in their brains.

Most folks don't GET the whole solar system is in a galaxy and there are billions of galaxies. Like the 1 mile wide asteroid which passed by Earth today. It was 15x the distance from the Earth to the moon. Zero shot at hitting us, this time. Yet we got videos of meteorites hitting the Earth, the extinction of the dinosaurs, etc... and for what?

Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen

I'm just a red pill guy in a room full of blue pill addicts.

" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall

AURAPTOR

Thursday, February 27, 2020 3:56 AM

Update - So B was at 35% of observed brightness, but now has been steadily increasing to 43%.

Short and simple, no imminent super nova.

Dammit.

Still, interesting to watch a red giant go through its old age changes. Even if we're not gonna witness anything truly spectacular from it.

As you were.

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Thursday, February 27, 2020 5:35 AM

Yes, interesting. And thanks for the head's up. If it had expired, folk would be whining that nobody told them beforehand.

AURAPTOR

Thursday, February 27, 2020 5:51 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Yes, interesting. And thanks for the head's up. If it had expired, folk would be whining that nobody told them beforehand.

Oh, you just KNOW that Trump and SpaceForce would have been scapegoated to no end!

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Sunday, March 1, 2020 12:36 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
Update - So B was at 35% of observed brightness, but now has been steadily increasing to 43%.

Short and simple, no imminent super nova.

Dammit.

Still, interesting to watch a red giant go through its old age changes. Even if we're not gonna witness anything truly spectacular from it.

As you were.

So, ummmm....

Does this mean you were looking in the wrong direction when the big explosion happened?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8051079/Biggest-explos
ion-Universe-Big-Bang-detected.html

https://metro.co.uk/2020/02/27/black-hole-blows-powerful-explosion-eve
r-seen-universe-12317304/

AURAPTOR

Sunday, March 1, 2020 1:58 AM

Too cool!

Seems no one saw this explosion. We KNOW about it from x-rays, and the Chandra observatory.

Honestly, I don't know enough about black hole explosions to comment, other than this one happened 390 MILLION light years away, and Betelgeuse is only 640 light years away.

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Sunday, March 1, 2020 2:25 AM

I had noticed anther story about Black Holes eating galaxies, from the end of last month - but I didn't link it.

You think there will be video coming out of this explosion? The view must have lasted more than a few seconds - or not? maybe slow motion replay could work.

I guess this one made a void big enough to fit 13 Galaxies within.

Is it too late to blame Space Force?

With the variant output of B, I had considered if something was getting in the way. But I conjured that an orbiting body would have too quick a duration of eclipse.
But what if there is a black hole, or invisible explosion in between B and us? The light could be sucked away to the side, and the black hole could be unstable, causing variations.

AURAPTOR

Wednesday, March 4, 2020 4:05 AM

Still only @ 43% of normal brightness.

Feelin' pretty dim myself.

AURAPTOR

Wednesday, April 8, 2020 4:31 AM

Betelgeuse Status

@betelbot
·
Apr 6

Now at 78% of my usual brightness! #Betelgeuse

6IXSTRINGJACK

Tuesday, June 16, 2020 10:02 PM

Speaking of Beetlejuice...

They rebooted it. The 2020 update takes place in Chicago.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

ANONYMOUS1

Sunday, June 27, 2021 11:27 AM

" Further studies suggested that occluding "large-grain circumstellar dust" may be the most likely explanation for the dimming of the star."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse

JAYNEZTOWN

Monday, August 31, 2026 2:53 PM

What happens when Betelgeuse blows its top?

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-will-betelgeuse-go-sup
ernova/

JAYNEZTOWN

Saturday, September 5, 2026 5:51 PM

Betelgeuse's atmosphere is becoming spotty and asymmetric—and a nearby companion could be shaping the pattern

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-betelgeuse-atmosphere-spotty-asymmetric-
nearby.html