Two Suns? Twin Stars Could Be Visible From E

[sean6]

Two Suns? Twin Stars Could Be Visible From Earth By 2012

Earth could be getting a second sun, at least temporarily.

Dr. Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland, outlined the scenario to news.com.au. Betelgeuse, one of the night sky's brightest stars, is losing mass, indicating it is collapsing. It could run out of fuel and go super-nova at any time.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/20/two-suns-twin-stars_n_811864.html

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/01/21/will-the-earth-have-two-suns-by-2012/

what you think ??

[Mr.United_Nations]

So your they are saying? there are only two stars in the universe?

[Oderint]

So your they are saying? there are only two stars in the universe?

How did you manage to get that from what he posted?

From the article:

It could run out of fuel and go super-nova at any time.

When that happens, for at least a few weeks, we'd see a second sun, Carter says. There may also be no night during that timeframe.

[ScrooLoose]

How did you manage to get that from what he posted?

Sun=star

The Star Wars-esque scenario could happen by 2012, Carter says... or it could take longer.

Quote from one of the above links.

The only reason they mention the year 2012 is make the link to the whole mayen prophecy crap.

Edited January 21, 2011 by ScrooLoose

[Oderint]

Sun=star

And? Read the articles. They say that the supernova of a distant star (sun) will/may make it appear almost as if it's a normal sun (star) in our solar system.

[Boe]

I heard that on the news a few days ago. They said they believe it might happen this year, but could happen within the next hundred years.

That would be cool though. 24 hour daylight. I bet the folks living in the Arctic circle are unimpressed lol

[Oderint]

The only reason they mention the year 2012 is make the link to the whole mayen prophecy crap.

That we can agree on.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/01/21/betelgeuse-and-2012/

[Bendy Demon]

As I was reading the article I remembered something from basic astronomy...light, from a distant star like Betelgeuse, takes awhile to reach us, right?

So the light we see is technically "old" light meaning it is like an echo of sorts, this in turn means that the stars collapse and resulting supernova may have already happened long ago and the light from it will reach us at a later date.

Secondly such processes take a long time, thousands if not millions of years so it seems to me that if Betelgeuse did expand then wouldn't we or astronomers have noticed an increase of size over a period of time?

I am not a scientist or an astronomer but it doesn't seem quite plausible that a star, even if it is the next closest one, is going to suddenly appear as huge as our sun in just a year or so..not even in a few centuries.

Still..even if it did happen it would be, literally, a once in a lifetime event. I'd love to see it though.

[Boe]

if Betelgeuse did expand then wouldn't we or astronomers have noticed an increase of size over a period of time?

Betelgeuse lies 640 light years away, so you're right in that the light we see is from the 1400s.

The star is losing mass and is contracting at 700 miles per hour for the last 20 years. And this is why people are freaking out about the star collapsing tomorrow (lol). But really, it could happen at any time within the next million years, like you said.

Reference: All over the net

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Still..even if it did happen it would be, literally, a once in a lifetime event. I'd love to see it though.

This is more than a once in a life time event, no supernova within our galaxy has been observed since 1604 and a supernova that close and that bright has not happened in recorded human history.

[Moonshine]

No, he means one of the brightest/biggest stars.

I think that's really interesting ^-^

[sean6]

more info

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1349383/Earth-second-sun-year-supernova-turns-night-day.html

[DCFan]

If this happens, which I hope it will, I'm going to start selling "double sun protection sunglasses, sunscreen, etc." and generate massive amounts of income

[UFO_Monster]

I heard that on the news a few days ago. They said they believe it might happen this year, but could happen within the next hundred years.

That would be cool though. 24 hour daylight. I bet the folks living in the Arctic circle are unimpressed lol

I can't see how this could be considered a good thing. The nocturnal creatures would have a disrupted schedule.

Still, at least it's not our schedule!

[Vaise]

2 suns, that star is what 640LY from earth. how bright is this thing going to be. I once read from some nasa page if you where to look at our sun from pluto, it would be just like a bright star.

"Since Pluto is so far away from the sun, the sun would look much dimmer and smaller that it does from here on Earth. From Pluto, the sun would look like a very bright star and would light up Pluto during the day about as much as the full moon lights up Earth at night. "

The distance from pluto to our sun is 0.00045LY(5.914 billion km), this star is what 640Ly(6,050,723,171,512,320 km aprox) i doubt it will even look much brighter to us personally. Just seems wrong to me

though i could be super wrong, my physics teacher was a tool

[Boe]

I can't see how this could be considered a good thing. The nocturnal creatures would have a disrupted schedule.

Still, at least it's not our schedule!

Dude really? Humans themselves disrupt animal schedules more than betelgeuse exploding would.

I can express my appreciation of the astronomical event without you making me feel like a douche.

Edited January 22, 2011 by Boe

[GreytMuse]

Relax! It could happen tomorrow...or in 100,000 years.

Six months ago, an astronomer said that Betelgeuse will go supernova sometime in the next 100,000 years.

That's all he said.

The 2012 date mentioned is just as likely as 3319 or 4167.

http://blo­gs.discove­rmagazine.­com/badast­ronomy/201­0/06/01/is­-betelgeus­e-about-to­-blow/

From the article ...

The basic takeaway:

OK, folks, first: when news like this comes from an unnamed source on some random forum, and that source is not even a primary one, and that secondary source quoted is also unnamed, and that person heard it from a third party that is also unnamed… well, oddly enough my skeptic alarm bell in my head rings loudly enough that my eardrums explode outward in every direction at the speed of light.

I hope I’m being clear here.

The first important thing to note here is that if Betelgeuse explodes, we’re in no danger at all. It’s too far away to hurt us. Got that? It’s the most important thing to remember here, because I’m quite sure this story will get wildly exaggerated as it gets repeated.

So, what’s the deal with Betelgeuse? What is it, will it explode, and if so, when?...

Edited January 22, 2011 by GreytMuse

[Drj312]

2 suns, that star is what 640LY from earth. how bright is this thing going to be. I once read from some nasa page if you where to look at our sun from pluto, it would be just like a bright star.

"Since Pluto is so far away from the sun, the sun would look much dimmer and smaller that it does from here on Earth. From Pluto, the sun would look like a very bright star and would light up Pluto during the day about as much as the full moon lights up Earth at night. "

The distance from pluto to our sun is 0.00045LY(5.914 billion km), this star is what 640Ly(6,050,723,171,512,320 km aprox) i doubt it will even look much brighter to us personally. Just seems wrong to me

though i could be super wrong, my physics teacher was a tool

Youre comparing a star to a supernova. A supernova releases so much energy that it is many magnitudes brighter than a star

[Vaise]

Youre comparing a star to a supernova. A supernova releases so much energy that it is many magnitudes brighter than a star

i still personally doubt it will be as bright as our sun, 640LY away..

Edited January 22, 2011 by Vaise

[jesspy]

SOunds cool was it the Crab nebula that when created a few hundred years ago the Ancient Chinese said you could write by its light or something. Sounds bright

[Vaise]

SOunds cool was it the Crab nebula that when created a few hundred years ago the Ancient Chinese said you could write by its light or something. Sounds bright

wow...i retract what i stated earlier, apparently this thing was 6300LY and was visible in daylight for 23 days and more so in darkness. The power of the universe never ceases to amaze

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1054

Records

It was recorded by Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Native Americans, and Persian/Arab astronomers as being bright enough to see in daylight for 23 days and was visible in the night sky for 653 days.[1][2][3]

There is also evidence the Mimbres and Anasazi Native Americans saw and recorded SN 1054; an Anasazi cliff painting near the great house of Penasco Blanco may portray it.[4]

It has also been claimed that an obscure entry in a number of Irish monastic annals originally referred to SN 1054 but was subsequently corrupted, becoming in the process an allegorical fantasy based on the legend of the Antichrist.[5]

[Torgo]

Anyone predicting stellar events like that on a timescale of shorter than tens of thousands of years is talking out their ass.

[AdorablyDead]

Oy vay, I do not like the daylight much as it is, no less 24/7 of it. But at least it will be temporary. Would be cool to see since it's a once in a lifetime event.

[Von Bismarck]

2 suns, that star is what 640LY from earth. how bright is this thing going to be. I once read from some nasa page if you where to look at our sun from pluto, it would be just like a bright star.

Its a super nova we talking about.

Betelgeuse will flash into being brighter than a million full moons in the sky - Brad Schaefer

[WoIverine]

Hmmm, it's definitely far, any reason to worry about what a double dose of cosmic rays will do to us or our ozone? I seem to remember something about "A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up and all the green grass was burned up."

Edited January 22, 2011 by SpiderCyde