How long does it take for the light from Betelgeuse to reach Earth?

Not far from Sirius in the sky is the bright star Betelgeuse (pronounced Beetle’ juice). It is so far that its light takes 430 years to reach us.

What would the sky look like if Betelgeuse went supernova?

While Betelgeuse may mark Orion’s shoulder, its pulsing could just as easily be thought of as Orion’s heart, a blood-red giant beating in our night sky. If it does go supernova, it will be nearly as bright in the sky as the full moon and will glow for months before its embers fade.

What would happen to Earth if Betelgeuse went supernova?

Whenever Betelgeuse does blow up, our planet Earth is too far away for this explosion to harm, much less destroy, life on Earth. Astrophysicists say we’d have to be within 50 light-years of a supernova for it to harm us. Betelgeuse is nearly 10 times this distance.

How bright will Betelgeuse be when it explodes?

Goldberg and Bauer found that when Betelgeuse explodes, it will shine as bright as the half-Moon — nine times fainter than the full Moon — for more than three months. “All this brightness would be concentrated into one point,” Howell says.

Is Betelgeuse bigger than the Sun?

Betelgeuse imaged in ultraviolet light by the Hubble Space Telescope. Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star roughly 950 times as large as the Sun, is one of the largest stars known. For comparison, the diameter of Mars’s orbit around the Sun is 328 times the Sun’s diameter.

What will happen to life on Earth if Betelgeuse explodes?

Life on Earth will be unharmed. But that doesn’t mean it will go unnoticed. Goldberg and Bauer found that when Betelgeuse explodes, it will shine as bright as the half-Moon — nine times fainter than the full Moon — for more than three months. “All this brightness would be concentrated into one point,” Howell says.

How bright was Betelgeuse’s supernova?

The brightness of Betelgeuse’s supernova is about the same as the quarter moon. It would also be about 16 times brighter than the brightest supernova known to have been seen from earth, which occurred in 1006, and was recorded by a number of early civilizations.

Where does Betelgeuse rank in the night sky?

Betelgeuse is already one of the brightest stars in the night sky, sitting somewhere around the 8th or 9th brightest star in the night sky. (These lists don’t include the Sun, which is somewhat obviously always the brightest object in the sky.)

Why is Betelgeuse getting dimmer?

And Betelgeuse’s dimming could even be evidence that it is about to explode. As material erupts from a dying star’s surface, it typically collides, which makes it shine brighter. However, Nance says it’s possible that this material is shrouding the star instead, making it dimmer.