Just explode, already!

Discussion in 'The Red Room' started by ed629, Dec 30, 2019.

  1. ed629

    ed629 Morally Inept Banned

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    If you can, take a look at the Orion constellation tonight. You may notice that the left side shoulder of Orion (the star Betelgeuse) is a lot dimmer than usual. I noticed that it's been dimmer lately, last 2 weeks or so. I usually take my dog out at night, and like to look at the stars when I do. Betelgeuse is usually the second brightest star in the constellation, and around the ninth brightest star in the night sky. It can very in brightness, and can fall to around the tenth or eleventh brightest star.

    Added: Forgot to add, currently Betelgeuse is the dimmest it's been in the last hundred years or so.

    Astronomers have also noticed that it's been dimmer than usual. There is a small possibility that it could go, or has already gone supernova soon. Soon can mean anytime in the 100,000 years or longer. If it has already gone supernova, the light takes 600 years to reach us. So yeah, very small possibility that if it has, we may see it happen. When it does, or if it has it will be aground as bright as the full moon for a few months then dim away and become a neutron star.

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    Last edited: Dec 30, 2019
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  2. Paladin

    Paladin Overjoyed Man of Liberty

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    Would be cool if it did (has). It would be bright enough to be visible in daytime for a year or so.
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  3. ed629

    ed629 Morally Inept Banned

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    Closer to 3 months or so, then dim out. But a gamma ray burst from the explosion could kill us all, so there's that.
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  4. Lanzman

    Lanzman Vast, Cool and Unsympathetic Formerly Important

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    Nah, Betelguese is too far for that, I thought. And the burst would have to be pointed straight at us, which is . . . unlikely.
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2019
  5. ed629

    ed629 Morally Inept Banned

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    It would have to be pointed at us, but a powerful enough gamma ray burst can affect us from a few thousand light years away. But even a tilt of less than a degree that far away is enough to completely miss us. The second largest extinction event, the Ordovician Silurian event may have been caused by a gamma ray burst, which was about 6000 light years away. Betelgeuse is around 600 light years away.
  6. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

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  7. ed629

    ed629 Morally Inept Banned

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  8. TheLonelySquire

    TheLonelySquire Fresh Meat

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  9. TheBurgerKing

    TheBurgerKing The Monarch of Flavor

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  10. ed629

    ed629 Morally Inept Banned

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    This guy will.

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  11. TheBurgerKing

    TheBurgerKing The Monarch of Flavor

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    Oh, that fuckass wipes out the earth every other issue.
  12. Forbin

    Forbin Do you feel fluffy, punk?

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  13. NAHTMMM

    NAHTMMM Perpetually sondering

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  14. Marso

    Marso High speed, low drag.

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    Maybe this is the asteroid we're looking for... :bergman:
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  15. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

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    We might get an answer by the end of the month.
  16. oldfella1962

    oldfella1962 the only real finish line

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    as for the thread title....say it with me....THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!
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  17. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

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    Turns out it's just dusty.
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  18. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

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    2ECA4674-9EC8-4738-9C43-7B1E6766A6BB.jpeg
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  19. Diacanu

    Diacanu Comicmike. Writer

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  21. Tererune

    Tererune Troll princess and Magical Girl

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  22. Fisherman's Worf

    Fisherman's Worf I am the Seaman, I am the Walrus, Qu-Qu-Qapla'!

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    That's crazy. I always forget just how big Betelgeuse is compared to our sun. It would basically encompass Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and the asteroid belt.

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  23. Kommander

    Kommander Bandwagon

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    I'm about to generate a gigantic surface mass ejection, once the laxatives I took kick in.
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  24. Tererune

    Tererune Troll princess and Magical Girl

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    You should get my energy producing physics. No laxatives required for gigantic mass ejection. The only problem is my containment field fails all the fucking time.
  25. Bickendan

    Bickendan Custom Title Administrator Faceless Mook Writer

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    Better go to Taco Bell so you also have the fuel...
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  26. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

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  27. steve2^4

    steve2^4 Aged Meat

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  28. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

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  29. Tererune

    Tererune Troll princess and Magical Girl

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    What if it is already a supernova? Technically we are arguing over what happened 640 years ago. Yes, I get that is a very short time in a star's life, but it is probably a fool's hope that any of us will see it in our relatively short existence. Even if it went supernova tomorrow it would be generations before humans see it.

    For instance, if it went supernova tomorrow Captain Pickard's earthbound dad, or brother, or whoever the fuck was picking grapes would not have seen the light from it with his own eyes.
  30. Tuckerfan

    Tuckerfan BMF

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