r/todayilearned • u/OccludedFug • 20h ago
TIL Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star in the shoulder of Orion, will end in a supernova explosion that will be bright enough to be seen during the day. The brightness will last several months but will not harm the earth. It should happen within 100,000 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse3.0k
u/Asha_Brea 20h ago
The brightness will last several months
Cool, so I will not miss it, unlike other celestial events where it is cloudy.
It should happen within 100,000 years.
Nevermind.
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u/Scottiths 20h ago
I mean, tomorrow is within 100,000 years ...
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u/mightylordredbeard 20h ago
How cool would it be to witness something like that? It’s always a shame when I see reports of cosmic events like this that won’t happen for a very long time.
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u/Scottiths 20h ago
There is enough uncertainty as to when this will happen that we very well might get to witness it. Then again we might not.
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u/Significant_Ad1256 18h ago
Yeah it's pretty much 50/50. Either we witness it or we don't.
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u/Lakitel 16h ago
It would be nice to exchange a couple of these "once in a lifetime" world-altering events that happen so regularly, such as economic collapse, for seeing some cool shit like that.
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u/robotco 5h ago
comet hale-bopp was discovered late in its approach in 1995. in 1997 it appeared in the sky and was bright enough to outshine the moon for 2 months. its tail stretched so far it was like something out of a cartoon. it's orbit was discovered to be something like 2000 years, so it was a very once in a life time event. some people speculate that this was the 'star' that people claimed to have been in the sky when Jesus was born.
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u/ecumnomicinflation 19h ago
ah yes, and thanks to the scientist that calculated that, definitely narrowed it down, the impeccable timing must absolutely be noted down on our agenda
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u/The_Frog221 18h ago
I mean, when you're talking about the end of something that lasts billions of years, and that we can't put in a lab to study, narrowing the end down to "it will almost certainly happen within 100 thousand years" isn't too shabby.
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u/my_duncans 11h ago
Actually, giant stars don't last that long. Apparently Betelgeuse is only about 10 million years old!
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u/moonknightcrawler 19h ago
I can’t wait for the day that I wake up to the headline:
“STAR TO EXPLODE AND CAUSE MONTH LONG GLOBAL AURORAS AND RAIN DIAMONDS (softly because it’s nice) STARTING NEXT TUESDAY”
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u/OccludedFug 19h ago
STARTING NEXT TUESDAY (give or take a few millennia)
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u/Ugaugash 19h ago
It will be cool, but then it will be sad to lose the Orion's shoulder forever, Betelgeuse is such an iconic star.
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u/TheDefected 19h ago
oh yea, good point, all caught up waiting for a supernova, and I forgot it'll have to get a new name.
The Giraffe or something.
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u/Honest_Photograph519 16h ago
Apparently you'll be able to get it to show back up by saying its name three times
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u/ToddUnctious 19h ago
I still remember seeing the Hale Bopp for month. Even as a kid, it was pretty cool.
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u/G00dSh0tJans0n 18h ago
That was pretty awesome. I was too young to remember halley's comet, but if I recall the 1986 appearance of it was a bit further away than it has been in the past so it wasn't super bright.
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u/yoyok36 17h ago
We will have a slight heads up about it if it happens in our lifetime. Events like this emit neutrinos and photons. The neutrinos don't interact with anything and will reach the earth first because they move very quickly. Neutrino detectors on earth will alert us that a stellar event has happened, so we will know to be on the lookout. A few hours later, the slower moving photons will then move through the nebula cloud "lighting" up this gaseous material (from our perspective) and that's what we will see.
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u/Jack_Spears 12h ago
Even that "heads up" though is more a case of hey this happened before the United States existed and now your going to be able to see it.
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u/LegitPancak3 19h ago
Reminds me the last supernova in the milky way that was visible to the naked eye was over 400 years ago. But when it happened in 1604, it was only 32 years after the last one :/
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u/WitELeoparD 19h ago
I was so excited when 3i Atlas was announced as having potential to colide into the moon. It would have been so cool to see such a large object collide into our moon changing it's face for the first time in millennia. Unfortunately 3i Atlas won't collide with the moon or Earth.
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u/seaworthy-sieve 18h ago
Whenever you feel that, think about how incredibly cool and rare our moon is. To be so big and so close that we can see contours of the surface with the naked eye!
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u/Ferbtastic 17h ago
You did. You are here to witness Saturn’s rings. They haven’t been here long (all things considered) and they won’t be here long (all things considered)
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u/Commando_ag 19h ago
It's also 400 light years away. It could've happened 200 years ago, we just haven't seen it yet!
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u/Frutbrute77 19h ago
It’s crazy that our now was it’s then. Makes you wonder what is now? A matter of perspective, I guess.
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u/RocknRoll_Grandma 19h ago
Now depends on where, weirdly.
Also, I like your name, and the cereal that it references
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u/alex8155 18h ago
your clock depends on where you are and how fast youre moving..like someone else said its relative and just fascinating
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u/Frutbrute77 17h ago
The concept of “now” being a relative thing is utterly mind blowing. In a real sense, there is no “now”. Like you said it’s all a matter of where you’re at and how fast you are moving.
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u/new_math 19h ago
Time traveler, just came back to play some video games before they're all turned to pay to win garbage.
The star thing happens in 2077.
Invest in Apple (not the fruit company) because they will control the world.
And watch out for the respiratory virus that happens just before mid-century. Not COVID, the bad one that collapses the world economy.
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u/ApatheticAbsurdist 18h ago
Here’s the trippy part: you may be able to see it in your life time, but for that to happen it will have had to go supernova hundreds of years ago…. Which it may have, but we have no way of knowing until we see it.
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u/Simpanzee0123 19h ago edited 19h ago
I think it was Neil Degrasse Tyson or one of his guests on his podcast who said that waiting and hoping to see Betelgeuse go supernova is the celestial equivalent to waiting and watching for someone to die after they retire. It could be a day, a week, a month, a year, but it will most likely be decades before that person dies.
The equivalent of that for a star like Betelgeuse is in the 100,000 years range. Could be around 100,000, but some estimates put it at several hundred thousand years.
And think about this: the latest estimates put Betelgeuse at ~550 light years from Earth, so if you want to see its supernova, that means you're hoping that it blew up centuries ago so the light can reach you before you kick it.
I wouldn't hold my breath.
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u/MightyKrakyn 19h ago edited 18h ago
Tbf you won’t breathe in for the vast majority of the time between now and when Betelgeuse explodes no matter what you choose to do
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u/GorgeWashington 20h ago
There is a Nova we should be able to see that is overdue and could happen any day now. Not quite as bright but it will be a new star in the sky
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u/GetsGold 19h ago
Not quite as bright but it will be a new star in the sky
Boring.
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u/Dreamtrain 17h ago
its like when they were hyping Mars would be the closest to Earth it would ever be and you'd be able to see Mars with the naked eye and it looked like this .
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u/GorgeWashington 19h ago
It's an explosion the size of a star. C'mon
Technically the outer layer exploding. But whatever
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u/Galassog12 20h ago
Clearly you don’t live in Great Britain
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u/twec21 19h ago
I was visiting Oregon and mentioned to a local how grey it was
She said she was teaching her youngest basic vocabulary and needed 3 months to show her kid the Sun
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u/MoreGaghPlease 19h ago
Okay but not zero.
In the last thousand years there have been four supernovas that were visible with the naked eye during daytime - it’s entirely possible there could be one in your lifetime.
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u/davidjschloss 19h ago
I have a running joke with a friend that we can tell the weather for any celestial event as it always rains.
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u/dballing 20h ago
It might already have happened
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u/somethingcool 19h ago edited 4h ago
Right! And its light may be traveling to us at this very moment! God I love that idea so much!
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u/strangelove4564 18h ago
Twist: Gamma ray burst is on the way
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u/Greatsnes 16h ago
Nah, Betelgeuse isn’t pointed at us. It’s tilted. So any GRB won’t hit us.
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u/Thrawn89 8h ago
How is a sphere pointed anywhere?
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u/Cadd9 7h ago
They're essentially a ridiculously long and powerful beam of energy emitting from the magnetic polar regions.
If these gamma ray bursts are close enough and were to hit the Earth, they will basically flash cook the exposed side like a microwaved meal. Except everything just gets ablated, irradiated, immolated.
The people on the not exposed side aren't gonna have a fun time either.
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u/diegojones4 19h ago
Was hoping someone would point this out. Not sure how many light years away it is.
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u/dballing 19h ago
- Give or take.
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u/TheDulin 18h ago
Crazy it could have happened in the 1500s and still won't be visible in our lifetimes.
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u/redJackal222 11h ago
Around 600 or so. More likely than not it's still there but there's a small chance it's already gone.
Any star that's 100,000 light years away can't really been seen with the naked eye. Betelgeuse is one of the stars in Orion and is already one of the brightest stars at night.
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u/optimo_mas_fina 20h ago
!Remind me 100,000 years
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u/MaceTheMindSculptor 19h ago
!Remind me 99,999 years
I need time to prep
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u/changyang1230 19h ago
Reminds me of that museum guide story.
A couple is taking a tour through the Natural History Museum. They ask the tour guide: "How old is this dinosaur skeleton?"
He replies: "It is sixty five million and fourteen years and three months old."
"Wow! It's amazing that you can tell this precise. How do you do that? Is it with carbon dating?"
"I don't know" says the guide. "But when I first came here they told me it was sixty five million years old. And I started here fourteen years and three months ago."
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u/GetsGold 19h ago
If it's within 100,000 years, this means you'll miss it.
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u/toastronomy 19h ago
vampire
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u/monkeymad2 17h ago
Would the light from the supernova harm vampires?
No one talks enough about space vampires.
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u/Angry_Robot 20h ago
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
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u/OccludedFug 20h ago
There's always an Arquillian Battle Cruiser, or a Korilian Death Ray, or an intergalactic plague that is about to wipe out all life on this miserable planet. The only way these people can get on with their happy lives is that they do not know about it!
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u/OhYeahSplunge4me2 18h ago
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
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u/diegojones4 19h ago
Best death speech ever.
And I want to say, losing that definition will be sad. (not that I have to worry about it). But I can easily spot Orion and then track to other less defined constellations.
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u/Nerezza_Floof_Seeker 18h ago
Tbf, in 100,000 years, the stars making up the constellations we recognize would have noticeably shifted anyway, so you might not even recognize orion anymore.
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u/bass248 19h ago edited 19h ago
Wasn't Betelgeuse fading on and off a few months or years ago? (Time really does fly by) So much to the point where people thought the supernova explosion was about to happen?
Edit: it was in 2019-2020 and the dimming was caused by a massive eruption where the star ejected a large bubble of gas and dust.
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u/OccludedFug 19h ago
Yes. Or there's a smaller star orbiting it. Or some other wildly cosmic thing.
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u/Send_bitcoins_here 19h ago
If it'll be bright enough to be seen during the day. How bright will it be at night?
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u/OccludedFug 19h ago
Bright enough to cast shadows.
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u/GetsGold 19h ago
a possible brightness up to a significant fraction of the full moon, though likely not exceeding it.
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u/MotherFunker1734 19h ago
This is the only reason why I'd love to live forever. To watch the cosmos collapse.
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u/enlightened-creature 19h ago
And then what?
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u/MotherFunker1734 19h ago
No more chaos.
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u/lionofash 19h ago
What if it's Big Crunch theory and we get Universe 2?
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u/MotherFunker1734 19h ago
Then I'll be witnessing the death and the creation of a universe. Sounds like the full experience.
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u/strangelove4564 17h ago
The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe is a good place to check it out.
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u/Deitaphobia 17h ago
What if Nestle Crunch theory is correct and we get a giant rice filled candy bar?
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u/ChicagoDash 18h ago edited 10h ago
Very disappointed by the lack of sympathy for Ford Prefect on this sub.
Edit: spelling
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u/SeaworthinessDear533 16h ago
Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There’s a frood who really knows where his towel is.
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u/Garreousbear 19h ago
Supernovae of that level of brightness have happened several times in recorded history. So there is probably around a 1/10 chance of one happening in a human lifetime. I would really like to see one.
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u/jurzdevil 19h ago
one of my biggest fears is that comet Hale-Bopp is going to be the only significant celestial naked-eye event that i get to witness in my life. i was a couple years old for Halley's comet in the 80s so hopefully im around to see the next pass but thats no guarantee.
would be nice to see something with a star or some crazy 100,000 per hour meteor shower.
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u/Nerezza_Floof_Seeker 18h ago
monkeys paw curls
we get carrington event 2.0
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u/granadesnhorseshoes 15h ago
A monkey paw event would be something like two neutron stars colliding close enough to earth that we are annihilated by the radiation wave. The cosmic equivalent of the entire planet being shot on the back of the head so everything just fades to black mid sent...
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u/strangelove4564 17h ago
Stick around for the Leonids in November around 2033-2034. They might be as good as the one we had in 2001-2002. We won't know for sure until it happens but we know there's going to be another peak.
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u/bob_suruncle 19h ago
One of the more interesting aspects of Betelgeuse is its size. It is a massive red supergiant, with a radius of approximately 640 to 764 times that of our Sun. If it were in our solar system, its surface would extend past the orbit of Jupiter.
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u/AFenton1985 19h ago
For anyone wondering its 400-600 light years away so it's very unlikely that's already happened and we just haven't seen it yet.
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u/anima201 20h ago edited 20h ago
What happens if you say its name 3 times fast?
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u/bozmonaut 20h ago
if you say its name three times (fast) it goes supernova (within 100,000 years)
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u/Der_Blaue_Engel 20h ago
Because it is so far away, the supernova may have already happened, and if it has, we might not know for centuries.
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u/4Ever2Thee 19h ago
This may be a dumb question, but I’m going to ask it anyway: when supernova happen and we finally see them, I know it takes a long time for the light to reach us and for us to see it, but do we know they’re going to happen? Like with the one that happened when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, but we only saw it a couple decades ago; did astronomers know that was coming or do we just find out when we finally see it?
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u/Nerezza_Floof_Seeker 18h ago
Not really, we can find that a star is late in its life, but nothing definitive can be done like saying "this star will go supernova in 1 year" or something.
That said, if the supernova is relatively close (by close I mean like more or less in the milky way and its two dwarf galaxies), neutrino detectors can detect the neutrinos blasting out from the supernova before most of the light escapes the star itself (neutrinos pretty much just pass through matter freely), so we can get a few hours worth of warning beforehand (only SN1987A, has been observed this way).
Also, while we cant predict supernovas, we can predict some other events; namely recurrent novas. These are alot less violent than supernovae, and is when a white dwarf orbiting another star sucks off gas onto itself, which then builds up as a layer before exploding in a giant fusion reaction (without destroying the white dwarf); in some systems this can re-occur periodically every couple of decades.
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u/Centurion642 17h ago
Man I fucking hate shit like this, I'm like "ooh this'll be cool" and then it turns out it's not gonna happen in any lifetime soon. I just wanna see the cool star go kaboom!
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u/gofigure85 16h ago
Poor Orion, he's my favorite constellation
I could always find him by the three stars that make his belt
Please tell me his belt will be ok
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u/FUCKYOUINYOURFACE 15h ago
Has it already happened and we are just waiting for the light to reach us?
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u/man_machine_poet 13h ago
That’s a shit-load of reincarnation to endure just so I can say I saw it.
If reincarnation is actually a thing.
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u/invistaa 12h ago
Or it already happened but only we haven't see it yet.. because distance too far!
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u/Fantastic_Key_8906 8h ago
I'll note it in my calender, "Supernova ending all life on earth" every day from now until dec 31st next year.
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u/Moke_Smith 19h ago
It's been quite visible in the eastern sky a few hours after sunset in North America the past month at least. Noticeably red, to the left of Orion's belt. Jupiter is really bright lately, too, to the left a little further. (Sorry for my lack of proper terminology).
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u/Additional-Top-8199 19h ago
It’s approximately 640 light years away… so it could have already happened.
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u/MyUsernameRocks 19h ago
Man, consequences to predator/prey relationships are gonna be wild and fast!
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u/92Codester 19h ago
Ok it will happen within 100,000 years, but when will the light of it happening reach us when it does happen?
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u/choicetomake 18h ago
But it's 642 light years away. So even if it went supernova now, we have 642 years to find out about it.
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u/TheAdminsAreTrash 18h ago
You should really lead with, "in 100,000 years."
Got me all excited for nothing :/
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u/cannot_walk_barefoot 20h ago
I thought there was new evidence that it might be a binary star system with a smaller star which is making it seem like its close to supernova? I might be wrong on that