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Earth to have 2 suns by 2012

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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.

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.

Read more: Two Suns? Twin Stars Could Be Visible From Earth By 2012
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This is the most epic thing I've ever read in my entire life.
 
Holy ****. This second sun is the things the Mayans predicted that will end the world.
 
soccerboy22 said:
Holy ****. This second sun is the things the Mayans predicted that will end the world.
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Oh come on, Tatooine had a second sun and everything was just dandy...

I mean sure it'll be a little hotter, and we'll all be moister farmers... but it'll be fine.
 
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soccerboy22 said:
Tell you what you get me a girl that looks like Leia did when she was Jabba's slave on Tatooine and all will be forgiven.
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No, give her to me, give her to me :2razz:
 
Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) is one of the largest stars observed. It is indeed in the last stages of its existence, but it has been thus for a very very long time.

Lol. Relax folks. It will not implode in 2012 nor anytime soon.
 
If this happens, which I hope it will, I'm going to start selling "double sun protection sunglasses, sunscreen, etc." and generate massive ammounts of income :P
 
Betelgeuse going supernova would certainly spoil the beauty of the Constellation Orion as observed from the surface of the earth. Rigel would be left without balance in that constellation.

But even if Betelgeuse does go supernova, we will still be able to see the smudge of light in the Orion's scabbard. That smudge of light is a globular galaxy. One of the few galaxies visible to the naked eye from the surface of the earth. I look at this galaxy and wonder about ice worlds, the gas giants, and the intellects that Drake tells us must exist there.
 
You guys ruined a perfectly good thread where Your Star could have told us about what she would do with a Leia slave look-a-like. Thanks.
 
Tashah said:
Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) is one of the largest stars observed. It is indeed in the last stages of its existence, but it has been thus for a very very long time.

Lol. Relax folks. It will not implode in 2012 nor anytime soon.
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Lots of hyperbole and ignorant sensationalism in that article... and damn little science.
 
Tashah said:
Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) is one of the largest stars observed. It is indeed in the last stages of its existence, but it has been thus for a very very long time.

Lol. Relax folks. It will not implode in 2012 nor anytime soon.
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Oh, now hey... that's just not true... all you have to do to get it to explode is say my name three times...
tumblr_l1odmm3iv11qzcgluo1_500.jpg
 
Whovian said:
Oh, now hey... that's just not true... all you have to do to get it to explode is say my name three times...
tumblr_l1odmm3iv11qzcgluo1_500.jpg
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I think this star imploded back in the 80s, didn't he?
 
Someone needs to put the earth on birth control.

But to know this is false, just look at the OP "Dr. Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland".

Fist of all, the bloke's currently underwater, so he wouldn't know, and secondly, didn't any of you learn anything from Monty Python.

 
spud_meister said:
Someone needs to put the earth on birth control.

But to know this is false, just look at the OP "Dr. Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland".

Fist of all, the bloke's currently underwater, so he wouldn't know, and secondly, didn't any of you learn anything from Monty Python.

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OMG... I nearly wet myself watching that! :rofl:
 
Tashah said:
Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) is one of the largest stars observed. It is indeed in the last stages of its existence, but it has been thus for a very very long time.

Lol. Relax folks. It will not implode in 2012 nor anytime soon.
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Ya stars last for billions of years, predicting when one will snuff itself out is impossible
 
Tashah said:
Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) is one of the largest stars observed. It is indeed in the last stages of its existence, but it has been thus for a very very long time.

Lol. Relax folks. It will not implode in 2012 nor anytime soon.
Click to expand...

Well, it technically could actually. Betelgeuse is one of the most confusing stars in the sky. Its apparent size and shape change frequently and there's not even a consensus on how far away it is. Most astronomers believe it will go supernova sometime in the next million years or so. So there's a chance it could happen in our lifetimes, but it's a pretty slim one.

It would be awesome if it did though.
 
Heck, if Betelgeuse went Nova this very second, we wouldn't be seeing it for several hundred years.
 
Gardener said:
Heck, if Betelgeuse went Nova this very second, we wouldn't be seeing it for several hundred years.
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Our observations already have that lag time so "now" in this sense refers to when light from that supernova reaches us.

But anyway, like others have mentioned, "soon" in an astronomical sense usually means you wont be alive to see it.
 
Yeah according to the article the time frame of this happening is anywhere between now and 100,000 years from now. So not terribly worried. It sounds kind of cool, anyway.
 
Tashah said:
Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) is one of the largest stars observed. It is indeed in the last stages of its existence, but it has been thus for a very very long time.

Lol. Relax folks. It will not implode in 2012 nor anytime soon.
Click to expand...

that coupled with the fact that Betelgeuse is around 640 light years away make it improbable that it's anything we need worry about. if it went supernova today, we wouldn't know about it for another 640 years. If it has laready gone supernova, we may or may not see it and there is absolutely nothing we could do about it anyway.

any "experts" know what kind, if any, damage a star going supernova 640 light years away would do to us? seems to me that would be like someone in the US worrying about a guy in china setting off a stick of TNT.
 
OscarB63 said:
that coupled with the fact that Betelgeuse is around 640 light years away make it improbable that it's anything we need worry about. if it went supernova today, we wouldn't know about it for another 640 years. If it has laready gone supernova, we may or may not see it and there is absolutely nothing we could do about it anyway.

any "experts" know what kind, if any, damage a star going supernova 640 light years away would do to us? seems to me that would be like someone in the US worrying about a guy in china setting off a stick of TNT.
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Either that, or it's one HELL of a supernova...

I was under the impression that it would appear to be a smaller version of our sun, from the perspective of someone standing on Earth.
 
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