View original postEarth 'to get second sun' as supernova turns night into day

View original postBy DAVID GARDNER

View original postUPDATED: 20:12 GMT, 10 March 2011

View original postThe Earth could soon have a second sun, at least for a week or two.

View original postThe cosmic phenomenon will happen when one of the brightest stars in the night sky explodes into a supernova.

View original postAnd, according to a report yesterday, the most stunning light show in the planet’s history could happen as soon as this year.

View original postEarth will undoubtedly have a front row seat when the dying red supergiant star Betelgeuse finally blows itself into oblivion.

View original postThe explosion will be so bright that even though the star in the Orion constellation is 640 light-years away, it will still turn night into day and appear like there are two suns in the sky for a few weeks.

View original postThe only real debate is over exactly when it will happen.

View original postIn stellar terms, Betelgeuse is predicted to crash and burn in the very near future. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to rush out and buy sunglasses.

View original postBrad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, claimed yesterday that the galactic blast could happen before 2012 – or any time over the next million years.

View original post‘This old star is running out of fuel in its centre,’ Dr Carter told the Austalian website news.com.au.

View original post‘This fuel keeps Betelgeuse shining and supported. When this fuel runs out the star will literally collapse in upon itself and it will do so very quickly.

View original post‘This is the final hurrah for the star. It goes bang, it explodes, it lights up - we’ll have incredible brightness for a brief period of time for a couple of weeks and then over the coming months it begins to fade and then eventually it will be very hard to see at all,’ he added.

View original postThe Internet is abuzz with doomsday theories linking the supernova to the Mayan calendar’s prediction of an Armageddon in 2012, fuelled by the association of the word ‘Betelgeuse’ with the devil.

View original postBut experts claimed that even if the big bang is looming, it will still happen way too far from Earth to do us any harm.

View original post‘When a star goes bang, the first we will observe of it is a rain of tiny particles called nuetrinos,’ said Dr Carter.

View original post‘They will flood through the Earth and bizarrely enough, even though the supernova we see visually will light up the night sky, 99% of the energy in the supernova is released in these particles that will come through our bodies and through the Earth with absolutely no harm whatsoever.’

View original postWhen it happens, the Betelgeuse supernova will almost certainly be the most dramatic ever seen.

View original postIt is the ninth brightest star in the night sky and the second brightest in the constellation of Orion, outshining its neighbour Rigel – or Beta Orionis – only very rarely.

View original postIt’s distinct orange-red colour makes it easy to spot in the night sky.

View original postIf it was at the centre of our solar system, its surface would extend past the asteroid belt, wholly engulfing Mercury, Venus, Mars and the Earth.