Two Suns? Twin Stars Could Be Visible From Earth By 2012

[n2doc]

The Huffington Post Dean Praetorius First Posted: 01/20/11 05:33 PM

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.

The Star Wars-esque scenario could happen by 2012, Carter says... or it could take longer. The explosion could also cause a neutron star or result in the formation of a black hole 1300 light years from Earth, reports news.com.au.

more
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/20/two-suns-twin-stars_n_811864.html

[sakabatou]

1. Depends what timeframe it'll take place

Orion is only visible during winter.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. COOL... now get ready for all the Maya prophecy

and eschatology stuff.

[sakabatou]

3. I imagine that people will still be talking about that shit

in 2014.

[WhiteTara]

4. Y2K anyone? n/t

[Richard D]

6. No night in the winter

2 suns in the Summer.

[Tesha]

7. That's only because it's in the daytime sky during the summer.

A supernova might well be visible even during
the daylight hours.

Tesha

[Grown2Hate]

5. I've been staring at Betelgeuse for years, hoping to actually witness the supernova.

Problem is, it should go supernova sometime between now and the next 10,000 earth years. Cosmic scales can be a bitch. At least Ford Prefect's planet is safely uninhabited...

[bananas]

13. That's why we need a neutrino detector alarm clock

so we can get some shut-eye.

[Grown2Hate]

19. hahaha Well, I have taken breaks. ;)

[WhiteTara]

8. that will be an incredible sight

I've gotten to see so many phenomenon and this will be the best one yet!

[Gman]

9. If and when it happens(ed)

as in it would have happened 1300 years ago, around the year 700. It very well may have already happened a few hundred years ago, but we just haven't seen it yet.

[glinda]

10. Well that can't be good for climate change.

[laconicsax]

11. I'm still waiting on VY Canis Majoris. n/t

[bananas]

12. “If it were me, I’d suspect it would more likely become a black hole at 20 solar masses.”

http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/tatooines-twin-suns-coming-to-a-planet-near-you-just-as-soon-as-betelgeuse-explodes/story-fn5fsgyc-1225991009247

[thereismore]

14. 1300 ly away, that means Betelgeuse blew up a long time ago... nt

[localroger]

15. Crappy science writing -- not a "second Sun"

I followed the link, and followed its link back to the original, which was actually illustrated with a still from Star Wars as Mark Hamill watches the twin suns set on Tattooine.

People, it won't look like that. A supernova is very bright but it's also a very long way off, and even if it's as bright as the Sun it will still be a tiny point, not a fat round disk the size of the Sun and Moon. Think of what Venus looks like when it's very bright on a moonless night, and multiply that by a few thousand.

When the Crab Nebula supernova exploded, none of the writings that survive describing it mistook it for a twin of the Sun. They called it things like "guest star." Whoever came up with this frame needs to take an astronomy class.

[semillama]

16. What do you expect from the Huffington Post? n/t

You can always count on misrepresentation of science from that place.

[localroger]

17. In fairness, HuffPo didn't start it

They were just echoing the way it was put in the newspaper article they linked. That seems to have come from a wire service. Basically someone decided this was an attention getting way to put it, and nobody in a fairly long chain called the BS.

[caraher]

18. The original article and its offspring were misleading in many ways

They also give the strong impression that this will be observed (as noted, 1300 years after it happens!) in the next few years. The Huffington Post version buried the caveat that the uncertainty in exactly when it will go supernova is enormous: "The bad news is, it could also happen in a million years. But who's counting?"

The Australian news article is also weird in suggesting that double star system such as the one Lucas depicted are unusual, and it would take something like this to make for a "two-sun" sky, which in fact they are quite common. (Though one might wonder whether it's unusual for such systems to include planets friendly to life...)