Is Betelgeuse going to explode and will Earth survive the supernova?
THE closest red supergiant star to Earth will inevitably explode as it continues to pulsate from bright to dim twice as fast as usual.
Betelgeuse underwent “the great dimming” between 2019-2020 and has used up its main nuclear fuels, meaning disaster will eventually overtake it.
What will happen if Betelgeuse explodes?
Betelgeuse is currently glowing at 150% of its normal brightness and cycling between brighter and dimmer in double the speed at 200-day intervals.
If current theories are right, it will explode as a supernova and end up as either a neutron star or, more probably, a black hole.
When this happens, Betelgeuse will briefly shine far more brilliantly than any other star or planet in our skies.
Is Betelgeuse going to supernova soon?
Sooner or later, disaster will eventually overtake Betelgeuse, but it’s not expected to be within any of our lifetimes.
Experts predict that it will explode some time in the next 10,000 to 100,000 years.
Dr Sara Webb, an astrophysicist at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, told The Guardian that the light from Betelgeuse is more than 600 years old.
She added: “Theoretically it probably hasn’t, but theoretically it could have exploded and we wouldn’t know.”
Could Earth survive a Betelgeuse supernova?
Betelgeuse is so big that it is about 700 times the size of the sun and should it explode, it will release an immense amount of energy, according to James Webb Discovery.
It would also emit various forms of radiation and gamma ray bursts but, thankfully for Earth, it has a very small likelihood of being directly affected.
This is because Betelgeuse is 640 light-years away, meaning the potential impact is minimal.
According to astronomer Patrick Moore, we would have to be within the vicinity of 100 light years to be directly affected by a supernova outburst.