Betelgeuse: a supernova explosion

Although on average over one hundred years in the galaxy only one supernova appears, in the observable universe there are about 100 billion galaxies. Over 10 billion years of its existence (to be precise, for 13.7 billion, but the stars were not formed during the first several hundred million years), according to Dr. Richard Musotsky from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, there is 1 billion in the observable universe Supernovae per year, or 30 per second! Can the explosion of supernova Betelgeuse, the red giant of the Milky Way, be the next?

If this happens ...

The explosion of a star named Betelgeuse, one of the brightest in the sky, will make it equal to the full moon, and it will remain so throughout the year. Massive, visible in the winter sky over most of the world as a bright reddish dot, it can become a supernova at any moment for the next 100,000 years.

Most astronomers believe that today one of the possible reasons why we have not yet been able to discover a reasonable life in the universe is the deadly impact of local supernova explosions that destroy all life in a particular area of the galaxy.

The Hand of Al-Jauza

The red giant Betelgeuse, once so large that it could reach the orbit of Jupiter if it were in our solar system, has halved in the last ten years, although it remained as bright as before.

Betelgeuse, whose name comes from Arabic, is clearly visible in the constellation of Orion. The star gave the name to the character of Michael Keaton in the film Beetlejuice and was the native system of President Zaphod Bibblebrock in the series of novels "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

Red giants are believed to have a short, complex and turbulent life. Living at most a few million years, they quickly burn hydrogen fuel, and then switch to helium, carbon and other elements, from time to time shrinking and flashing again.

Betelgeuse: a supernova explosion

This star is believed to come to the end of its existence and can experience one of the collapse that accompanies the replacement of one thermonuclear fuel by another.

The cause of compression Betelgeuse is unknown. Taking into account everything we know about galaxies and the distant universe, there is still much that we still have to learn about the stars. It is also not known what happens when the red giants are approaching the end of their existence.

If the explosion of the Betelgeuse star occurred and it became a supernova, this would allow astronomers of the Earth to observe it and the physics that controls this process. The problem is that it is not known when this will happen. Although there were rumors that in 2012 there will be an explosion Betelgeuse, when the star explodes, in fact it is unknown. This did not happen, since the probability of such an event is very small. Betelgeuse can explode tomorrow night or stretch to 100,000 a year.

Too far

To inflict irreparable damage to the Earth, the supernova must flare within a radius of not more than 100 light-years. Does this condition satisfy Betelgeuse? The explosion will not cause our planet any harm, since the star should be much closer than it is now. The distance to "Ruki al-Dzhauzy" is about 600 light years.

This is one of the most famous bright stars. It is ten times the size of the Sun, and its age is only 10 million years. The heavier the star, the shorter the duration of its life. That's why astronomers paid attention to Betelgeuse. The explosion of the red giant will happen in a relatively short time.

Super Supernova SN2007bi

At the end of 2009, astronomers witnessed the biggest explosion ever recorded. The super-gigantic star, whose dimensions were two hundred times larger than the Sun, was completely destroyed by the spontaneous thermonuclear reaction caused by the production of antimatter, which in turn was caused by gamma radiation. This is an example of what can happen with the collapse of Betelgeuse. The explosion could be observed for several months, because it released a cloud of a radioactive substance 50 times the size of the Sun and emitted a glow of nuclear fission, which can be observed from distant galaxies.

Supersurface SN2007bi is an example of breakdown of "para-instability". Its appearance is similar to the explosion of an atomic bomb, triggered by the compression of plutonium. At a size of about four mega-octograms (this is thirty-two zero), giant stars are kept from gravitational collapse by the pressure of gamma radiation. The hotter the nucleus, the higher the energy of gamma rays, but if they have too much energy, they can, through an atom, create electron-positron pairs of matter and antimatter from pure energy. This means that the entire core of the star acts like a giant particle accelerator.

A thermonuclear bomb the size of 11 Suns

Antimatter annihilates with its opposite, as it tends to this, but the problem is that the explosion speed, which, although extremely high, creates a critical delay in creating gamma-pressure that keeps the star from collapse. The outer layers sag, compressing the core and increasing its temperature. This increases the likelihood of the appearance of more energetic gamma rays creating antimatter, and suddenly the entire star becomes an uncontrolled nuclear reactor, the scale of which exceeds the possibilities of our imagination. All the thermonuclear core detonates instantly, like a thermonuclear bomb, whose mass does not just exceed the size of the Sun - it is larger than the mass of 11 luminaries.

Explodes everything. Neither a black hole, nor a neutron star, nothing remains, except for the expanding cloud of new radioactive material and empty space where once there was the most massive object that is only possible without tearing up space. The explosion causes reactions on a large scale, transforming the substance into new radioactive elements.

Killer Stars

Some rare stars - real killers, 11th type - are hypernovae, sources of deadly gamma-ray bursts (GRB). Compared to Betelgeuse, the explosion of such an object will release 1000 times more energy. A concrete proof of the GRB-model appeared in 2003.

It appeared partly due to the "near" explosion, the location of which was determined by astronomers using the gamma-ray spike (GCN) network. On March 29, 2003, the outbreak came close enough that subsequent observations became decisive in solving the mystery of gamma-ray bursts. The optical spectrum of the afterglow was almost identical to SN1998bw. In addition, observations of X-ray satellites have shown the same characteristic feature - the presence of "shocked" and "heated" oxygen, which is also present in supernovae. Thus, astronomers were able to determine that the "afterglow" relative to a close gamma-ray burst, located "only" in two billion light-years from the Earth, resembles a supernova.

It is not known whether each hyperlink is associated with GRB. Nevertheless, according to astronomers, only one out of 100,000 supernovae produces a hypernova. This is about one gamma-ray burst per day, which is actually observed.

What is almost certainly certain is that the nucleus involved in the formation of the hypernova has enough mass to form a black hole, rather than a neutron star. Thus, each observed GRB is the "scream" of a newborn black hole.

White dwarf in the T Compass system

Scientists agree that the new observations of T Compass in the constellation Compass with the help of the satellite International Ultraviolet Explorer indicate that the white dwarf is part of the dual system and is removed at 3260 light years from the Earth, which is much closer to the previous estimate of 6000 light years.

A white dwarf is a recurring new one. This means that the thermonuclear explosions of a star occur every 20 years. The most famous events were in 1967, 1944, 1920, 1902 and 1890. These explosions do not destroy the new star, not the supernova, and have no effect on the Earth. Astronomers do not know why the interval between flares has increased.

Scientists believe that the explosions of a new one are the result of an increase in mass, when a dwarf star selects hydrogen-rich gases from its satellite. When a mass reaches a certain limit, a new flash occurs. It is not known whether the mass increases or decreases during the pumping and explosion cycle, but if it reaches the so-called Chandrasekhar limit, the dwarf will become a type 1a supernova. In this case, the dwarf shrinks and a powerful flash occurs, the result of which will be its complete destruction. This type of supernova releases 10 million times more energy than the new one.

The energy of a thousand suns

Observations of the white dwarf during the flashes of the new one suggest that its mass is increasing, and the Hubble telescope data on the material released during the previous explosions confirm this point of view. Models estimate that the mass of the white dwarf can reach the Chandrasekhar limit about 10 million years or earlier.

According to scientists, the supernova will lead to gamma-radiation, the energy of which is equivalent to 1000 simultaneous solar flares. This is more dangerous than the Betelgeuse explosion. When gamma radiation reaches the Earth, it threatens the production of nitrogen oxides, which can damage and possibly destroy the ozone layer. The supernova will be as bright as all the other stars in the Milky Way combined. One of the astronomers, Dr. Edward Sion of the University of Villanova, claims that it can explode in the near future on a time scale that astronomers and geologists use, but this is a distant future for man.

Opinions differ

Astronomers believe that supernova explosions at a distance of less than 100 light-years from the Earth will be catastrophic, but the consequences remain unclear and will depend on how powerful the explosion is. A team of researchers claims that the outbreak is likely to be much closer and more powerful than the Betelgeuse explosion. When it comes to this, it is not known, but the Earth will be seriously damaged. True, other researchers, such as Alex Filippenko of the University of California at Berkeley, a specialist in supernovae, active galaxies, black holes, gamma bursts and the expansion of the universe, disagree with calculations and believes that the outbreak, if it does, is unlikely to damage the planet .