A RECENT study found a huge star named Betelgeuse could be set to explode into a supernova in the coming decades.
That event would change the night sky forever but one scientist has told The U.S. Sun that it may have already happened.
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This theory is connected to the fact that Betelgeuse is so far away from Earth and the light of a supernova event would take a long time to reach us.
Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star in the Orion constellation that is expected to turn into a supernova explosion.
It’s been a red supergiant star for about 40,000 years.
The exact distance of Betelgeuse from Earth has been debated by scientists in the past.
Nasa once said Beteleguse is around 640 lights years away from us.
Michael Shara, curator of astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History, told The U.S. Sun: “Betelgeuse lies somewhere between about 450 and 550 light years from Earth.”
The expert noted that this measurement was determined by a technique called “triangulation.”
He added: “Betelgeuse’s position appears to change slightly, as seen from Earth, between June and December, when the Earth is on opposite sides of its orbit around the Sun.
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“That tiny change in position is a direct measure of the distance to Betelgeuse.”
For the sake of the theory, Shara gives an example as if Betelgeuse is located about 500 light years away from Earth.
He told us: “Let’s assume that Betelgeuse is precisely 500 light years distant.
“If Betelgeuse exploded as a supernova anytime in the past 499 years, the light from that event has not yet had enough time to reach Earth…so we have no way of knowing if Betelgeuse has already blown up.
“If, for example, Betelgeuse blew up in 1600 AD, we won’t know about it until the year 2100. But if it blew up on August 1, 1523, then on August 1, 2023 it will become about as bright as the full Moon.
“The only naked eye supernova of the past century occurred in 1987… all astronomers would be thrilled and delighted if Betelgeuse (or another dying star) graced our night sky with a supernova in the coming decades.”
Whethere Betelgeuse has already exploded, or if it does in the future, the supernova is not expected to negatively impact Earth.
The star is said to be far enough away for us to avoid an extinction event or any impact on the ozone layer.
There are also experts who think we’ll know when the star explodes as it will be as bright as the full Moon.
