Betelgeuse

Stormprooter

Stormprooter
Sorry if this has already been discussed, but...

I was watching Prof Brian Cox on a repeat of "Wonders of the Universe" on the weekend, and a short section was on the fact that Betelgeuse is probably going to go supernova at 'any time' soon.
So, I fired up Elite and checked if was still in the galaxy in 3300, and indeed it is.

So, will we perhaps see this star go supernova as an event in game, and will FD add some events and perhaps let us know when it will finally blow? I'd love to see that...
 

Stormprooter

Stormprooter
Geers said:
Astronomically, "any time soon" pretty much covers 1-10 million years.
Click to expand...

True, the reason they (the scientists and astronomers) think it could be in our lifetime is because the star has dimmed by 12% in the last decade or so (IIRC).
There was also an excellent explanation on how chemical elements are formed in dying stars.
 

Geers

Geers
We should all load up on hydrogen fuel and dump it into Betelgeuse. If we do that enough we should shorten its life and make it explode.
 

Chevy66

C
Geers said:
We should all load up on hydrogen fuel and dump it into Betelgeuse. If we do that enough we should shorten its life and make it explode.
Click to expand...

They explode when they've run out of hydrogen (and other fuseable elements) in the core, you'd know this if you watched the Brian Cox thing
 

Zvanya

Z
Stormprooter said:
True, the reason they (the scientists and astronomers) think it could be in our lifetime is because the star has dimmed by 12% in the last decade or so (IIRC).
There was also an excellent explanation on how chemical elements are formed in dying stars.
Click to expand...

Wow that I didn't know. Going to watch that show! Maybe we'll get lucky and see a supernova. If you can call it luck. I assume 640Ly is a safe distance? Anyway, have rep. thanks for the post.
 

Stormprooter

Stormprooter
Chevy66 said:
They explode when they've run out of hydrogen (and other fuseable elements) in the core, you'd know this if you watched the Brian Cox thing
Click to expand...

That was fascinating - when the fuel runs out, gravity takes over, the star collapses and heats up again until it reaches the right temperature for the next level of fusion, and this process repeats all the way up to forming Iron. And for supermassive stars like Betelgeuse the final stage is a supernova, where the heavier elements are formed in the explosion in just a few seconds. Then what is left is a neutron star, and a nebula in which new stars will be born. Awesome stuff!
 

AnnuverScotinExile

AnnuverScotinExile
I have flown out to Betelgeuse, but it was rather uninteresting when I got there, and there was not even a good show from the nearest system. It is absolutely huge, however.
 

RayMan76

R
If it does blow in our lifetime it'll be the brightest object in the nightsky for quite a while. It will outshine the moon at night.
 

Trashberg

Trashberg
I dont think FD will ever make massive events like supernovas happen. Think of what it SHOULD mean; You see the star explode. Then supercruise away 60 lightseconds, and see it again after a minute. The game isn't built around visible light going at lightspeed. Think of your targets in supercruise. If they are 200 lightseconds away, and the physics are correct, you should see them as they where about three minutes ago. But you see them as they are at that moment.

Also, the background starfield is a still image of the galaxy rendered from the system point of view (which renders during the jump). Sure, a supernova happens slowly by our time standards, but you will never see an animated background in ED.

But sure, if ED lightspeed is infinate, it could happen. But I doubt it.
 
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