🌟 There’s a star out there that might be about to explode, and we could actually see it happen from Earth! New simulations show its surface is boiling so violently, it looks like the whole star is spinning super fast. 😮 We’re talking giant bubbles, as big as Earth’s entire orbit, rising and falling at speeds of 18 miles per second — that’s crazy fast. It’s like the star’s having a cosmic meltdown, and it might be a sign the end is near. Keep your eyes on the sky, because this could be one of the most epic light shows the universe has ever put on! 🌌💥 #brightside
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For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
Animation is created by Bright Side.
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Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/
Listen to Bright Side on:
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/idhttps-podcasts-apple-com-podcast-bright-side/id1554898078
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Stock materials (photos, footages and other):
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https://www.shutterstock.com
https://www.eastnews.ru
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For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
Category
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FunTranscript
00:00Most of those twinkling dots scattered across the night sky seem unreachable.
00:06But one of them is Betelgeuse, a star so enormous and nearby that you can see it with the naked eye.
00:14To find it, locate the first three big dots in the Orion's belt.
00:20A reddish star to the left is Betelgeuse.
00:23It's one of the brightest stars we can see from Earth.
00:25And it's just 640 light-years away. No big deal.
00:30Betelgeuse has a blue-white O-type star, which is one of the hottest types to exist.
00:37Betelgeuse was scorching hot, reaching temperatures of about 90,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
00:43Although that was back in the day, now it's an elderly star and it cooled down to just 5,800 degrees.
00:50You know, vacation weather.
00:52Blue-white stars are absolutely massive and burn incredibly bright because they have loads of hydrogen fuel.
01:01But they have a price to pay for this glory.
01:05They burn through their fuel super quickly.
01:07As they age, they transform into red giants.
01:11This is exactly what happened to Betelgeuse.
01:14It burned through its hydrogen and started burning helium instead.
01:17This caused its outer layers to puff up like a balloon, turning it into a red supergiant and making it one of the largest stars out there.
01:28Now it's stretching over 700 million miles in diameter.
01:32Now it's about a thousand times bigger than our sun.
01:37If Betelgeuse replaced it, it would swallow up Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, even Jupiter.
01:44And its atmosphere would almost reach Saturn.
01:46But something strange has been going on.
01:50Betelgeuse spinning way faster than it should for a star of its size.
01:55Huge stars like Betelgeuse are expected to rotate slowly.
01:59But it suddenly started spinning at a rate of about 3 miles per second.
02:04Thanks to powerful radio telescopes, Betelgeuse's orange-red surface can be seen in detail.
02:11That's how we learned that it often changes its brightness.
02:14Sometimes, Betelgeuse shines super brightly and then gets very dim.
02:21This happens about every 400 days.
02:25And recently, a telescope called ALMA, which is made up of many antennas working together as one,
02:31showed that Betelgeuse's surface seems to be moving unevenly.
02:35It's like one side is coming towards us while the other is moving away.
02:40But all of it might be a trick of light.
02:43Betelgeuse isn't as smooth as our sun.
02:46Instead, it's super chunky.
02:48Its surface is like a boiling cauldron.
02:51It's bubbling and churning incredibly fiercely.
02:54Imagine giant plumes of hot gas erupting from its core,
02:59reaching the surface and then vanishing back inside.
03:02And these bubbles are bigger not only than the sun, but Earth's entire orbit around the sun.
03:09These bubbles also rise and fall super quickly, even faster than a spacecraft.
03:15And maybe this tricks our telescopes into seeing it spin faster than it really does.
03:20Some astronomers also think that Betelgeuse could have swallowed up another star.
03:25And this gave it a spin boost.
03:28But these are all just theories.
03:31Things got even more complicated when Betelgeuse dimmed once again,
03:35this time in a pretty unexpected way.
03:37What's interesting, it was discovered using a weather satellite.
03:42A regular telescope had a hard time seeing Betelgeuse clearly because of Earth's atmosphere.
03:48So they used a satellite that normally watches Earth's weather,
03:51but can also take pictures of space.
03:53As we mentioned, it usually brightens and dims about every 400 days.
04:00But recently, it suddenly dimmed by 2.5 times more than ever before.
04:05This event got the name, the Great Dimming.
04:10The first theory said that Betelgeuse cooled down and sneezed out a bunch of material,
04:15creating a massive dust cloud.
04:18This cloud blocked the view of the star, making it look much fainter than usual.
04:22They also noticed something strange happening to that dust.
04:26It started behaving differently,
04:28which might be a sign that something deep inside the star was causing trouble.
04:33Betelgeuse's brightening and dimming cycle now happens faster in just 200 days instead of 400.
04:40And to add to the mystery, in the spring of 2023,
04:43it started shining even brighter than it normally does at its peak.
04:48Why is this frightening?
04:49Because Betelgeuse might be preparing for its grand finale.
04:53And this wouldn't be very good for Earth.
04:56We might be on the verge of a supernova.
05:00When massive stars like Betelgeuse run out of fuel in their cores,
05:04they start burning different elements like carbon, oxygen, and silicon.
05:09Eventually, they end up with iron in their cores.
05:12At that moment, everything changes.
05:14Adding helium to iron doesn't produce energy like other reactions do.
05:20Instead, it sucks up energy.
05:22This causes the star's core to collapse,
05:25leading to what's called a core collapse supernova.
05:28A spectacular, breathtaking show.
05:32Supernovas are so bright that they can outshine entire galaxies.
05:36But a Betelgeuse supernova would be special.
05:40Because it's relatively close to us,
05:41it would be so bright that we could see it even during the day.
05:45When it happens, Betelgeuse will shine as brightly as a full moon.
05:50But all that light will be concentrated in one point.
05:54For about two months,
05:55it will be so bright that you could read a book just from the light of the supernova,
05:59even if you turned off all the city lights and had a clear sky.
06:02The idea of witnessing Betelgeuse explode as a supernova is truly thrilling.
06:09After all, the last time a star went supernova in our galaxy
06:13was way back in the time of Johannes Kepler,
06:16more than four centuries ago.
06:18That event, known as the SN1604 or Kepler supernova,
06:23dazzled the sky for weeks.
06:25But don't get too excited yet.
06:28We're not sure when exactly it'll happen.
06:31One study says that the star might be in its carbon-burning phase.
06:36If we're near the end of that stage,
06:38then Betelgeuse might blow up very soon,
06:41during the next tens of years.
06:43But it's nearly impossible to determine,
06:46because during that last phase,
06:48the star barely changes at all.
06:51Even though Betelgeuse is close enough for us to study its surface,
06:54we can't peek inside its core to see what's really happening with it.
06:58We might as well be at the beginning of the carbon-burning phase,
07:03and in that case,
07:04we might have to wait a thousand more years before that cool supernova.
07:09Another study says that Betelgeuse might have less than 300 years of fuel left in its core.
07:15They say that Betelgeuse is known to expand and contract regularly,
07:20and its pulsation pattern hints that Betelgeuse is much larger than we previously thought.
07:26This would suggest that the star is further along in its life cycle,
07:30and closer to going supernova.
07:32Other guesses come from observations of similar stars.
07:37For example,
07:38a star called VYCMA in our galaxy
07:41is thought to be closer to going supernova than Betelgeuse,
07:45and it's been dimming steadily over the past century,
07:48unlike the relatively stable Betelgeuse.
07:52If Betelgeuse was about to go supernova,
07:54it would dim steadily and very quickly.
07:58Also, historical records suggest that about 2,000 years ago,
08:01people saw Betelgeuse as yellow, not red.
08:05If that's the case,
08:06then we might be in its early last days after all.
08:09In other words,
08:10we have no idea whether it will go supernova tomorrow,
08:13or in a thousand years.
08:15We just gotta wait and see.
08:18But let's say it goes supernova tomorrow.
08:21What happens to us then?
08:23The 1987 supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud
08:27showed that the effects from the supernova
08:30might be so strong,
08:32we can sense it even from very far distances.
08:35The Large Magellanic Cloud
08:37is almost 170,000 light-years away,
08:40and we still detected the radiation.
08:43It's kinda hard to say exactly what the danger zone is.
08:47A rough estimate could be around 100 light-years.
08:51Luckily, Betelgeuse won't pose any danger to humans.
08:54It's hundreds of light-years away,
08:56and it's supernova won't influence us in any way.
09:00We'll be able to enjoy it's supernova beauty
09:02without any harm.
09:07That's it for today.
09:08So hey, if you pacified your curiosity,
09:10then give the video a like
09:12and share it with your friends.
09:13Or if you want more,
09:14just click on these videos
09:15and stay on the Bright Side.