World Two Suns? Twin Stars Could Be Visible From Earth By 2012

[sqrage]

Earth could be getting a second sun, at least temporarily.

Dr. Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland, outlined the scenario to news.com.au. Betelgeuse, one of the night sky's brightest stars, is losing mass, indicating it is collapsing. It could run out of fuel and go super-nova at any time.

When that happens, for at least a few weeks, we'd see a second sun, Carter says. There may also be no night during that timeframe.

Scientist: We May Have 2 Suns By 2012

Scientist: We May Have 2 Suns By 2012

www.huffpost.com

It's funny how they're speculating about what's going to happen to something that already happened.

 

[pr0-assasin]

I can't wait.

 

[13lade619]

But doomsday sayers should be careful about speculation on this one. If the star does go super-nova, Earth will be showered with harmless particles, according to Carter. "They will flood through the Earth and bizarrely enough, even though the supernova we see visually will light up the night sky, 99 per cent of the energy in the supernova is released in these particles that will come through our bodies and through the Earth with absolutely no harm whatsoever," he told news.com.au.

Yeaahh... riiiight.

 

[sqrage]

Yeaahh... riiiight.

It's 1300 light years away

 

[seph ir oth]

Hope it doesn't turn into a black hole.

 

[13lade619]

It's 1300 light years away

wait, if it's 1300 lightyears away...

and nothing can travel faster than the speed of light...

then we should only see it 1300 years later right?

It's funny how they're speculating about what's going to happen to something that already happened.

Yeah, I get it now. The light we're seeing is from the event 1300 years ago...

 

[sqrage]

wait, if it's 1300 lightyears away...

and nothing can travel faster than the speed of light...

then we should only see it 1300 years later right?

Yea, that's why I put that sentence in the first post. They're speculating about what's going to happen, when it in fact already happened 1300 years ago.

However, without the light we can't tell what happened.

 

[Prometheus]

This would be awesome, but potentially bad for animals.

 

[xPass]

This would be awesome, but potentially bad for animals.

Us too: Just imagine the heat, ahh!!!

 

[sqrage]

Us too: Just imagine the heat, ahh!!!

There wont be any heat

 

[13lade619]

But what about all those particles? I imagine there would be unforeseen consequences.

 

[Nenad]

Hope it doesn't turn into a black hole.

Dont worry, the approximate mass shouldnt be anywhere near the black hole requirement.

Also, this is speculation, and while i personally would love it to happen we might be long dead when it does >.<

 

[perkeyone]

counter article GO!
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2376132,00.asp

 

[Bartuc08]

Considering that nothing travels faster then light. We would see the super nova, and then we'd have to wait for the rest of it to arrive... If I'm assuming correctly.

[edit]

Also, we were supposed to be a bi-solar planet system, Jupiter is actually a failed star. It harbors all the qualities to be a sun, but it never ignited.

 

[FireCat]

Two suns by 2012? Well, It's definitely possible. Don't Ya think?

 

[Bartuc08]

Two suns by 2012? Well, It's definitely possible. Don't Ya think?

If you read the article you'd see that they're not saying it will happen in 2012, they're simply speculating that at some time in earth's lifespan we could see two "suns" during a period of time. The idea of 2012 was a ball park estimate, and as far as I can tell 2012 was used to pull in readers because of all the 2012 hype.

 

[Siretu]

Let's extrapolate. I'm guessing 5 suns year 2015.

 

[azareus]

Also, we were supposed to be a bi-solar planet system, Jupiter is actually a failed star. It harbors all the qualities to be a sun, but it never ignited.

NASA's next mission: Create a second sun.

 

[Dan]

NASA's next mission: Create a second sun.

lol. so true.

 

[Nenad]

The counter article does make a few fair points, and as i said it's nigh unpredictable when the star has blown up (or will blow up). However, most of the counter arguments are simply not mentioned in the first article, and the hotness and brightness can be all but speculated at (although i doubt any hotness would reach us). Furthermore as mentioned, we would see the light from the sun a lot before we would feel the particles (and i mean a lot). However, it's not to exclude that the star may have supernovaed already since the other article clearly states it's impossible to predict it. What was in fact meant is that betelguese is losing its power, and perhaps if we're lucky we'll see the star in our lifetime x)