Supernova superclose

We could be in a ringside seat for a cosmic show like no other.

If you look up to the north in the night sky, you'll see the constellation of Orion, with Orion's belt being three stars in a dead straight line.

Down below the belt is the bright star of Betelgeuse. With good seeing (or a telescope) this star is quite orange. This is an amazingly big star of some 20 times the mass of our sun (called Sol below) and an amazing 1000 times its radius - that's all the way out to Jupiter's orbit.

However, scientists at Berkley California at have now discovered that Betegeuse's radius has shrunken by some 15 per cent over just the last 15 years! And the shrinking is speeding up.

Only about 8 million years old (compared to our star's 5 billion years) , Betelgeuse is rapidly approaching the end of its life.

And a star goes out with a bang - a big one. Eventually it collapses into a neutron star then blows into a supernova. If we were closer, we'd be fried. But we are about 600 light years away so we'll be safe. But we'll have a star brighter than the full moon for a couple of months!

Maybe in our lifetimes...

(Source: The Naked Scientist)