uruviel2001:
The star Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion has been dimming lately causing some uproar in the astronomy community about a possible supernova event. The red super giant is expected to go supernova somewhere in the next 100,000 years. If this would happen in our lifetime it would be a very unique sight as there are only a few cases recorded in human history, with the last one visible with the naked eye being in 1604. If it does go supernova it would likely be visible during the day for weeks, and brighter than a full moon. Eventually it will disappear from our night sky altogether, possibly leaving a supernova remnant called a Planetary Nebula rich in ionized gas. One can hope! I'll have the telescope ready :-)Note that the cartoon-ish "spikes" are called diffraction spikes. It’s an artifact from the telescope, a Newtonian in this case. It has two mirrors: primary and secondary, the secondary reflects the light from the primary into the camera on the side. But in order to do that it needs to hang in front of the primary, held in place by four wires called a spider. That suspension of the mirror diffracts light, hence the effect
star:
I hope it’ll happen in our lifetime, too! It would be amazing to witness
