http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse
![[Image: betelgeuse5fy.jpg]](http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/4280/betelgeuse5fy.jpg)
This is Betelgeuse. It's a really big star that is really close to us. This guy is a red supergiant. He is as much as 40,000,000 times bigger than our own lowly Sun. If Betelgeuse was placed where our Sun is, it would envelope the Earth.
Betelgeuse is also really close to us. It is only 427 light-years distant, which is pretty damned close. It is visible as the left shoulder in Orion if you know your stars.
So Betelgeuse is big and close, why should that bother me? Well, it's quite possible that Betelgeuse could turn into a supernova anytime within the next 1,000 years. It could happen tomorrow. While this wouldn't be a threat to our existance, it would be a really freaky thing. If Betelgeuse went supernova, it would be as bright as the night moon. It would be visible in the daytime sky. Only the sun and the moon would be brighter.
This kind of stuff freaks me out. Betelgeuse isn't a threat, but there are plenty of other cosmic things that might be, and we'd never know it until too late. I also get freaked out about just how huge the universe is. Looking at Hubble images of far-away galaxies contained within a tiny portion of our night sky scares the crap out of me.
Man I love Astronomy.
This is Betelgeuse. It's a really big star that is really close to us. This guy is a red supergiant. He is as much as 40,000,000 times bigger than our own lowly Sun. If Betelgeuse was placed where our Sun is, it would envelope the Earth.
Betelgeuse is also really close to us. It is only 427 light-years distant, which is pretty damned close. It is visible as the left shoulder in Orion if you know your stars.
So Betelgeuse is big and close, why should that bother me? Well, it's quite possible that Betelgeuse could turn into a supernova anytime within the next 1,000 years. It could happen tomorrow. While this wouldn't be a threat to our existance, it would be a really freaky thing. If Betelgeuse went supernova, it would be as bright as the night moon. It would be visible in the daytime sky. Only the sun and the moon would be brighter.
This kind of stuff freaks me out. Betelgeuse isn't a threat, but there are plenty of other cosmic things that might be, and we'd never know it until too late. I also get freaked out about just how huge the universe is. Looking at Hubble images of far-away galaxies contained within a tiny portion of our night sky scares the crap out of me.
Man I love Astronomy.