Fire in the Sky by MagikUnicorn

Bryce • Fractal • posted on Jan 27, 2011

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Description

The Earth could soon have a second sun, at least for a week or two. The cosmic phenomenon will happen when one of the brightest stars in the night sky explodes into a supernova. And, according to a report yesterday, the most stunning light show in the planet’s history could happen as soon as this year. Earth will undoubtedly have a front row seat when the dying red supergiant star Betelgeuse finally blows itself into oblivion.The explosion will be so bright that even though the star in the Orion constellation is 640 light-years away, it will still turn night into day and appear like there are two suns in the sky for a few weeks. The only real debate is over exactly when it will happen. In stellar terms, Betelgeuse is predicted to crash and burn in the very near future. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to rush out and buy sunglasses. Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, claimed yesterday that the galactic blast could happen before 2012 – or any time over the next million years. ‘This old star is running out of fuel in its centre,’ Dr Carter told te Austalian website news.com.au. ‘This fuel keeps Betelgeuse shining and supported. When this fuel runs out the star will literally collapse in upon itself and it will do so very quickly. ‘This is the final hurrah for the star. It goes bang, it explodes, it lights up - we’ll have incredible brightness for a brief period of time for a couple of weeks and then over the coming months it begins to fade and then eventually it will be very hard to see at all,’ he added. The Internet is abuzz with doomsday theories linking the supernova to the Mayan calendar’s prediction of an Armageddon in 2012, fuelled by the association of the word ‘Betelgeuse’ with the devil. But experts claimed that even if the big bang is looming, it will still happen way too far from Earth to do us any harm. ‘When a star goes bang, the first we will observe of it is a rain of tiny particles called nuetrinos,’ said Dr Carter. ‘They will flood through the Earth and bizarrely enough, even though the supernova we see visually will light up the night sky, 99% 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.’ When it happens, the Betelgeuse supernova will almost certainly be the most dramatic ever seen. It is the ninth brightest star in the night sky and the second brightest in the constellation of Orion, outshining its neighbour Rigel – or Beta Orionis – only very rarely. It’s distinct orange-red colour makes it easy to spot in the night sky. If it was at the centre of our solar system, its surface would extend past the asteroid belt, wholly engulfing Mercury, Venus, Mars and the Earth. Thanks Magik

Comments (81)

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flavia49

7:10PM | Fri, 28 January 2011

beautiful image!!

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J5ive

8:30PM | Fri, 28 January 2011

SUPER COOL MAGIK!!

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bkhook

9:06PM | Fri, 28 January 2011

Beautiful colors and a wonderful marriage of two different programs.

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junge1

11:03PM | Fri, 28 January 2011

Wow this looks fanatstic!

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soffy

4:20AM | Sat, 29 January 2011

Fantastic work,MU:)***

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Star4mation

4:36AM | Sat, 29 January 2011

Ace image magik! :)

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vintorix

9:55AM | Sat, 29 January 2011

Well if the explosion is going to look anything like this picture it certainly will be worth seeing!

YorkBerlin

1:47PM | Sat, 29 January 2011

wunderful!

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carlx

2:40PM | Sat, 29 January 2011

Looks fantastic!!!

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RodS

4:38PM | Sat, 29 January 2011

Fantastc Apo artwork, Real! That should be one hackof a light show whenever it happens!

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danapommet

7:02PM | Sat, 29 January 2011

Beautiful and very colorful image Magik. Also wonderful narrative. Dana

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D4rkB0t

1:32AM | Sun, 30 January 2011

lovely sky

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erlandpil

7:36AM | Sun, 30 January 2011

Beautiful work erland

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evielouise

11:10AM | Sun, 30 January 2011

yes the web is full of stories of this wonderous time I sure hope it is what they say harmless but do they know for sure" Love the render it's fantstic !~ thanks for the information:: I think I will stay awake until 2012 lol---wish I could::

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