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Lots of people are either excited or scared that #Betelgeuse is about to go supernova. The fact it’s dimming is amazing - so weird that Orion looks different - but it’s no more likely to go bang in a dip like this than before.

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Eric Mamajek

@EricMamajek

Dec 21, 2019

Regarding #Betelgeuse's "historic" dimming, here's V-band & photovis magnitude estimates from @AAVSO database over past century. *You* try maintaining constant luminosity w/~20 solar masses spread out within the size of Jupiter's orbit, w/convection & nucleosynthesis is 3D!

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Don't ruin my dreams! Would love for this to happen in my lifetime... :)

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It might. But the chances are low.

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So I apoligize for the silly question, but if on the off chance it does *pop* wouldn't that mean in reality #Betelgeuse exploded ~642 years ago? Which is also wonderful to think about.

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Relativity is so damn confusing at times. From our perspective, it would take the light ~642 years to transverse the distance. But from the light's perspective, it would be now (photons don't experience time they just get emitted and absorbed instantly from their perspective).

3:32 AM · Dec 23, 2019Twitter Web App