What's going on with Betelgeuse dimming? Short version: It's all happening in the envelope, not in the core. Red Super Giant pulsations + interaction with giant convective cells. Will it explode? Very likely, but in the next 100 000 yrs or so... Long version follows
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From everything I've read so far on Betelgeuse, the thinking is that it has ~100k years left but due to some uncertainty in models, it could go at any time. It's not that it can't go supernova now, it's just that it probably won't.
I believe the star has to start fusing ....
silicon and then we'll probably see a spike in neutrino emissions at Icecube, etc. which should be extremely high. That star probably has less than 24 hours once it starts fusing silicon as its primary fuel source.
I believe it's in the carbon phase right now but could be wrong
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It's very likely burning He in the core. About 100 times more likely than currently burning C, to be precise
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