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 ....
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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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You raise an interesting point about Icecube. A spike in neutrino emissions would be hard to diagnose on short order but *damn* it’d be exciting.
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Hm? Does this imply that any RSG about to go supernova in our stellar neighborhood would announce itself in neutrino flux some 24h before the show starts? That would be a wild prospect. Does the current instrumentation lend itself to so fast reaction times?
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Great questions. I've been trying to find out if there is any publicly available raw data for neutrino detection events. When Betelgeuse is about to pop, we should get a few hours advanced notice if we see a spike in neutrinos coming from that general area.
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