According to astronomers, a second Sun may flare up over the planet Earth. The star Betelgeuse will become such a Sun for us, ready to be reborn into a supernova. Its explosion will make our entire Galaxy - the Milky Way - shudder.
Orion diamonds
A long time ago, in one galaxy, not at all distant, but on the contrary, very close to us, raged … the great battle of the titans against the gods. The gods, led by Zeus, won a decisive victory, and the titans were cast down to Tartarus.
However, one of them, the most powerful titan Atlas, suffered a different punishment. For ever and ever, he was doomed to hold the firmament on his shoulders, and his seven daughters turned out to be homeless and defenseless exiles. They were fiercely pursued by the hunter Orion, the son of the god of the seas, Poseidon.
Driven to despair, the girls turned to the king of the gods Zeus. He took pity on them and turned them into the constellation of the Pleiades. And at the same time, for greater justice, he turned Orion himself into a constellation - even if, they say, now he is chasing the Pleiades throughout the entire firmament until he gets tired of it.
Once in heaven, Orion generously adorned himself with jewelry: on his right shoulder he has a ruby brooch - Betelgeuse, on his belt there are three bright diamonds - Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka, and diamond bracelets on his legs - Rigel and Saif.
But, despite the fact that Orion diamonds are one of the brightest and most beautiful stars in the northern sky, the eyes of astronomers are most often riveted to the crimson spark of Betelgeuse.
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Is the star a mutant?
The fact that Betelgeuse is not quite an ordinary star is known to anyone who studied astronomy at school from the wonderful textbook of B. A. Vorontsov-Velyaminov. A red supergiant of spectral class M with a surface temperature of only 3600 ° K, with almost
burnt out hydrogen "fuel" and clear lines of carbon monoxide, titanium and zirconium in the spectrum, it would not stand out among similar, not so rare in the stellar community of objects, if not for some curious circumstances.
In 1920, Betelgeuse became the first star (after the Sun) for which it was possible to measure the angular diameter. True, it soon became clear that this diameter was changing for some reason: if Betelgeuse were in the place of our Sun, then it would occupy the entire orbit of either Mars or Jupiter.
Betelgeuse is a pulsating star of irregular, asymmetric shape. Perhaps it is surrounded by a gaseous nebula and has a stellar "companion" that this gaseous envelope hides and which is responsible for the observed changes in its size and brightness.
In general, when speaking of Betelgeuse, astronomers are too often forced to use the word "possibly". Even the distance from the Sun to Betelgeuse cannot be said for certain whether it is 420 or 650 light years (recall that a light year is the distance covered by light moving at a speed of 300,000 kilometers per second in a year). The mass and radius of the crimson star are also estimated very roughly: from 13 to 17 solar masses and from 900 to 1200 solar radii, respectively.
But the most remarkable thing is that, despite its "young" stellar age - only 10 million years, Betelgeuse is in the final stage of its life cycle. The reason for such a fast (thousands of times faster than the evolution of the Sun) development, maturation and extinction of a star is still unknown.
However, it is more or less clear to scientists how the short, rich and bright life of Betelgeuse will end.
How the stars die
Any star "lives" due to the thermonuclear fusion taking place in its interior - the conversion of hydrogen into helium. When hydrogen runs out, hydrostatic equilibrium is upset in the interior of an ordinary star like our Sun. It gradually swells hundreds of times and turns into a red giant, absorbing most of the planets of its system. Of course, any life in the immediate vicinity of such a star becomes impossible. (Let's reassure the reader in advance - the inhabitants of the solar system and specifically the planet Earth are at least 3-5 billion years away from this sad event.)
When the last hydrogen atoms turn into helium, the thermonuclear cycle will be completed completely, and the red giant will begin to rapidly deflate, falling inward. The so-called gravitational collapse will occur, as a result of which, very quickly, within several months according to our time, the dying star will take on the appearance of a tiny, the size of a small planet, but extremely bright due to the collapse of a white dwarf. And after a few million years, the white dwarf will cool down and become a black dwarf, superdense and finally "dead" space object, only with its mass and gravity resembling the former radiant star.
The same fate could have awaited Betelgeuse, if she were an ordinary, calm and "respectable" star, like our Sun. But most astronomers agree that Betelgeuse will end its life in the brightest flash - it will become a supernova and give terrestrial observers several weeks of an unusually beautiful night sky. Indeed, in this case, a luminous nebula will appear in place of the ruby brooch of Orion, the brightness of which will be comparable to the brightness of the full moon.
What will happen? Perhaps due to the large mass of Betelgeuse, its pulsations, too fast, unstable nature of development, or for other reasons, Betelgeuse will not become a white dwarf, but will explode.
The fact is that, in addition to the conversion of hydrogen into helium, other thermonuclear reactions can occur in the bowels of a massive star. When (and if!) The accumulated mass of the helium core becomes too large, the core cannot withstand its own weight and begins to shrink. The increasing temperature can cause the transformation of helium into carbon, carbon - into oxygen, oxygen - into silicon, and finally - silicon into iron. Naturally, this releases a tremendous amount of energy.
European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile.
Inside the giant star, a new, iron core appears and grows. It will continue to grow until the ever-increasing gravity breaks down the structure of its constituent atoms. The electron shells of atoms "collapse" on their nuclei, turning them from proton to neutron. Actually, the atoms will cease to exist on this, only neutron nuclei a million times smaller will remain. The core of the star itself will decrease in size millions of times, and a huge vacuum layer will appear between it and the outer shells of the star. In which, naturally, these outermost shells will fall, heating up to enormous temperatures.
But there will be nowhere especially to fall, because the neutron core will reflect the outer layers, like an experienced tennis player's racket - a flying ball. And then the reflected shells will explode, and the star will turn into a supernova.
This is what Betelgeuse is likely to do. The only question is when?
When will we see a supernova?
Humanity is generally not spoiled by the magnificent panoramas of such cosmic catastrophes. The fact is that we are, so to speak, on the "galactic periphery": the solar system is located between the two spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy at a very significant distance from its center - 32,660 light years. Too far away for the outbreaks occurring in the "densely populated" regions of our Galaxy to be visible from the ground with the naked eye.
Almost a thousand years have passed since the last such event recorded by historians: in 1054, Chinese and Arab astronomers observed a powerful supernova in the constellation Taurus. In our time, only a dim, imperceptible and uninteresting Crab Nebula remained from this outbreak.
It is not surprising, therefore, that rumors of an impending supernova explosion in the constellation Orion in the coming years excited both scientific and non-scientific communities.
However, let's be sensible. Yes, some facts about the change in Betelgeuse's pulsation and its brightness over the past 10 years indicate, with a certain degree of probability, its near end. Yes, the features of its structure and development known to us speak in favor of the fact that this end will be precisely a supernova explosion. But no serious astronomer claims that the Betelgeuse explosion will certainly occur in the coming years.
According to stellar concepts, the "near end" can mean hundreds, thousands, and even a million years. The probability that this will happen during the lifetime of our generation exists, but it is very small. It is significantly less likely that anyone reading this article will hit the multi-million dollar jackpot anytime soon.
Source: "Secrets of the XX century"