BETELGEUSE STAR - > BLACK HOLE?

 

Betelgeuse:

This mammoth is among the largest and most luminous stars in our galaxy, with a radius of about 900 times that of our Sun and a luminosity of about 100,000 times that of our Sun.

It is also one of the most variable stars, meaning that its brightness changes over time due to pulsations and eruptions on its surface.

Betelgeuse is estimated to be about 8.5 million years old, which is very young for a star, but very old for a massive star. That's because massive stars live fast and die young, burning through their nuclear fuel much faster than smaller stars.

As a massive star, Betelgeuse is expected to go through a dramatic end-of-life catastrophe that will produce either a neutron star or black hole and likely a show for any surviving observers on earth.

Before the catastrophe, Betelgeuse must burn through several different types of nuclear fuel. It starts with hydrogen in its core, then helium, then carbon, then neon, then oxygen, then silicon, and finally iron.

Each stage lasts shorter than the previous one, until iron accumulates in the core. Iron cannot be fused into heavier elements, so the core becomes inert and collapses under its own gravity.

This triggers a powerful shockwave that blows up the outer layers of the star in a supernova explosion.

What happens to the core after the supernova?

This will depend on how much material is left after the explosion. If the core has less than about 3 times the mass of our Sun, it will become a neutron star: a super-dense ball of matter made mostly of neutrons.

If the core has more than about 3 times the mass of our Sun, it will become a black hole.

Betelgeuse's mass is not precisely known.

It is estimated to be somewhere between 10 and 20 times the mass of our Sun. However, some of that mass may be lost before or during the supernova due to stellar winds and mass transfer to a possible companion star.

Therefore, it is possible that Betelgeuse's core will end up below or above the threshold for becoming a black hole.

When could Betelgeuse explode?

Betelgeuse could literally explode tomorrow or in 100,000 years or anytime in between.

We have no reliable way of predicting when a star will go supernova. We can only observe the signs of instability and aging that Betelgeuse shows us.

For example, in late 2019 and early 2020, Betelgeuse dimmed significantly, leading some people to speculate that it was about to explode. However, later observations showed that the dimming was likely caused by dust obscuring the star's light. Betelgeuse has since recovered its brightness and continues to shine as usual.

So, Betelgeuse may or may not become a black hole after it explodes in a supernova that may or may not happen anytime soon. But don't worry too much about it.

Even if Betelgeuse does explode in our lifetime, it won't harm us here on Earth. It will just be a spectacular sight in the night sky that we can enjoy with our eyes and telescopes. And who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky and witness one of the rarest and most amazing events in the universe: the birth of a black hole.