And the next supernova award goes to.....

[Dubh Aingeal]

Betelgeuse is dying a nasty death. The star is in the final, violent stages of its life, shedding vast amounts of stellar material into space as it quickly approaches a supernova demise. But now, with the help of the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, Betelgeuse's extended nebula has come to light. Comprised of silica and alumina dust, ESO astronomers have been able to image the nebula in infrared wavelengths for the first time. This is the most detailed view we've ever had of the imminent death of a titanic red supergiant star.

[Simon Bar Sinister]

hopefully, we don't get hit full-on with a gamma-ray burst.

[Dubh Aingeal]

A supernova has to be no farther than about 25 light years away to be able to fry us with light or anything else, and Betelgeuse is 25 times that distance (which means its power to hurt us is weakened by over 600x). It’s also the wrong kind of star to explode as a gamma-ray burst, so I wouldn't worry about that.

[Mikielikesit]

Thank you for the insight....there is more out there then we know and its all pretty trippy

[Destroit]

Ever since I was a little kid...that's always been my favorite star to spot :.

Will we visibly be able to see it blow up and disappear from the night sky?

[boshy]

Ever since I was a little kid...that's always been my favorite star to spot :.

Will we visibly be able to see it blow up and disappear from the night sky?

i looked it up and supernova's are not sudden explosions also what you are looking at actually happened 640 years ago because it is 640 light years away

[Destroit]

i looked it up and supernova's are not sudden explosions also what you are looking at actually happened 640 years ago because it is 640 light years away

I do remember when I was little you told me that the light we actually see on Earth from the stars actually left that star long long ago, it just takes time for even light to reach us from that far away.

[Simon Bar Sinister]

Ever since I was a little kid...that's always been my favorite star to spot :.

Will we visibly be able to see it blow up and disappear from the night sky?

hopefully...if it's shedding alumina and silica already, it's well on the road to a supernova. stars go nova when they've burned through all of the elements heavier than hydrogen but lighter than iron - when they have to begin fusing iron, that's all she wrote. boom.

It's a massive star; it should light up the night sky for weeks.