Surrounded by a "Dyson Sphere"? 530 light-years away, Betelgeuse suddenly dimmed, what could be the reason?
In 2019, 530 light-years away from the earth, one of the brightest stars in the earth's night sky, "Betelgeuse", suddenly began to dim a lot. Since then, astronomers have been searching for the truth. Now, after 3 years, Finally figured out what was going on. What is Betelgeuse?
It is a red supergiant star in the constellation Orion with a diameter at least 900 times that of the Sun. Although it is hundreds of light-years away from the earth, it is so bright that it can be clearly seen by the naked eye when humans are on the earth. Research believes that Betelgeuse was born tens of millions of years ago. Because of its huge mass, it has also evolved at an amazing speed. It only took one percent of the sun's time to reach the end of its life. Of course, it takes millions of years to change from a red supergiant star to a small black hole, or a neutron star, so, normally speaking, Betelgeuse will be a long time in the future, even after humans leave Before the earth, it may have always appeared in the night sky of the earth. However, an accident in 2019 made astronomers feel very strange. At that time, astronomers from Villanova University were the first to discover this problem and found that the brightness of Betelgeuse was at its lowest level since observations were recorded. Many astronomers believed that something major was happening. Why does Betelgeuse suddenly dim?
Why? Some people speculate that it is possible that an advanced civilization built a "Dyson Sphere" around Betelgeuse to obtain the energy of Betelgeuse. However, according to the previous "Dyson Sphere" theory, if such an energy harvester really exists, then , it should be built around a star in the main sequence stage, not around a red supergiant that has expanded into a "giant monster", which is not only too much engineering, but also too risky. So, astronomers were quick to deny this claim. So, is it that Betelgeuse evolved into a supernova ahead of time and has exploded? Just when astronomers wanted to confirm this guess, they did not expect that Betelgeuse would magically brighten up again after February 2020, and the brightness returned to normal. This is equivalent to Betelgeuse denying that it has undergone a supernova explosion, proving that it is still a red supergiant. This makes the whole thing even weirder. Astronomers from Harvard University began to observe and study it, and through the data continuously returned by Hubble, Andrea Dupree, the director of the research project, said that on Betelgeuse, a "dark secret was found" ". It turns out that in the past, Betelgeuse had a "pulsation mode" that controlled the brightness change. The brightness change cycle was about 400 days. However, with the evolution of Betelgeuse, this change cycle has no regularity. That's what led astronomers not to notice the problem at first, and wondered when it suddenly dimmed. At the same time, the data returned by Hubble also proves that every once in a while, a powerful plasma will be ejected from Betelgeuse, which will rapidly cool down and form a circle around Betelgeuse to block it. The bright dust cloud, before this dust cloud disappears, naturally, Betelgeuse will also look much darker. So, when will Betelgeuse go supernova? Will it affect the earth?
From the perspective of time, it will take at least 100,000 years for Betelgeuse to usher in a supernova explosion. If humans have not left the earth at that time, they can see it directly with the naked eye on the earth. It is very bright At the moment, even in the daytime, because the energy after the explosion is too strong, a white light will appear in the sky of the earth. But despite this, it will not affect the earth, after all, it is far enough away. According to the research of astronomers, supernova explosions 50 light-years away are all "safe distances" for the earth. And a happy place is: according to the observation data released by NASA in May this year: in the known history of mankind, there has never been a supernova explosion within 50 light years, and there will be no future. In addition, the currently known supernova "candidate" closest to the earth is 150 light-years away, but it is not large and will not have any effect on the earth. Therefore, before humans have the ability to leave the earth, we are absolutely safe from the supernova explosion. Of course, there are many other threats from space, such as giant meteorite impacts, super solar storms, etc. Wait, but with the continuous advancement of human technology, these may no longer be a threat in the future. So, since Betelgeuse is not dangerous, why do we still observe it? Speaking of it, this is because Betelgeuse is likely to be the first star that human beings have completely witnessed its evolutionary history, watched it die step by step, and ushered in the final ending. This is very special for human beings. The significance of, of course, the entire observational record will take millions of years to complete, so, in your opinion, can humans do it? Welcome to tell us your opinion!