Twin suns coming to a planet near you, just in time for 2012!

[Jangler]

http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/tatooines-twin-suns-coming-to-a-planet-near-you-just-as-soon-as-betelgeuse-explodes/story-fn5fsgyc-1225991009247#ixzz1Bpx0DdNO

Betelgeuse losing mass

Explosion will create "new sun"

May be set for 2012 appearance

IT'S the ultimate experience for Star Wars fans - staring forlornly off into the distance as twin suns sink into the horizon.

Yet it's not just a figment of George Lucas's imagination - twin suns are real. And here's the big news - they could be coming to Earth.

Yes, any day now we see a second sun light up the sky, if only for a matter of weeks.

The infamous red super-giant star in Orion’s nebula - Betelgeuse - is predicted to go gangbusters and the impending super-nova may reach Earth before 2012, and when it does, all of our wildest Star Wars dreams will come true.

The second biggest star in the universe is losing mass, a typical indication that a gravitation collapse is occurring.

When that happens, we'll get our second sun, according to Dr Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland.

“This old star is running out of fuel in its centre”, Dr Carter said.

“This fuel keeps Betelgeuse shining and supported. When this fuel runs out the star will literally collapse in upon itself and it will do so very quickly.”

When this happens a giant explosion will occur, tens of millions of times brighter than the sun.

The bad news is, it could also happen in a million years. But who's counting?

The important thing is, one day, night will become day for several weeks on Earth.

“This is the final hurrah for the star,” says Dr Carter.

“It goes bang, it explodes, it lights up - we’ll have incredible brightness for a brief period of time for a couple of weeks and then over the coming months it begins to fade and then eventually it will be very hard to see at all.”

The interwebs is being flooded with doomsday theories saying the impending supernova confirms the Mayan calendar’s prediction of the Armageddon in 2012.

These conspiracies aren’t helped by the word “Betelgeuse” being associated with the devil.

[YoungPanthers89]

so george knew what he was talking about, huh

[SgtJoo]

Intriguing.

Worth the read.

[jasonluckydog]

I'm curious to how Drunkhulk would react to this story.

[Jangler]

I'm curious to how Drunkhulk would react to this story.

[cptx]

Wouldnt this had to have happened years ago for the light to be getting here now? Isnt that how light-years work? Doesnt the light from our own sun take like 10 minutes to get here?

[Zod]

A supernova needs to be less than 30 light years away to cause us any harm. Betelgeuse is about 600 light years away.

The good news is publishing companies will have plenty of fodder for 2 years to write about 2012 nonsense. Might help their stock.

[mmmbeans]

that would be so f*cking cool.

pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease.

[Skew]

I can deal with this. I just don't want to see Uranus twice.

I'll be hear all week.

[cptx]

Twice?

[Jangler]

Thrice.

[YourMomsLover]

Does this mean warmer weather as well?

[Paintballr]

Wouldnt this had to have happened years ago for the light to be getting here now? Isnt that how light-years work? Doesnt the light from our own sun take like 10 minutes to get here?

Thats what I'm wondering. If they think it could happen soon doesn't that mean it happened years ago?

[CLTPanther]

Stupid really. Anyone who thinks they can accurately predict a supernova down to a human calendar year is retarded and they belong in the tinderbox.